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Should you run into any troubles with the software we support, please select your software in the menu on the left and look for answers to many known problems.
In case your problem is not listed, feel free to contact us. Simply
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or call (+31) (0) 344 577884.
Before you mail or call, make sure to keep the following information at hand:
- What is the name and version of the software you are using (e.g. Google SketchUp Pro 6.0.1145 or Concepts 3D 4.3)?
- What operating system are you using (e.g. Windows XP, Mac OS 10.4.3, ...)?
- What error do you encounter, what is the exact error message?
- What are the steps you undertake before the error appears?
- Does it happen every time, with every file and on every system you have?
In case you see screen or print errors, what is the exact videocard you have?
In case you have installation troubles, do you have proper rights on the system and/or network?
In case you have a "How to..." - question, please visit our training section.
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If you see screen errors or instable behaviour of our 3D software, it is very likely to be the videocard causing troubles.
The videocard should support OpenGL very well. OpenGL is like the alphabet of 3D language for your system. Some cards claim they understand it, but don't know all the characters. And our software really use all characters in the OpenGL alphabet!
So if you are looking for a new system or upgrade, pay extra attention to the videocard. We do not recommend cards that are integrated on the motherboard. They often share the system RAM and perform very poorly. Intel delivers many of these.
We do recommend cards with a nVidia chipset. The more expensive GeForce types perform well, as do the real OpenGL nVidia chips: Quadro. The Quadro performs really well yet is more expensive than the GeForce series.
We recommend 256 Mb of RAM or more to get good performance with textured imaging.
Photorealistic rendering is mainly calculated by the system processor, not the videocard. So more processors helps in that process. The videocard handles all the performance while working in OpenGL 3D mode in your applications.
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For some reason, Microsoft abandoned the support for OpenGL in their newest operating system Windows Vista. OpenGL is the language that your operating system and your application use for communicating 3D information with the videocard. You can imagine that the lack of support for this language has a serious negative effect on the performance of your 3D software, which is why we don't recommend switching to Vista without trying it first. Our software is Vista compatbile, but that doesn't mean it runs well. Be aware.
If Microsoft does not bring back the support for OpenGL, 3D software like Google SketchUp Pro has to be rewritten for Direct3D which is very time and money consuming. Frankly, we don't know what the future will bring. |
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