AliasSTUDIO 2008
for Windows Hardware Qualification
Last Updated: December, 2007
|
Products |
Version |
Software
Date |
Build Number |
| AliasSTUDIO (AutoStudio,
DesignStudio, Studio, SurfaceStudio, StudioViewer, Spider,
Renderers) |
2008 SP1 |
July 23, 2007 |
218949 |
| 2008 |
March 24, 2007 |
211979 |
| AliasSTUDIO
2008 Supported Operating Systems and CPU Platform |
|
|
|
|
Pentium |
Xeon |
Core |
Opteron |
Windows 2000 Pro + SP4 |
Supported |
Supported |
Untested |
Untested |
Windows XP Pro + SP2 |
Supported |
Supported |
Supported |
Supported |
Windows XP x64 Edition |
Untested |
Supported |
Supported |
Supported |
Windows 2003 Server x64 |
Unsupported |
Windows Vista 32 Bit |
Unsupported |
Windows Vista 64 Bit |
Unsupported |
Important Notes:
|
AliasSTUDIO
is a 32-bit application. It is possible to run on both 32 bit and 64
bit editions of Microsoft's Windows operating systems. Refer to table
above.
|
AliasSTUDIO supports the /3GB switch with supported versions of Microsoft Windows.
The /3GB switch allocates 3 GB of virtual address space to an
application that uses IMAGE_FILE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE in the process
header. This switch allows applications to address 1 GB of additional
virtual address space above 2 GB. On Windows XP x64 Edition AliasSTUDIO
is able to use up to 4GB of address space with no modification to the
system.
|
Certain
3rd party software may alter the processor affinity settings, affecting
multi-cpu systems running Alias.exe and its spawned processes. To check
the affinity setting right click on the Alias.exe process inside the
Windows Task Manager and select Set Affinity... ensure that all
available CPUs are enabled.
|
Hardware locks/dongles are not supported on Windows XP x64 Edition.
|
AliasSTUDIO
or its component programs may not launch successfully after installing
Service Pack 2 for Windows XP Professional. If this occurs, you may either unblock the program via
the Windows Firewall Security Alert dialog, or add it as an Exception
in the Exceptions Tab in the Windows Firewall dialog box. For more
information, please see the Microsoft
Update. Similar configurations are necessary for any third party firewall software.
|
In certain
cases some systems running Windows XP Service Pack 2 are unable to
install the HASP device drivers that support USB hardware locks
(USB dongles). If you encounter this problem we suggest that you
download and install the latest HASP4 drivers directly from the Aladdin
support pages found here: http://www.aladdin.com/support/hasp/hasp4/enduser.asp.
It is recommended that you use the Command Line Installation method to
ensure proper installation of the HASP4 driver.
|
In
certain rare cases Windows 2000 SP4 configured machines will encounter
very slow startup times of AliasSTUDIO if the computer has an
active network connection. If possible, it is recommended that you upgrade to Windows XP.
|
|
| General Hardware Requirements |
- 32bit or 64bit Windows Operating System. Refer to Supported Operating System table above
- 1 GB of system memory - 2GB or more highly recommended
- 1 GHz CPU - refer to Operating System and CPU Platform table above
- 128MB
video memory and supported video card with appropriate OpenGL driver.
OpenGL 2.0 driver support is required for advanced rendering features
to work correctly
- 3 button mouse
- Wacom tablet is strongly recommended for any 2D paint workflows (refer to Tablet Support section in this document)
|
Notes on Overlay Planes |
AliasSTUDIO no longer requires support for hardware overlay
planes. All supported graphics cards continue to enable hardware
overlays as part of the OpenGL preset for StudioTools/AliasSTUDIO.
There is no harm in keeping overlays enabled, however you
will see some performance gains by disabling overlay planes on NVIDIA based cards.
|
Notes on Optimizing
Refresh under Microsoft Windows |
Occasionally windows menus may fail to refresh over an
OpenGL window with the default "Fade Effects" setting enabled in the
OS. There are also some refresh issues associated with mouse pointer
shadowing. For optimum performance under Windows 2000 and XP, use the
following settings in the Control Panel:
Display
Properties> Appearance or Effects> Visual Effects> Use
transition effects for menus and tooltips> OFF or Scroll Effect
Mouse
Properties> Pointers> Enable Pointer Shadow> OFF
|
Please Read |
- It may
be possible to successfully use AliasSTUDIO for Windows with a
non-qualified configuration, however, support and maintenance programs
will be subject to the Autodesk Support services guidelines.
