3D view slowdown

[Paul Smeulders]

Hi,
My system has been fast enough in the past to easily see 3D views. 3.2GHz P4, 1 GRam, XP Pro, x800 radeon 256MB (I think). Anayway, I don't do any downloading of topo data. But under 2.5 and 2.6 I COULD see my tracks in a "in space" 3d view, and scroll pan and spin it. Now I can't, and keyboard/mouse response is on the order of tens of seconds. I notice I can't find how to turn off the "white sheet" that underlies the view, and I seem to recall this is how I got it to work before.

Any help? Under 3d preferences, I use "from tracks" setting.
I reverted to 2.6, but same problem occurred, so I figure it's a setting somehwhere...perhaps in my video card settings??

Paul Smeulders

[Krein]

Hi,

I had almost forgotten about the 'from tracks' option.  Cool that someone is using it.

I noticed that you have to select "use DEM files if available" in order for it to work, otherwise it will try to download the 3D data.

The 'from tracks' option is also very slow if the model detail is turned up high and you have a lot of tracks loaded. Maybe that needs to be turned down.

Otherwise, I'm not sure what video setting could be causing a problem.  Your system should more than be able to handle any 3D TopoFusion throws at it.  An update of your video driver might be a thing to try, but I doubt it will effect much.

I'm curious why you don't download topo data (and indeed 3D data now that the feature is available)?

Scott

[Paul Smeulders]

one word, hypenated: dial-up. Also, I'm in Canada and not sure the topo data is available or accessed..I may just be ignorant if that has come about.

Seem to have fixed it, I changed my "theatre settings" on video options to single monitor. Also changed detail level, but I swear that didn't immediately change things before. Any way to tun off the white sheet?

Not really important, I honestly don't use the feature much anyway, I just like to test the updates and whether my computer is getting behind on my apps, or if new apps are broken.

thanks
Paul.

[Krein]

Paul,

We don't have topo maps for Canada, but we do have 16 meter satellite imagery.  Hit the 'L' key to switch to it, or select it in the upper right drop down box.

This isn't well documented, but on dial ups it really helps to crank down the 'number of connections' setting (options->preferences->internet) to 1 or 2.  

Plus you can download actual 3D terrain models in Canada too.  Set the 'data source' to Always Download (World) then hit the 3 key.  It isn't all that slow on a dial up.  It helps to turn the 'model detail' setting down as well.

[Paul Smeulders]

Thanks will try someday soon.

Paul.
www.intellicoach.ca

[Kyle]

I thought my system would be fast enough to do 3d views, but I guess not.  It's a P4 2.4ghz with 1gb of ram and a 9800 Pro ATI.   What should be upgraded first, the CPU or the video card?

[Krein]

Kyle,

Your system is faster and bigger than mine and TopoFusion's 3d views are super smooth.

Something must be up.  How much video ram does your 9800 Pro ATI have?  

How slow are we talking?  Unusably slow?  Or just sluggish?

Just to make sure, you do get a 3D model (the problem isn't in the download of the 3D) data, but when you rotate or pan on the model it is too slow?

Also, if you're using a version pre-2.73 try upgrading.  There was a bug that caused odd behaviour if you had topo/aerial tiles that were not finished downloading and went into a 3D view.  This was especially problematic for dial up users.

[Kyle]

I get a 3D model and it's UNBELIEVEABLY slow when I render, pan, and rotate.  The video card has 128mb of ram and it runs fine in games '>   (but they could be using D3D I guess?)
I've got 2.73, and I'll try updating my video card drivers now to see if that'll help.

Edit: Updating the video drivers fixed the problem '>