3D drivers and NVidia

[Jefferson Grigsby]

Before XP64 I was a big fan of the Maxtreme drivers and was using them since release 4. However, NVIDIA seems either unable or unwilling to update them for the 64 bit OS and has now released an updated Direct3D driver which they claim they worked hand and hand with Autodesk to develop. My gripe with direct 3D is

 

Poor display speed when creating splines in complex scenes

Low Texture preview resolution

Odd Artifacts

Instability

Switches in and out of default lighting on its own

Several other oddities

It is basically a gaming driver

 

Direct 3d was never a professional 3D driver and did not have the features, speed, or quality that Maxtreme offered.

 

I tried the new direct 3D driver and it does not seem to offer any enhancements over the Microsoft versions. I also noticed that it crashed more (fast exit), and even refused to display anything in a complex scene file, giving me a black screen and prompting me to restart max. We paid a lot of money for out NVIDIA Quadro cards and it has been over a year since they have even attempted to update the driver. My understanding of why the quadro cards cost significantly more then the game cards has less to do with the hardware itself and more about driver support and driver optimizations.

 

My question is why bother buying these hi-end content creation cards if the driver support no-longer exists?

 

Does anyone else have any insight into this? In my estimation, NVIDIA is charging a premium for their quadro line and not stepping up to the plate with Max Driver support.

 

Thanks

Jefferson Grigsby

[Ernest Burden III]

My understanding of why the quadro cards cost significantly more then the game cards has less to do with the hardware itself and more about driver support and driver optimizations.

 

My question is why bother buying these hi-end content creation cards if the driver support no-longer exists?

 

What had nVidia said about this? You have emailed them, perhaps the sales department, to ask?

 

You are right, the hardware is similar if not identical to the gForce line. You shouldn't have to forget OpenGL to work with your program. I'm a long-time nVidia buyer, so I agree with you completely. They need to support their high-end line with up to date drivers. I'm sorry to hear they are not. yet.

 

Write them, mention you will be posting their reply for many of their prospective customers to read.

[Brian Cassil]

What had nVidia said about this? You have emailed them, perhaps the sales department, to ask?

 

I've done this in regard to the MaxTreme drivers and gotton nothing but a 'your question is being processed' response. It does indeed feel like there is a lot of hoopla about the high end graphics card from nVidia when released but very lacking in updates and support from then on.

[AJLynn]

If you're using Max9, Direct3D is now the standard - so maybe there's no good reason for Max users to buy Quadro cards anymore. I think nVidia's going to need to address this soon.

[Ernest Burden III]

If you're using Max9, Direct3D is now the standard

 

Because Discreet says so? Or just that the drivers aren't keeping up in OpenGL? Heidi went away, I guess. Can Direct3D match OpenGL performance?

[Tim Nelson]

Even in Max8, Direct3D beats OpenGL if you are using a GeForce card. If you have a quadro card, then Maxtreme is better than D3D.

[AJLynn]

Because Discreet says so? Or just that the drivers aren't keeping up in OpenGL? Heidi went away, I guess. Can Direct3D match OpenGL performance?

 

They made a bunch of changes to the Direct3D integration, and added a Direct3D section to material definitions - you can use or bake a Direct3D texture and have that in your viewport. I think that's really there to make things easier on game designers - since most Windows games are D3D, it makes your Max display almost like WYSIWYG.

 

Whether D3D is now going to be faster than Maxtreme... well, I'd really like to see a new version of Maxtreme for Max9, maybe Maxtreme would still beat D3D in some applications. I would expect D3D to give its best performance with low poly scenes with very detailed texturing (that's what it was designed for - optimized for games) and Maxtreme to better handle high-poly scenes. If it works out that way I'd take Maxtreme.

[Jefferson Grigsby]

YEs, Direct 3D is now faster then open GL, but the quality is lacking, and the material editor is now painfully slow when updateing material samples in large scenes.

 

As far as maxtreme, it gave you the option to display textures up to 4096x4096, provided you have a card with 512megs onboard. This was great for tracing over hand sketches, satellite images, or PDF CAD files. D3D only allows you to display up to 512x512, this is very poor IMO.

 

Forget getting any sort of Educated response from the people at NVIDIA, I too have tried several times unsuccesfully over the course of the last year to get any info regarding work station drivers fro MAx 9 and XP 64.

 

They are offering a new Direct 3D driver on their downloads section, but it offers no additional features or enhancements over the Microsoft driver. It also crashes and locks up max about 100% of the time, it is complete garbage.

 

At the last autodesk event I attemnded, they mentioned something about releasing new drivers for MAX 9, but I am left to assume that the new NVIDIA release is hat they are referring to. They if anyone should understand the importance of having hi-res textures in a viewport.

 

WHY OH WHY did ELSA have to go out of business????!!??

[AJLynn]

So I just noticed that there is a Maxtreme for Max9 D3D. Haven't had a chance to try it yet...

[Jefferson Grigsby]

yes, this is the autodesk driver I was referring to. It does not add any adidtional fatures, nor is it stable enough for professional use. I would really like a driver that allows for Hi-res textures in the viewport. I think that in itself could justify the addtional 500-600 we sink into these cards. Otherwise I see little reason to continue purchasing the Quadro line.

[Brian Cassil]

For me, hi-res textures in the viewport is a must, since I work frequently from sketches rather than cad plans.

[Jefferson Grigsby]

Figured out why I can not use it, as with previous versions of the maxtreme plugin, it does not work in xp 64. Has anyone with windows xp gotten this plugin to work??

[Patrick French]

Hello.

 

I am resurrecting a machine that has AGP slots. I am just setting up a temporary machine that will run AC and max faster than on my laptop, where I am currently do a lot of work. What card around 200 bucks (okay, maybe 300 tops) would you knowledgable folks recommend? [does anyone have an old one lying around]? I will splurge on a top card later. It sounds like price does not always relate to performance. Your advice is greatly appreciated.

 

Patrick

[AJLynn]

You've got some options.

 

-Get a newish card, gamer style, that's available in AGP. There are several Geforce options.

-Get a used card on Ebay. I actually see some Quadro FX 3000 cards with $200-200 as the Buy It Now price (search for agp quadro). This is what I would do, but I like my hardware cheap and "interesting"

-Get a Radeon x1xxx series card that can softmod up to a FireGL. Some research would be needed to see exactly which versions this works on.

[Patrick French]

Awesome help.

 

Which direction should I go if I want to use the Maxpress or other specialized drivers? I was already thinking of a Quadro 3000, but worried when I realized it was 3 years old.

 

Thanks...