- The
configurations shown are subject to change, and additional qualified
configurations may be added after qualification testing has been
carried out.
- The
graphics drivers specified in this table are the drivers that were used
for the qualification process. While it may be possible to use
AliasSTUDIO for Windows successfully on earlier or later drivers, Autodesk
cannot guarantee their performance.
- Autodesk
will continue to explore new candidates for AliasSTUDIO for Windows
qualification and will monitor the current configurations. For
the most recent information on qualification, please refer to www.autodesk.com/qual-charts.
|
| |
| Qualified Hardware Configurations |
| Systems
consisting of any combination of the workstations and graphics cards
listed below are supported for use with AliasSTUDIO. Please review all
documented limitations for a given configuration, in some cases not all
functionality is supported. Please consult workstation vendor for
available graphics configurations. |
| |
| Company |
Models |
Web |
| Dell |
Precision
Workstations:
370, 380, 390, 450, 650, 670, 690, T3400
|
www.dell.com/precision |
| Hewlett Packard |
HP Workstations:
XW9400 (incl. SLi)
XW9300 (incl. SLi)
XW8440
XW8400
XW8200
XW8000
XW6600
XW6440
XW6400
XW6200
XW4400
XW4300
XW4200
|
www.hp.com/workstations |
| IBM/Lenovo |
IBM Intellistations/Lenovo ThinkStations:
IBM Intellistation A Pro [6217, 6224]
IBM Intellistation M Pro [6218, 6219, 6230, 6225]
IBM Intellistation Z Pro [9228]
Lenovo ThinkStation S10 [6483] |
www.ibm.com/intellistation
www.lenovo.com/thinkstation |
| Graphics
Cards and Driver Versions |
|
Graphics
card and driver combination meet all requirements for stable and
acceptable peformance in all functional areas of the software. |
|
Graphics card and driver combination meet some but not all requirements. Limitations exist. |
|
Graphics
card vendor has not provided a suitable driver for qualification. It is
expected that a suitable driver will be released for use with
AliasSTUDIO in the future. |
| Untested |
Configuration not tested by Autodesk and at time of press are not qualified for use with AliasSTUDIO. Use at own risk. |
|
| Advanced Hardware Rendering Features in AliasSTUDIO |
It is now possible to make use of the advanced
capabilities of the graphics hardware to produce higher levels of
realism when using the Hardware Shade functionality inside of
AliasSTUDIO. These features enable more accurate reflection mapping and other effects in hardware. In
order to achieve these results in hardware your graphics card and
driver combination must fully support GLSL (OpenGL Shading Language)
which is part of the OpenGL2.0 specification.
The following table lists features that require GLSL support. In most
cases AliasSTUDIO detects incompatible hardware and will not expose
these advanced features.
Per-Pixel Shading Mode must be selected inside the Hardware Shade options in order to see the advanced shading capabilities.
