In order to use your card in your PC it is necessary to install a package of basic programs, regardless of the operating system you use.

Put the SuperCD into your CD drive and start the installation as follows:

1. Normally the SuperCD will autorun and you will see the SuperCD installation menu. If you do not get the installation menu automatically, click the START button in the task bar, select the option Run, and then type X:\START.EXE (where 'X' is the drive letter for your CD-ROM drive).
   
   
2. Choose English as your language for the installation.
   
   
3. Click the Start Installation button.
   
   
4. If necessary, select the hardware for which you wish to install; this is displayed in the Product drop-down list. The installation program usually recognizes your hardware automatically.
   
   
5. Click the Next button.
   
   
6. If desired, enter a path to which the software will be installed.
   
   
7. Click the button corresponding to the type of installation you want. If you select Custom, a list of software components will be displayed. Click the check boxes to specify the components you want to install.
   
   
8. A README file will be displayed. Please read this file!
   
   
9. After you have read the README, click Next.
   
   
10. When prompted to restart your computer, choose Yes.
    
    
11. Click Start - Settings - Control Panel - Display - Settings, or click with the right mouse button on the Windows desktop, select Properties and Settings. Set the resolution, color depth, and refresh rate that best suit your requirements and your monitor's performance.
    
    
12. Click OK.
    

The basic software is now installed. To install and configure the drivers you need for the different operating systems and applications you are using, please read the relevant sections that follow.

Notes:

• If Windows 95 displays a "New Hardware Found" message:
  • From the "New Hardware Found" menu, click NEXT.
  • Continue clicking NEXT until the FINISH button appears.
  • Now click the FINISH button.
  • Click YES to restart the computer.
  • When the computer restarts, insert the SuperCD into your CD-ROM drive and continue the software installation.

• Note for advanced Windows 95 users: The INF files for driver installation are on the CD in the \DRIVERS directory.

• When prompted for the location of your driver files:
  • enter X:\DRIVERS where 'X' is the drive letter of your CD-ROM drive. For example, if your CD-ROM is drive D, you would type D:\DRIVERS.
  • Click OK, and the driver files will be copied to their destination directories.
  • Sometimes Windows doesn't find all the files on the first try and prompts again for the path from which to install drivers. If this happens, enter X:\DRIVERS again.

• OpenGL driver support for the SimulEyes VR stereo vision glasses is automatically installed by the driver installation procedure.
  Please refer to the application documentation for information on stereo viewer support of your applications.

• For more information on your graphics adapter, for example, driver and BIOS information:
  Windows NT 4.0: Click Start - Settings - Control Panel - Display - Settings - Display_Type or right-click on the Windows desktop and select Properties - Settings - Display_Type.
  Windows 95: click Start - Settings - Control Panel - Display, or right-click on the Windows desktop and select Properties. Then select the Fire GL 1000 Pro tab or the Information tab.

If you experience problems with your application, or if you want to try to optimize the performance of your system on specific applications, you may modify the Configuration Settings. Refer to Configuration Parameters for more details.

Notes:  Only experienced users should modify the Configuration settings.

The Configuration default settings typically require modification only for

• diagnostic purposes
• fine-tuning a specific application/system configuration
• specific settings recommended by your hardware or software documentation
• tuning your application/system environment for best performance and memory usage

Accessing the Configuration Settings

  Windows NT 4.x  

  Windows 95  

   Configuration Parameters

Click Start - Settings - Control Panel - Display, or click with the right mouse button on the Windows desktop and select Properties.

Select the Configuration tab to display the Configuration menu with the following options:

• Adapter Information: This section displays some card-specific hardware information.

• Use BIOS PCI base addresses

• Disable PCI Disconnect

• Gamma Correction Adjustment

• Configuration Profiles:
  Click the Add button and enter the application for which you want to set or modify the configuration parameters.
  To modify the configuration settings of a specific application, for example, 3D-Win, select the application from the list in the Configuration Profiles section and click the Modify button.

• Settings

Buffer	Format	Texture	Draw
Size of each DMA-buffer (Kb)	Export 'PFD_SUPPORT_GDI' in Single Buffer Formats	Force Nearest Neighbor Filtering	Draw Line Endpoints
Number of DMA-buffers	Export 'PFD_SUPPORT_GDI' in Double Buffer Formats	Enable Texture Compression	Minimize Tearing
Number of Sub-Buffers	Export High Resolution, Single Buffered Formats	Perspective Correction	Disable Hardware Rendering (8 Bit Modes)
		Texel 32 Bit Default	Support Anti-aliasing (lines)

Click Start - Settings - Control Panel - Display, or click with the right mouse button on the Windows desktop and select Properties.

