ArtCAM Pro 5 3D Graphics
 
Introduction
ArtCAM Pro 5 incorporates support for the latest 3D graphics rendering technology. With the right hardware and driver support fully rendered ArtCAM reliefs can be rotated and zoomed in real time. However this advanced rendering requires a fast computer, a modern accelerated graphics card and fully OpenGL compliant graphics drivers.
Unfortunately, every customers computer will not meet these requirements. Portable computers often do not support accelerated 3D graphics, and desktop computers may have older graphics cards or cards with non-compliant OpenGL drivers. For these reasons ArtCAM allows comprehensive control over the configuration of 3D graphic capabilities.
 
Problem Solving
If you are having problems with the 3D graphics drawing in ArtCAM Pro 5 please perform the following steps.
1) Ensure ArtCAM is NOT running
2) Run the SoftwareOpenGL.bat file in the ArtCAM Pro 5 exec directory (usually c:\Program Files\ArtCAM Pro 5\exec\SoftwareOpenGl.bat)
3) Start ArtCAM Pro 5
4) On the initial "Getting Started" page, click on the link in the bottom right corner of the page
5) In the "3D View Options" page which is displayed scroll to the bottom and press the "ArtCAM 4.5 Compatible" button.
We will now check that we are using the correct OpenGL driver.
6) Open a model (or create a new one)-
7) Select "Help - About ArtCAM ..." from the menu bar
8) On the "About ArtCAM" dialog which appears press the "OpenGL Info" button
9) On the "OpenGL Information" dialog which appears ensure the "Version:" field displays "1.2 Mesa 3.0"
NOTE: if the "Version:" field says -Undefined- this usually means that you do not have an ArtCAM model currently loaded
10) ArtCAM is now running using the Software OpenGl Driver
NOTE: The Software OpenGL driver does NOT support double buffering at the present time.
   
Advanced ArtCAM Pro 5 Graphics Configuration
Before going into the settings in detail we will briefly explain some of the terms we use.
   
Double Buffering / Single Buffering
In a single buffered window, anything drawn by ArtCAM appears immediately on the display. When we are drawing a shaded relief, we see the shaded image appearing bit by bit. This was the default display mode for ArtCAM 4.5 and earlier.
In a double buffered window, all drawing is performed to an off-screen buffer, then after all drawing has been completed, the buffer is copied to the screen in one go. In this mode we only see a completely drawn relief, but there may be a delay while nothing appears to be happening, but in actual fact ArtCAM is drawing into the off-screen buffer.
The reason for supporting the double buffered mode is that many modern accelerated graphics cards are MUCH faster at rendering in double buffered mode. In addition when 'twiddling' a scene dynamically (rotating zooming, panning) much smoother graphics can be achieved in double buffered mode with no 'flashing' as each scene is redrawn.
 
Software OpenGL / Hardware OpenGL
OpenGL is a graphics library originally written by Silicon Graphics to support high end 3D computer graphics for CAD and computer animation. It was originally developed for expensive workstations and is now supported by Microsoft on Windows. However on Microsoft Windows the most common use of OpenGl has been for games such as Quake. These games use a small sub-set of the OpenGL library and many of the more games orientated graphic cards have very poor drivers when it comes to supporting the whole OpenGL interface. For this reason, we ship a software emulation of OpenGL called Mesa written originally by a person called Brian Paul and available from the web site www.mesa3d.org.
If you are experiencing problems with your standard OpenGL implementation, follow the instruction in the Problem Solving section at the start of this document. Running the SoftwareOpenGL.bat file in the directory where the ArtCAM Pro 5 executable is installed (usually c:\program files\ArtCAMPro5\exec\SoftwareGl.bat), will copy two files (OpenGL32.dll and Glu32.dll) from the SoftwareGL subdirectory making ArtCAM use the Mesa implementation of OpenGL which should avoid graphic card driver problems. However the Mesa OpenGL implementation is only suitable for use in single buffered mode, as in double buffered mode a number of problems may occur including …

Toolpaths are not drawn as they are calculated
Incorrect colours for model and background
Failure to create 3D view when a second model is opened

If you wish to swap back to your default implementation of OpenGL which may be hardware accelerated, simply run the HardwareOpenGL.bat file in the same location after ensuring that no copy of ArtCAM is currently running.
NOTE: Changing use of Software / Hardware OpenGL can only be done when ArtCAM is NOT running as otherwise the DLL's which need to be copied / deleted will be locked by the running version of ArtCAM.
 