|
| AliasSTUDIO 2008 Hardware Shade Functionality |
OpenGL 2.0/GLSL Driver Support Required |
Self Shadows |
No |
Shader Glow |
No |
Displacement Mapping |
No |
Planar/Camera Projection Mapping (Color, Transparency) |
No |
Depth of Field |
No |
Ambient Occlusion Calculation and Display |
No |
Cube Map Reflections |
No |
Image Based Lighting |
Yes |
Blinn Shading |
|
Bump/Specular Mapping |
Yes |
All Projection Types (Color, Bump, Transparency, Specular) |
Yes |
Linear/Spot Lights |
Yes |
Advanced Virtual Ground Plane Reflection Control |
Yes |
Advanced Virtual Ground Plane Shadow Control |
Yes |
Environment Reflections |
Yes |
| Wirefile
Compatibility Chart |
AliasSTUDIO
|
| Supported File Formats |
Format
|
Read
|
Write
|
Notes |
Wire
|
|
|
As of version
10.0
StudioTools/AliasSTUDIO wirefiles are backward and forward compatible with newer
versions of AliasSTUDIO. StudioTools 10.0
and later
will read wirefiles written by prior versions, however, prior versions
will not be able to read 10.0 or later wirefiles. We have provided the from100to97.exe translator that
will
convert 10.0 and later wirefiles to 9.7.x wirefiles. |
IGES
|
|
|
|
| STEP
|
|
|
|
DXF/DWG
|
|
|
|
DES
|
|
|
|
NEUTRO
|
|
|
|
CATIA v4
|
|
|
Catia Direct
Connect
available as purchaseable module |
CATIA v5 R11-R17 |
|
|
CatiaV5 Direct
Connect
available as purchaseable module. |
Unigraphics NX3- NX5 (see note) |
|
|
Unigraphics
Direct
Connect not available until further notification |
PTC Granite |
|
|
|
OBJ |
|
|
|
VDAFS |
|
|
|
VDAIS |
|
|
|
JAMAIS |
|
|
|
C4 |
|
|
|
Illustrator
|
|
|
only pre v9.0 .ai
files can be imported into AliasSTUDIO. When exporting files
from Adobe Illustrator be sure to export v8.0 files. AliasSTUDIO Shape
curves can only be exported as Illustrator bezier curves through the
Print interface. It is possible to export to PostScript format which
will flatten all geometry as linear curves. |
EPS |
|
|
|
ProE Render
|
|
|
|
SolidWorks |
|
|
SolidWorks must be licensed and installed in order for SolidWorks import to work.. |
STL
|
|
|
Binary and ASCII
formats
supported. |
|
Maya
|
Maya 4.5 and
above will
read
StudioTools/AliasSTUDIO 10.0 and above wirefiles via studioImport.mll (plugin
shipped
with Maya).
Maya 4.5
exports
StudioTools 9.5.2 wirefiles via MayaToAlias.mll (plugin shipped with
Maya 4.5)
Maya
5.0, 6.0, 6.5, 7.0, 8.0 and 8.5 export StudioTools 9.7.3
wirefiles via MayaToAlias.mll
(plugin
shipped with Maya)
AliasSTUDIO
2008
ships with a
translator that will convert v2008 wirefiles to 9.7.x wirefiles. Refer
to the AliasSTUDIO documentation for more detailed information.
|
I-DEAS
Direct Connect
|
Master Series 8
is compatible with StudioTools 10.0 and later
Master
Series 9
is
compatible with StudioTools 10.0 and later
NX 10
is
compatible with StudioTools 10.0 and later
NX
11 is compatible with StudioTools 10.0 and later
|
| Notice to
I-DEAS
10m1 users: The Freeform Surfacing
option will not appear in the export menu with a clean I-DEAS 10m1
installation. In order to use the Freeform Surfacing option you need to
overlay the m1 patch onto an existing I-DEAS 10 installation. Customers
are urged to contact EDS regarding this matter. |
| Stereo3D
Viewing Capable Graphics Cards |
| AliasSTUDIO
has been tested with CrystalEyes glasses from StereoGraphics
Corporation |
Running at resolutions higher than
1600x1200 may result in a reduction in overall draw speed and is done
at the users own risk.
|
| Anti-Aliasing |
Anti-Aliased display in AliasSTUDIO can be achieved using one of the following methods:
| Anti-Aliasing Controls and Settings |
| Full Scene Anti-Aliasing (FSAA), Driver Controlled |
Graphics
driver Anti-Aliasing control is set to override any application
settings. The entire AliasSTUDIO window is anti-aliased. There is no
distinction between a OpenGL viewport and rest of the application. |
Benefit:
Amount of oversampling only limited by card resources and graphics
memory resulting in extremely smooth shading. Anti-aliased display is
persistent |
| Drawback: It is not possible to toggle anti-aliased display. Can cause noticeable degredation in interactive performance. |
Full Scene Anti-Aliasing (FSAA), Application Controlled |
Anti-Aliasing
control is set to 'Application Controlled' in Graphics Driver with
additional setting in AliasSTUDIO General Preferences. This allows for
AliasSTUDIO to use a 4x Full Scene Anti-Aliasing from the graphics
card. Only modelling windows receive the Anti-Aliasing visual and can
be toggled ON and OFF. |
Benefit: Only
modeling windows receive the Anti-Aliased display resulting in less
visual artifacting. Can be toggled ON and OFF. Anti-aliased display is
persistent |
| Drawback: Can cause mild degredation in interactive performance. |
Camera based Anti-Aliasing |
Anti-Aliasing
is controlled entirely from within the Hardware Shade options and is
only applied when Hardware Shade is enabled. The results are additive
to any existing FSAA if enabled in graphics driver. |
Benefit:
Not dependent on graphics card and can easily be controlled within
AliasSTUDIO without restarting. Various quality settings can easily be
specified for very high quality smoothing. |
| Drawback: Anti-Aliasing
is only active during idle camera positions. It is disabled during
camera moves and animation (playblasts do receive Anti-Aliasing).
