X6 not showing any 3d views... :(

[mctabish]

I just upgraded to X6 and when I try to do any viewing of 3d, all I get is a white frame.
I am using this on my laptop (Lenovo t520). I have downloaded some plans from chief architect plans and duplicated the same issue, so it is not a corrupt .plan. I have gone into display options and enable all layers but still having issues.

X5 works fine.

This is a brand new install of Win7 pro (x64) as of Thursday. Still very clean.

Not sure what else to add.

Please advise, where/what to do from here.

Thanks
Bruce

[gteacher]

Sorry to hear your having issues with X6. if X5 works fine, this is an issue that you would want to talk to tech support and let them "walk" you through it. I assume you have all layers turned on in full view and used Fill window? So probably a installation problem?

[Mark]

Someone i know had the same problem his laptop had a onboard video card and a better separate video card he had to tell chief to use separate video card by opening it shortcut properties compatabilty

there will be other that no more about this

[lbuttery]

most likely a video card issue

update drivers, integrated cards don't work well
Nvidia cards are recommended
1 GB or more video ram recommended

Lew

[mctabish]

Yeah... Thats what I figured. Bummer. I'll call em on Monday.

I did try both of those suggestions.

I guess I will D/L x5 (32 bit). My whole purpose was to import SKP files and the 62 bit X6 has it built in to import SKP.

Thanks
Bruce

[Electromen]

Sorry to hear your having issues with X6. if X5 works fine, this is an issue that you would want to talk to tech support and let them "walk" you through it. I assume you have all layers turned on in full view and used Fill window? So probably a installation problem?

Gerry,
I live in Irwin, PA. I'm an electrical contractor, we should meet sometime.
Sorry, now we return to our regular scheduled program.
Greg

[mctabish]

Thanks all! You got me pointed in the right direction! I forgot to switch on the nVidia drivers after the reinstall of win. It does seem that x5 will use native intel fine, but x6 does not. This should be added to trouble shooting steps!

Cheers and thanks all!

Bruce

[alan11]

I had a similar problem with the on-board graphics on my HP Laptop. This is the advice I received on this forum and it worked. You may find it useful if you haven't solved the problem completely.

"Try to turn off "Hardware edge smoothing" in the preferences / render DBX. Those cards have been known to cause problems. I would buy a new NVidia video card. It doesn't have to be a new one, just maybe a 600 series or newer. "

Alan

[Ian Pellant]

It is a problem with integrated graphics - typically laptops and tablets.

X5 works well enough on my ASUS VivoTab - Windows 8.1. Only functional loss is Plants - they will not display in camera, but will ray trace.
X6 Build 16.0.3.41x32 will not display any 3D views.

Problem is most likely inadequate OpenGL support on integrated graphics devices.

This is a problem that needs to be addressed for offices like ours where we are implementing tablets (Lenovo) for the site construction supervisors. We are using MS Project and MS Access based apps, so need Win 8 tablets. (No iPads!!). To review / markup Chief Plans on site would be nice (waiting on the x6 Viewer).

If Room Planner was available for Win Tablets, then the loss of X6 would not be so annoying.

As it stands, it is possible that the current X6 will not work on most Windows 8x portable computers due to limited OpenGL support.

Most Integrated Graphics are by Intel... and they are not great supporters of OpenGL.

[Ian Pellant]

Oops... Correction...

Turned of all rendering options and X6 now produces 3D views.

Turning each back on to see where major troubles occur.

Show Shadows will cause a lock up.

[Ryan Matern]

Which integrated cards are you experiencing problems with?

[Ian Pellant]

Hi Ryan,

The problem is with the Intel integrated graphics that is built into the range of tablet pcs's using the Intel Atom CPU Z2760 @ 1.80 GHz. It's a 4 core processor with very low power drain (tablet is good for 10 hours per full charge). 2GB RAM. 64GB SSD. Running Windows 8.1 x32. Graphics may even be on the CPU chip (don't know... these are very small and compact chip designs).

