16 Replies Latest reply on Nov 18, 2011 9:52 AM by Ron Bates

    Photoview 360 workspace environment

    Luke Harris
    Luke Harris Nov 14, 2011 8:13 AM

      Hey all,

       

      i am trying to get to grips with using Photoview in soldiworks. I am having diffulty getting to grips with using the hdr enviroments (the tutorials make it look so easy!). Anyway the difficulty im having at the moment is that when i load my photoview i do not get the same window that i see in all of the tutorials? my window is the top image, the tutorial image is the bottom). These tabs appear to hove some sort of advantage, as when i watch the tutorials the user is able to rotate the view whilst it is preview rendering, and can also adjust the environment accordingly. The closest i get to this is to pull the preview window to the side and twist it about in the back ground, which is quite irritating and takes longer.

      Any ideas?

       

       

      Cheers,

      Luke

      Screen Shot 2011-11-14 at 14.15.01.png

       

      Screen Shot 2011-11-14 at 14.08.14.png

        • Re: Photoview 360 workspace environment
          Rob Rodríguez
          Rob Rodríguez Nov 14, 2011 8:29 AM (in response to Luke Harris)

          That's because the tutorial is done in 2010 and it looks like you are in 2011.  In 2011 PV360 was integrated inside of SW.  In 2010 it's a standalone application.

           

          You do have different preview options in 2011.  You are using the preview window option.  If you choose the Integrated preview option (icon on render tools toolbar) the entire SW graphics area will become the preview and it will work much the same as it does in 2010.

          • Re: Photoview 360 workspace environment
            Luke Harris
            Luke Harris Nov 14, 2011 9:19 AM (in response to Luke Harris)

            Ive tried resetting it. This view always appears like this, thus previously i just assumed that it was the way it was suppose to be. Is there any buttons etc i need to press/tick in addition? Also, i dont know if this helps, but when i carry on regardless and try to work in this view, when i rotat emy model it disapears until i stop rotating???

             

            this picture shows you how the integrated view button is activated:

            Screen Shot 2011-11-14 at 15.23.27.png

            • Re: Photoview 360 workspace environment
              Ron Bates
              Ron Bates Nov 14, 2011 10:14 AM (in response to Luke Harris)

              Lets step back a second.

               

              Go back to the preview window option and forget about the integrated preview.

               

              If you launch the preview window, and then rotate the model in the SolidWorks graphics area, or change the appearance on the model, does the preview window continuously update correctly?

              • Re: Photoview 360 workspace environment
                Luke Harris
                Luke Harris Nov 14, 2011 10:46 AM (in response to Luke Harris)

                Hello Rob,

                 

                yes it does, but the problem is i have to have 2 windows open, which is irritating as it it, but i also dont have space on my desktop to view them both at once so i have to flick back and forth from my assembly to my preview window. like this:

                 

                Screen Shot 2011-11-14 at 16.48.57.png

                • Re: Photoview 360 workspace environment
                  Luke Harris
                  Luke Harris Nov 14, 2011 11:53 AM (in response to Luke Harris)

                  yep i tried that and what i get now is the background blacks completely out (see below) and when i hover the mouse over my component parts of it turn black.

                   

                  my graphics card is: NVIDIA GeForce 320M 256 MB

                   

                  my resoluton is: 1152 x 720

                   

                  Screen Shot 2011-11-14 at 17.54.57.png

                    • Re: Photoview 360 workspace environment
                      Ron Bates
                      Ron Bates Nov 16, 2011 2:26 PM (in response to Luke Harris)

                      It looks like it's a resource issue on the card.  The bigger the window, the larger the chucnk of memory that has to be tossed back and forth between the solidworks executable and the render engine.  We haven't seen this though, and it's odd that the entire screen isn't black and you still see OpenGL geometry and triad.  It looks like you have SW still maximized and the window itself made a bit smaller.  Can you try unmaximizing SW entirely, while leaving the model window maximized inside the SW application frame?  And really shrink it down to about 50% of your desktop.  Also, don't even start the preview until you first do the downsizing of the application window.  We'll get a similar setup here with a GeForce 320 M to try out.  Thats' a consumer level card and not a workstation card so we don't run them through certification.  Can you also let us know what OS you're running?  And what yoru graphics driver version looks like?

                       

                      Ron

                    • Re: Photoview 360 workspace environment
                      Luke Harris
                      Luke Harris Nov 16, 2011 2:44 PM (in response to Luke Harris)

                      Ok, i have tried your suggestion and still getting no results. Is there anyway that i can change some sort of settings with my card maybe? I am using windows XP. Otherwise would it be worth me purchasing anew card? would be a shame to have to.

                       

                       

                      Cheers Ron,

                      Luke

                        • Re: Photoview 360 workspace environment
                          Anna Wood
                          Anna Wood Nov 16, 2011 3:23 PM (in response to Luke Harris)

                          Luke,

                           

                          Are you using a laptop or a desktop computer?  I am thinking laptop by the M designation on your video card.

                           

                          What brand and model of laptop are you using?

                           

                          With a laptop you can't swap out the GPU.  They are hard soldered to the motherboard.

                           

                          Cheers,

                           

                          Anna

                          • Re: Photoview 360 workspace environment
                            Ron Bates
                            Ron Bates Nov 17, 2011 1:14 PM (in response to Luke Harris)

                            Anna's right.  "M" almost always designates the mobile version.  But you shouldn't have to upgrade your card.  The card is used for a very simple/basic task of just image copying in memory.  We've now tested this on 2 or 3 different GeForce consumer cards with 256 MB of video ram, as well as integrated nVidia graphics, and had no issues with integrated preview. I'm not certain of this, but isn't the GeForce 320m the offering on 2010 version of Apple MacBook Pro's?  If that's what you're running, I'd be interested in knowing how you're running windows.  ie Bootcamp?  Virtual Machine (Parallels or VMWare)? Also, a driver version would be useful.

                              • Re: Photoview 360 workspace environment
                                Luke Harris
                                Luke Harris Nov 18, 2011 5:58 AM (in response to Ron Bates)

                                Cheers

                                 

                                 

                                Your are correct it is a macbook pro, but early 2011, runing lion and i upgraded the memoryfrom 4gb  to 8gb (if thats any help). I am runing parralels desktop with the xp operating system. Excuse my lack of knowledge but what and where is the driver version? Or is the information i provided enough? Also on a similar note is it possible to transfer my assembly scene settings to another assemblie? I have set up some lighting in a sub-assembly that i would like to have in my final assembly, and wondered if there was a way to copy it without having to mirror the settings manually?

                                 

                                 

                                 

                                Thanks

                                  • Re: Photoview 360 workspace environment
                                    Ron Bates
                                    Ron Bates Nov 18, 2011 9:52 AM (in response to Luke Harris)

                                    Hi Luke,

                                     

                                    Thanks for the extra info.  Go to the Apple icon in upper left, About this Mac, System Report, Grapihcs/Displays and you should see it lists the 320M along with other information.  What is the ROM version?

                                     

                                    As for the scene settings; yes.  For the model which has the scene/ligthing setup the way you want, Edit the scene, go to the Advanced tab and choose to Save the scene.  This saves everything in a re-usable scene fiile.  More explicitely, go to the Display Manager tab (right right of feature manager tab area), Click the "Scene, Lights, and Cameras".  Right click the Scene node and Edit it.  Click the Advanced tab and use the Save button at the bottom.  The Scene will now appear in the "Appearances, Scenes and Decals" task manager tab on the right side of SW and you can drag/drop your new cusotm scene to any model to get the same setup.

                                     

                                    Ron