Expect delays when used in conjunction with other Hardware Shade
effects. |
|
|
| Tablet
Support |
AliasSTUDIO
has been tested and confirmed to work with the Wacom Intuos2 and
Intuos3 series of tablets using the 6.02-1 driver. Both 4.91-2 and
4.93-3 drivers are known to cause unpredictable pressure response with
the Intuos3 tablets and are not recommended.
Active Tablet Displays: AliasSTUDIO has been
tested and confirmed to work with the Wacom Cintiq 18SX and Cintiq 21UX Active tablets. At time of press Autodesk has confirmed stable and decent
performance under Windows XP. A DVI compatible graphics
card is required to use the Cintiq series of tablets.
Note
Regarding Dual Monitor Configurations: We have encountered a
problem whereby a dual monitor configuration will cause incorrect
cursor behavior when spanning multiple monitors. Autodesk is currently
investigating this problem with Wacom. At this time there is no
solution. Refer to Dual
Monitor Support below for more
information on running AliasSTUDIO with dual monitors.
Tablet Driver Notes/Limitations
Intuos3 Driver: 6.02-1 |
| Limitation |
Opening
and closing Autodesk PortfolioWall may cause problems with the
installed Wacom driver. You will be prompted to re-install the driver
when subsequently running AliasSTUDIO or other applications that make
use of a tablet. |
| Limitation |
When Alt-Shift is mapped to the side buttons, sometimes AliasSTUDIO will lock the camera movement. |
| Solution/Workaround |
Minimize/Maximize AliasSTUDIO |
| Limitation |
Intermittent
problems with
cursor offset after changing Wacom tablet properties |
| Solution/Workaround |
Solved
by
minimizing and
restoring the AliasSTUDIO main window. |
| Limitation |
Intermittent
problems with
tablet input not getting recorded by AliasSTUDIO |
| Solution/Workaround |
Restart
AliasSTUDIO. This is
likely to only occur right after driver installation. |
| Limitation |
5
button mouse
cursor not in
sync with paint stroke after initial driver installation |
| Solution/Workaround |
Reinstall
tablet
driver. |
| Limitation |
Intermittent
loss
of pressure
sensitivity with Grip and Marker Pen. |
| Solution/Workaround |
Reinstall
driver |
|
| Ultra
High Resolution Displays |
AliasSTUDIO
has been tested on the IBM T221 LCD monitor running at a resolution of
3840x2400. Expect reduced performance when comparing a simliar graphics
card running at lower resolutions. Hardware Shading functionality may
be affected due to the increased demand on card resources. This is
especially true if Anti-Aliasing is enabled.
|
| Dual
Monitor Support |
If your graphics
card supports dual monitor outputs please read the following if you
are considering using AliasSTUDIO with multiple displays. There are two
configurations which will affect AliasSTUDIO performance with dual
display output. Not all graphics cards support both configurations.
| Display
Mode One: Two Separate Displays (sometimes referred to as Clone view) |
In this mode
each monitor is running a separate display running at a resolution
which is unique to each monitor. For example, you can have both
monitors set to a resolution of 1280x1024, 1600x1200 etc.
|
Limitations
- AliasSTUDIO
should be run on the primary display. Improvements have been made in
v13 to better support the use of multiple monitors, however it is
recommended that you always run AliasSTUDIO on the primary display for
optimal performance.