Intel Graphics Medis Accelerator DAC Type LVDS, HDMI Shared System Memory 981 MB
Min Graphics Memory 64MB
Max Graphics Memory 981MB
Driver version 9.14.3.1177

The computer is an ASUS VivoTab.
We are equipping the site guys with Lenovo Tablet 2 computers which cost twice the AUSUS and have many more business oriented options... but has the same CPU and graphics chipset. I suspect many new compact portable devices sporting the Atom chipset will have this graphics processor.

Graphics Memory in Use with Chief X6 loaded: 71MB

By disabling all of the X6 graphics options, the render camera does a fair job. House model will spin quickly. Add textures and it slows down a bit... not a problem really.

However: the big fail at the moment are vector camera views. They look OK until he mouse cursor moves over the view.. at which time the scaling of the cursor goes very high and the view becomes a big arrow with thick blue lines.

I have X5 on the same computer. It does not have the vector view problem.... I am trying the different vector view render options and not having much luck with X6. Which is a problem, because the main use on these hihgly portable computers is pragmatic design review - mostly vector work.

Only loaded X6 on Monday night. Presently using the tablet on X5 to review all my custom template and symbol settings while confuguring new templates and updating symbols on X6 on a desktop computer. Vector orthogonal views with X6 on the desktop computer with full OpenGL hardware acceleration are now much faster than the X4 / X5 drop (compared to X2). I guess a lot of code churn.

Cheers,
Ian

[Ian Pellant]

Hi Ryan

Further problem with X6 3D camera view rendering...

Shadows are completely broken for external views. Sunlight source is not being recognised. Totally black vew render when shadows are turned on. Toggling sunlight will "turn on the light" but shadows are not being cast. Tested against X5... same computer. Desktop with x64. Full OpenGL hardware acceleration. Same test case plan works fine on X5; total fail on X6.

Definite regression.

Cannot get any useful orthogonal vector 3D views on the Windows Tablet. Tried all options. Worst case is a trail of three progressively larger cursor arrows with blue crosshairs obliterating the view. Seems to be the cursor bit blit overlay gone mad.

Cheers,
Ian

[DavidH]

Ian,
I think you raise an important issue about support for laptops- It's important for CA to support the use of laptops, and not assume that users will be using desktops with their more powerful graphics cards. Increasingly I don't print drawings, I just supply the computer model to the foreman who then has complete information to answer questions in the field. However, I am currently stuck on X5 because X6's new rendering method needs a faster card than my laptop (or I suspect most laptops) possess. I believe that in the future printed drawings will be obsolete, and I wonder if CA understands this trend and will engineer graphics that are laptop viewable. This is particularly important because Chief's market has always been builders and designer/builder types, not large office architectural firms.

David Hornstein
www.light-house-design.com

[Ian Pellant]

Hi David,

There are desk jockeys and there are site guys and there are builders. CA has drifted towards the desktop and missed the ultra portable user. Current trend here is for home builders to use smart phones for email, take site photos and basic office work while going from one house to another under construction. This is where a lot of time costs are incurred. Portable devices are becoming essential.

Microsoft has not done a good job in explaining Windows 8. Once you buy into having a Winows 8 Tablet AND a Windows 8 desktop and then use Office 365, the story becomes clear... do the heavy data creation on the desktop; save the documents on Skydrive, then access them from the Tablet for data review and lightweight editing. This is the Windows 8 mobile office. Brilliant.

I'm trialing the use of Skydrive for CA Plan / Layout files. Wortk I do in the office can be accessed from home on my home desktop, of from anwhere else, from the Tablet. This is a fantastic business model that suits home builders very well. So far, one local company uses Google docs and Sketchup type apps... get the picture?

Chief once worked well on micro devices. X2 rendering works OK on my 2009 vintage HP Netbook. Later versions progressively lost capability. X6 will not do 3D on it.

We need Windows Tablet capable viewing / reviewing functionality on Chief Architect.

The X6 new features list includes mirror reflections in the perspective render camera... ummm... cute... but it don't make money for the home builders I know.

The current X6 Beta has problems with the 3D renderers... it needs to be fixed before full product release.

Cheers,
Ian