Select the Fire GL 1000 Pro OpenGL tab to display a menu with the following options:

Pixel Format Options

• Export 'PFD_SUPPORT_GDI' in Single Buffer Formats
• Export 'PFD_SUPPORT_GDI' in Double Buffer Formats
  
  

General Options

• Dynamic Buffer Option - Number of Sub-Buffers
• Draw Line Endpoints
• Texel 32 Bit Default
• Force Nearest Neighbor Texturing
• Enable Texture Compression
• Perspective Correction

Notes:  Modifications to the Boot-Time parameters are effective after rebooting the system.
The Apply button immediately enables modifications to the Dynamic parameters and Gamma Correction Adjustment without rebooting the system.

Boot-Time Configuration Params / OpenGL

• Export 'PFD_SUPPORT_GDI' modes  (Windows NT and Windows 95)
  These checkboxes control whether the 'PFD_SUPPORT_GDI' flags are exported for single-buffered and double-buffered pixel formats.

• Export High Resolution, Single Buffered Formats  (Windows NT only)
  Check this box to enable the driver to boot at resolutions where only single-buffered pixel formats are supported by GLINT acceleration (because at higher resolutions, there is not enough memory to support double-buffered formats). By default, this is disabled to prevent users from booting into a mode that will result in unaccelerated applications that use double buffered modes.

• Use BIOS PCI base addresses  (Windows NT only)
  Check this box to use the originally configured PCI BIOS base addresses rather than those configured by Windows NT HAL (Hardware Abstraction Layer) for addressing the graphics card. For some hardware configurations the HAL allocated PCI base addresses are not valid.

• Disable PCI Disconnect (Windows NT only)
  The PCI Disconnect function of the PCI bus protocol may reduce the performance of other devices, for example, a sound card, by preventing them from DMA access to the PCI bus if the graphics card uses the bus too intensively. If you need unlimited performance of other devices and in return accept a slower graphics performance, you may disable the PCI Disconnect.
  
  

Dynamic Configuration Params / OpenGL

• Draw Line Endpoints  (Windows NT and Windows 95)
  Setting this option may improve the legibility of text rendered by some applications using stroke fonts, for example, ProEngineer.

• Texel 32 Bit Default (Windows NT and Windows 95)
  Store Texture with 32 bit per Texel instead of 16 bit per Texel.

• Support Anti-aliasing (lines) (Windows NT only)
  This may reduce the jagged appearance of lines.

• Minimize Tearing (Windows NT only)
  Buffer swap ‘synched’ to vertical retrace. This improves the picture quality but reduces the view performance in, for example, benchmark testing.

• Disable Hardware Rendering (8 Bit Modes) (Windows NT only)
  Hardware rendering may produce undesired effects in rendering operations when you work in 8 bit modes (e.g. 256 colors). Use this switch to disable hardware rendering for 8 bit modes.
  
  

Dynamic Texture Configuration / OpenGL

• Force Nearest Neighbor Filtering / Texturing   (Windows NT and Windows 95)
  This setting ensures that only nearest neighbor texturing operations are performed. In some applications this improves the performance, although in some cases a lower quality texture filter is used. Textures are still rendered with perspective correction. Check this setting to find out if you can improve the performance/texturing quality ratio with your application.

• Enable Texture Compression   (Windows NT and Windows 95)
  This option will shrink 2D texture maps as they are loaded to reduce the memory needed to store them. The setting has no effect on 1D or paletted texture maps. This setting applies to all hardware configurations.

• Perspective Correction  (Windows NT and Windows 95)
  This setting varies the accuracy of the perspective-correction divide performed during textured rendering.
  Force Nicest enforces operation of the most accurate divide, resulting in best image quality.
  Force Fastest switches to a reduced accuracy divide resulting in best performance at lower image quality.
  glHint can improve the speed of texturing when perspective-correct texture coordinate interpolation isn't needed, such as when using a glOrtho() projection.
  
  

Gamma Correction Adjustment   (Windows NT only)

The brightness produced at the face of the display is proportional to the input voltage raised to the power gamma. This nonlinearity must be compensated to achieve correct reproduction of the image's brightness. The effect of display gamma is to darken the midtones relative to the dark and light regions. The gamma correction adjustment affects the entire screen display. The possible setting range is 0.3 - 4.0. The default setting is 1.0.