- If you
want to use AliasSTUDIO for modelling on the second display, open the
Display properties again and set it as the primary display.
|
| Display
Mode Two: Spanned Desktop |
In this
mode the graphics driver interprets the two displays as one virtual
desktop, so if you run a single monitor at 1280x1024 then the display
resolution in a spanned mode would be 2560x1024.
|
Limitations
When
using Studio with two displays, where one display is the Wacom
Cintiq, you cannot run in a spanned mode. To configure your system
to use the Wacom Cintiq in a dual monitor configuration follow these
steps:
- Uninstall
the Wacom display driver (if you were previously using a regular Wacom
tablet)
- Connect
the Wacom Cintiq to either the first or second graphics port
- Open
the Display Properties, select the Wacom display and set it as the
primary monitor.
- Install
the Wacom display driver
- Open
Settings>Control Panel>Wacom Tablet Properties and select
Calibrate to align the tablet to the Cintiq display.
|
Note: When using a 'spanned' desktop without the Cintiq, AliasSTUDIO runs
properly on both displays.
|
|
| AliasSTUDIO Hardware Limitations |
| Common to All Cards |
| Limitation |
Pull down cascading
menus in rare cases may fail to accept mouse input. |
| Solution/Workaround |
Do not
release mouse button when selecting cascading menu items or restart
AliasSTUDIO. |
| Limitation |
Missing refresh when using mouse scroll wheel to dolly camera in Hardware Shade mode. |
| Solution/Workaround |
This only occurs when Anti-Aliasing is enabled in the Hardware Shade settings. |
| Limitation |
Pick boxes in Action Window leave trails |
| Solution/Workaround |
This is only a display artifact which is cleared when a window refresh occurs. |
| Limitation |
Slow
selection performance with Anti-Aliased surface display. This is more noticeable with large datasets. |
| Solution/Workaround |
Disable
driver controlled Anti-Aliasing in driver control panel or Application
control Anti-Aliasing through Preferences->General
Preferences->Draw |
| |
| Common To All NVIDIA |
| Limitation |
Slower than expected
framerates with animation playback and interactive draw speed. |
| Solution/Workaround |
Disable hardware
overlays in Advanced OpenGL driver properties. |
| |
| Common To All ATI |
| Limitation |
Significant
drop in interactive performance both with playback framerate and
selection if there are open windows obscuring any of the AliasSTUDIO
viewports. |
| Solution/Workaround |
Use Windows Classic
Theme under Display Properties. |
| Limitation |
Display
artifacts may occur during modifications to shader attributes or
Hardware Shade settings while Hardware Shade is active. These artifacts
should only be momentary and are cleared with a refresh. |
| Limitation |
Slow
selection performance with anti-aliased surface display. |
| Solution/Workaround |
Disable Anti-aliased
surface shading in Preferences->General Preferences->Draw and
restart AliasSTUDIO. |
| Limitation |
Hardware based Image Based Lighting (IBL) produce incorrect specular filtering resulting in non-uniform, pixellated reflections. |
| Solution/Workaround |
None |
| Limitation |
Hardware overlays are not
supported when running in a dual monitor configuration. You will
only get hardware overlays if there is only one display active and it
is set to be monitor 1. |
| Limitation |
Shading maps do not display in Hardware Shade |
Limitation
|
None |
| Limitation |
Poor Hardware Shade performance with Ground Plane Reflections and Shadows |
Limitation
|
Full Scene Anti-Aliasing
setting not supported for AliasSTUDIO i.e. using 2x or 4x
Anti-Aliasing. To use Anti-Aliasing in AliasSTUDIO refer to Anti-Aliasing
in AliasSTUDIO. |
| Limitation |
Incorrect cursor display
when cursor is not moving. |
| Solution/Workaround |
Cursor will appear when
you move or select objects. |
| Limitation |
Image Based Lighting (IBL) not supported in hardware shade |
| Limitation |
Poor Hardware Shade performance with Ground Plane Reflections and Shadows |
| Limitation |
Slow
tumble performance with medium to large models
with Point of Interest viewing when AntiAliasing is enabled |
| Solution/Workaround |
Disable
point of
interest in General
Preferences-Input settings or lock the Point of Interest in the View
Panel OR disable AntiAliasing in General Preferences->Draw settings. |
| Limitation |
Slow
Pick Component performance if AntiAliasing is enabled |
| Solution/Workaround |
Disable
Anti-aliasing in Preferences->General Preferences->Draw and then
restart AliasSTUDIO. |
Limitation
|
No accelerated OpenGL with hardware overlays with FX1300 cards |
| Solution/Workaround |
Disable hardware overlays in driver control panel |
|