Performance Tuning (Concept)

Examines your graphics card and 3D display driver and decides whether to use software or hardware implementation for features that support both.

Features that cannot work properly on your system are turned off. Some features may work but not be recommended for use with your graphics card or 3D graphics display driver. You can turn these on at your own risk.

NoteIf you are using a graphics card that does not support all of the available hardware effects, you can plot a drawing through software emulation. (To enable the emulation of hardware effects in software, enter 3dconfig at the Command prompt. In the Adaptive Degradation and Performance Tuning dialog box, click Manual Tune. Then click Emulate Unsupported Hardware Effects in Software When Plotting.)

The performance tuner creates a log that reports the graphics card and 3D display driver found on your system and the on or off status of effects. The Current Effects Status section displays the settings of the current display driver. An example of the Current Effects Status section might look like the following:

Geometry acceleration:  Available and on

Smooth line display:	Available and on

Gooch shader:		 Available and using hardware

Full-shadow display:	Available and on

Texture compression:	Available and on

You can manually turn on and off features that your system supports, recommended or not.

The log that is created by the performance tuner not only displays information about the current application driver, but also displays information about all the available application drivers and which effects are supported. This information is in the Available Application Drivers and Effect Support section. By using the information that is displayed, you can make the best decision about which application driver to use for your graphics card such as Open GL, Direct 3D, or the Software driver. The Available Application Drivers and Effect Support section might look like the following:

Software driver

Effect support:

Geometry acceleration:  Not available

Smooth line display:	Not available

Gooch shader:		 Software emulation only

Full-shadow display:	Not available

Texture compression:	Not available

OpenGL driver:	Certified

Effect support:

Geometry acceleration:  Available

Smooth line display:	Available

Gooch shader:		 Available

Full-shadow display:	Available

Texture compression:	Available

Direct3D driver:  Certified

Effect support:

Geometry acceleration:  Available

Smooth line display:	Not available

Gooch shader:		 Available

Full-shadow display:	Available

Texture compression:	Available

NoteTo display full shadows in viewports, hardware acceleration is required. When Geometry Acceleration is off, full shadows cannot be displayed in viewports. (To access these settings, enter 3dconfig at the Command prompt. In the Adaptive Degradation and Performance Tuning dialog box, click Manual Tune.)

NoteWhen Texture Compression is turned on, the amount of video memory required to open a drawing that contains materials with images or has attached images is decreased. By using the effect it can reduce the amount of video memory necessary to display the drawing, but the downside to this effect is it may increase the time it takes to load the images the first time that they are accessed. Also, there is a reduction in the quality of the images when they are displayed in the viewport or plotted. (To access these settings, enter 3dconfig at the Command prompt. In the Adaptive Degradation and Performance Tuning dialog box, click Manual Tune.)

Certification Updates

As more graphics cards and 3D display drivers are tested, they are added to a list on the Autodesk website. You can check for updates and download the latest list at any time. In the Adaptive Degradation and Performance Tuning dialog box, click Check for Updates.