Spineless Splines in SP 5?

[Cryo1]

Has anyone lost their ability to create splines with SW2003 SP 5.0? I can still create a spline on drawings but cannot in a part file. This is with 2D and 3D sketches. The tool will put down the spline points but no interconneting line between the points.

B-(

 

[PlasticFantastic]

Sounds like a video card problem to me. Do you have an ATI card?

 

[NathanN]

ATI cards are not inherently bad for SolidWorks. In fact, the FireGL series is based on much better hardware than the Quadro. As has been stated before, the key is to check if the card is approved by SolidWorks, which generally means a workstation class card.

http://www.solidworks.com/pages/services/VideoCardTesting.html?pid=383

I do agree that it sounds like a video card problem.

 

[TheTick]

faq559-715

 

[Cryo1]

No, this does not appear to be a video card problem. The problem was noticed after loading SP5.0. The card in question is a Wildcat II 5000.

 

[SBaugh]

That has to be a video problem, because it works fine here. If your not seeing it then check your background color with your sketch line colors. Get the latest drivers for your video card. Try uninstalling or backing up a SP if you used the WI install. If you do a reinstall do a clean reinstall per my FAQ. Check it on another machine.

Regards,

Scott Baugh, CSWP
3DVision Technologies

http://www.3dvisiontech.com

http://www.scottjbaugh.com

faq731-376

 

[Arlin]

To verify weather it is a video problem or not, open SWX, go to Tools/Options/System Options/Performance and check the 'Use Software OpenGL' checkbox. (Note: this must be done with no documents open).

If the issue goes away, it is most definately a video driver issue.

 

[Cryo1]

Good Suggestion Arlin. The "Use Software OpenGL" was turned off. Normally, I have it selected. Turning it on solved my spline problems. Were you suggesting turning it on or off in your post?

Is this a graphics card problem or a SP 5.0 problem?

 

[Arlin]

I was suggesting turning 'Use Software OpenGL' on.

By enabling 'Use Software OpenGL,' you are completely bypassing the video card's hardware OpenGL functions and instead your system processor takes care of the OpenGL calculations. This can drastically reduce performance. If you always turn this option on, you could just as well use a cheap $20 video card.

The 'Use Software OpenGL' option is not meant as a solution, but only as a troubleshooting device.

The Wildcat II 5000 is a good CAD-level card and should not have problems with SWX. The SWX website shows this card as certified for SWX. Try these SWX certified drivers:
Win2K - 05.05.05.16
WinXP - 06.05.05.16
NT4 - 04.04.02.04

 

[Cryo1]

Arlin,

Where do I find this Win2K driver? I'm at 5.5.2.9.

The spline function worked prior to SP5.0.

 

[Arlin]

I dunno, I just pulled these driver versions off of the SolidWorks certified list. Newer versions SHOULD be ok, but SolidWorks has not officially certified them.

I am guessing that you actually had this problem all along, but you had the 'Use Software OpenGL' option checked. Then SP5.0 reset that setting to unchecked.

 

[JNR]

Do be careful when consulting the approved driver list. You need to figure out the date and/or the version and SP level that the card was tested against in addition to the graphics driver revision. Just because it appears on the list does not mean it works for all revs and SP's. There are other issue relating to other hradware and Windows versions that affect this also. We found that the FireGL series was a dead loss for SW2003 and up. I'm not aying they are not great graphics cards, but what works great for, say for sake of arguement, games does not necessarily work at all well for SolidWorks. If you go back to SW2003 vintage and look at some of the posts (not all the titles appear to relate to graphics though - many areunder crashes, speed, performance, etc.) you will find a great deal of discussion on this subject and some surprising findings. Frankly if ever you are going to buy new cards I would cut your losses and risks and go with Quadros merely because SW2004 was baselined on this series. We have never had a graphics issue using Quadros since 2003 came out.

3/4 of all the Spam produced goes to Hawaii - shame that's not true of SPAM also.......