Modifying ArtCAM’s 3D View Settings
Important Notice: The view settings described in this section do NOT work with all graphic card / driver combinations. Delcam cannot guarantee that any of the following settings will work with all the combinations of graphics drivers and 3D graphics cards available on the market today. We have tested as many combinations as possible. Generally cards using the latest NVidia chipsets (GeForce, GeForce2 etc) along with the latest drivers available from NVidia work very well. Cards from ATI tend to have very poor OpenGL driver support and usually require the use of the Software OpenGL drivers.
If any problems are experienced while testing the 3D graphics modes the procedures detailed in the Problem Solving section at the start of this document should be carried out.
ArtCAM's graphic settings are accessed from the Window - 3D View Options menu or on the initial "Getting Started" page - visible when no model is loaded, click on the link in the bottom right corner of the page.
The Window - 3D View Options menu is available even if no model is currently loaded. This ensure that if you choose a graphics mode which is incompatible with your graphics card / drivers and therefore leads to ArtCAM crashing when a model is opened (and hence a 3D window is created) you can reset your graphics mode before opening a model.
After selecting 3D View Options following page is displayed in ArtCAM's Assistant window.
The page is shown here with the full help displayed. Clicking on the Hide Help bar at the top of the page will toggle this inline help on and off. This page allows you to control how ArtCAM draws reliefs and 3D models imported from other programs. In addition there are 3 buttons at the bottom of the page which select some of the most common options.
NOTE: If you change the single buffering / double buffering mode the changes will only take place next time a model is loaded. This is because Windows requires a different type of 3D window to be created.
The image below shows the 3D View Options page with the inline help switched off so that we can explain the options more easily.
The OpenGl Drawing Mode is used to set either Single Buffered or Double Buffered mode (these modes were explained above). Double buffered mode will give the smoothest drawing but some graphics cards and the default Microsoft OpenGL implementation on Windows 2000 have bugs which give rise to various problems using this mode. These problem include black borders to the window edge when the window is resized or not showing the toolpaths being drawn as they are calculated. If problems persist after upgrading to the latest graphics driver then you will need to use Single Buffered mode and possibly the Software OpenGL implementation (see the Problem Solving section of this document).
If the Software OpenGL implementation (Mesa library - see above) is used, Single Buffering should be selected for this option as otherwise toolpaths will not be drawn while being calculated and other problems may be apparent.
NOTE: This setting is only used when the graphics window is first created, so to see the effects of changing this setting the current model if any will need to be closed and reopened.
The Relief Shading Mode controls how ArtCAM shades reliefs. There are two options...
Software Shading - In this mode ArtCAM shades the relief model using its own algorithms indepently of the graphics card. If you have a fast processor but a relatively poor 3D graphics card (common on high end notebooks) this may be the best option. Although this option gives similar results to the Hardware Shading option, the resulting shaded relief may not have exactly the same visual appearance as when rendered using hardware shading.
NOTE: the software shading mode is always used when the Sculpting mode is used within ArtCAM.
Hardware Shading - In this mode ArtCAM shades the relief using lots of small triangles. This mode uses any 3D hardware acceleration available from the graphics card and using a fast graphics card can give very fast rendering times. The size of the triangles used to render the relief is controlled by the drawing detail drop down list on the 3D graphics view toolbar. Obviously the low detail setting will draw faster than the medium and high detail settings.
NOTE: The actual relief shading is controlled by the button on the 3D view toolbar. When this button is pressed in the relief will be drawn shaded, when it is out the relief will be drawn in wire frame mode. In ArtCAM 4.5 and earlier ArtCAM automatically returned to wire frame drawing when the model was ‘twiddled’, this is no longer the case with ArtCAM 5 - to return to wire frame drawing the button should be clicked again.
The Twiddling Resolution controls how reliefs are drawn when the view is being rotated, zoomed or panned (by clicking the left, right or both mouse buttons and dragging in the 3D view). There are three options available...
Box - In this mode, just the bounding box of the relief is drawn while the view is being ‘twiddled’. This is the fastest mode and is most suitable for slower computers / graphics cards.
Wireframe - In wireframe mode a simplified wireframe grid of the relief is drawn. This makes it easier to zoom in on a particular area. This mode is a useful compromise between Box mode and Shaded mode.
Shaded - In this mode ArtCAM renders a shaded version of the relief in real time. The drawing resolution of the shaded relief is dynamically reduced to ensure a reasonable frame rate is maintained. This mode requires a fast graphics card to work properly and is only really suitable for use with Double Buffering (see above) as otherwise the result will be very ‘flickery’.
The 3D Object Drawing drop down list controls how 3D objects imported from STL, DXF and 3D Studio file formats using the File - Import - 3D Model menu are displayed. There are two options...
Wireframe - the model is drawn using wireframe. Each triangle in the model is drawn as three lines.
Shaded - the model is drawn as a 3D ‘solid’ by shading each triangle in the model as a solid face.
Generally a fast graphics card is required for shaded mode, but even with a fast graphics card some models are easier to visualise when drawn in wireframe mode.

After making changes to any of the above setting the Apply button must be used to make the changes take effect. If a change of buffering mode is made, ArtCAM will remind the user that this change will only take effect the next time a model is opened.

The last section of the page contains three buttons which pick some default setting for some common scenarios. These are...

Fast OpenGL Machine - this is for fast computers with a fully OpenGL compliant accelerated graphics card. This option will give the best shading results but unfortunately is not supported by all graphics cards.

Fast Non-OpenGL Machine - this setting should be used for fast computers with out accelerated graphics cards or if there are driver problems with the graphics card.

ArtCAM 4.5 Compatible - this setting should be used if there are problems with either of the two above options or if the computer is relatively slow. If problems persist in this mode switching to the Software OpenGL drivers as described in the Software OpenGL / Hardware OpenGL section at the start of this document should cure the problem.