Boot Time Buffer Size Options  (Windows NT only)

Specify the size of a DMA buffer and the number of DMA buffers allocated at boot time. Consider that you need enough buffers for your applications to run smoothly but that each of these buffers uses up system memory.

Number of Sub-Buffers   (Windows NT and Windows 95)

Each buffer is divided into sub-buffers which are used in conjunction with an Interrupt DMA mechanism to reduce latency in the system. Setting the number of sub-buffers to 2 will disable the interrupt mechanism.

3D-Win is an easy-to-use 3D viewer for rotation, manipulation, and rendering of AutoCAD 3D-objects in real-time. You can modify your AutoCAD design via various functions by clicking on 3D-Win icons. For example, you can change the camera position, make different shadings, for example, Gouraud, or walk through or around an object with the 'Walk' command.

• Simple, fast viewing angle changes

• Zoom views

• Fast import of DWG designs (if AutoDesk compatible)

• Layer manipulation

• Various rendering methods (e.g. Gouraud) per mouse click

• View manipulation via slider or mouse

• View export to AutoCAD

• WALK and TEACH animations

• Animation recording - AVI

• Integrated toolbar for fast function access

• Online help

Notes:  You need AutoCAD r13 or AutoCAD r14 for Windows NT installed on your system to use 3D­Win.
The current version of 3D-Win is designed only for Windows NT .

Installation

Note:  You must have already installed Fire GL 1000 Pro drivers before continuing.

1. Double-click the icon Diamond Display Component Setup in the DIAMOND program group.
   
   
2. Select Add component and 3D-Win.
   Note: Make sure that you have the options for the graphics card driver and already installed software (e.g. HEIDI) also selected and marked, unless you want these components to be de-installed.
   
   
3. Click OK. The installation program will automatically copy all the necessary files onto your hard disk.
   
   
4. When 3D-Win has finished installing, you can find the 3D-Win icon in the DIAMOND program group.
   
   

Using 3D-Win

1. Run AutoCAD r13 and load the file you want to see or render.
   
   
2. From the Program Manager double-click the 3D-Win icon in the DIAMOND program group.
   
   
3. In the 3D-Win window select Get Model from the AutoCAD menu to load the file into 3D­Win.

3D-Win is virtually self-explanatory. If you have problems with some of the dialog boxes, or don't understand certain system reactions, check the online help for information and details. You can access the online help with the respective Help button in a dialog or the Help button in the menubar.

The BigFocus driver is supplied for use with AutoCAD 13 running under Windows NT. The driver allows view and layer manipulation, spyglass lens, bird's-eye view and view export.

Using BigFocus is self-explanatory but if you should need further information, consult the integrated online help and/or the separate BigFocus documentation.

BigFocus Installation

Note:  You must have already installed Fire GL 1000 Pro drivers before continuing.

If you have the 'Diamond Display Component Setup'
icon in the DIAMOND program group ...

1. Double-click the icon Diamond Display Component Setup in the DIAMOND program group.
   
   
2. Select Add component and BigFocus.
   Note: Make sure that you have the options for the graphics card driver and already installed software (e.g. HEIDI) also selected and marked, unless you want these components to be de-installed.
   
   
3. Click OK. The installation program will automatically copy all the necessary files onto your hard disk.
   
   

If you do not have the 'Diamond Display Component Setup' icon ...

Put the CD into your CD drive and start the installation as follows:

• Click the START button in the task bar, select the option 'Run' and then select START.EXE from the root directory of the CD.
  
  
• Choose English as your language for the installation.
  
  
• The main menu is displayed.
  
  
• Click the Start Installation button.
  
  
• Confirm your hardware if necessary.
  
  
• Select Custom installation, and enter or confirm the path for the software installation.
  
  
• Click the Next button.
  
  
• Select BigFocus from the list and follow the instructions on the screen. The installation program will automatically copy all the necessary files onto your hard disk.
  
  

Reconfiguring AutoCAD for Windows to use BigFocus:

1. Start ACADWIN, Select "Options", "Configure", and when selecting the display driver choose:
   BigFocus - Accelerated Display Driver.
   
   
2. Save your changes.

• Some applications (3D Studio Max, 3D-Win, OpenGL-Demos..) support full hardware acceleration only in True Color and High Color video modes. To prevent color problems, switch off the hardware acceleration when working in 256-color mode.

• HEIDI installation: 3D Studio MAX must be properly installed on your system and must have been started at least once before HEIDI can be installed using the installation procedure.