Cortona Renderer - Cortona VRML Client - Browsers - Forums - ParallelGraphics (a 3D VRML company)

Hi,
i have a 174 MB VRML 2.0 file
(i.e., with a .wrl file
extension) and i am trying to
render it using internet
explorer with the Cortona VRML
client plug-in that i
downloaded. My computer (dell
dimension 8200; Pentium IV; 2.0
Ghz; 1.25 GB of RAM; 40GB hard
drive; 64MB AGP4X bus-- NVidia
GeForce 4 MX 420 graphics card
w 3D acceleration; ) locks up
and i keep getting a not
responding error.

What do i need to do to open
the file and render the 3D
scene? Is my physical memory
insufficient (would upgrading
to 2GB of RAM do it??) Or is
it my that graphics card? Do i
need to increase it to 128 MB
(or is quantity of video ram
not a consideration over a
certain threshold like say 64
MB of video ram assuming
sufficient physica RAM)? or is
there a special video card type
that i need to render vrml
objects ( as
contradistinguished from
quantity of video memory). Or
is the quantity of video memory
not really a threshold factor
assuming one has more than
sufficient physical RAM?

More background: the 174
MB .wrl file i am trying to
render was created by a CAD
package (CAD packages are
renown for creating huge VRML
files). It has a million lines
of code with an astronomical
number of indexed faceset nodes
with huge amount of texture
mapping and floating point
coordinates.

Do i need to go to a dual
processor system. In fact i
did try to render my file on
the new power MAC G5 (a 64 bit
platform backward that can
accomodate an enormous 8GB of
RAM and backward compatible w
32 bit applications; 1.5 GB
RAM; dual G5 processors with
1GHz front side bus per
processor!!). With the
Netscape browser and the
Cortona VRML Client plug-in for
Mac OSX operating system in
place, I was able to render
my .wrl file on the G5 power
Mac--e.g., i could see the
rendered 3D image with all the
colors and objects and so
forth!!!!!--but unfortunately
the image was still loading
and did NOT allow me to do any
manipulations. For example i
could NOT do any navigation or
walk throughs or gotos etc bc
the cursor gave me a still
loading icon. I really couldnt
do anything but observe. But I
think that the image i saw on
the MAC was a milestone bc i
was able to at least see the
rendered image sans being able
to manipulate the image. This
observation lead me to believe
that to render the image boils
down to some combination or
admixture of processor power,
RAM and VRAM. But i dont know
what the relative contribution
of each has in ultimately
rendering of my image.
Remember, my dell pentium
simply locked w/out an image
and i had to reboot because i
was getting a non-responsive
window (FYI: my tasks manager
utility in my dell P-IV system
said 100% cpu usage when it was
not responding and swap files
were on overload. Note also:
on my Dell P-IV, the syntax
code for this file had no
problem loading into VRMLPad
which is a software i
downloaded for editing the
syntax code of the VRML file.
In other words i could see the
entire syntax code, not the
rendered image mind you,
consisting of approx. a million
lines using this software.
Could this be an indication
that this whole rendering
problem is a Video RAM issue
and not a physical RAM
issue????????).

Is my inability to render the
image on the dell dimension P-
IV and the somewhat limited
ability to manipulate or
otherwise COMPLETELY load
my .wrl file in the MAC G5
soley a RAM issue (i.e. a
strong function of physical RAM
and weak function of
VRAM...?). Do I need 4GB of
RAM and whole lot of Video RAM
or is it primarily just
physical RAM. You see, my fear
is that if i go ahead and
invest in a whole lot of
physical RAM (say $4,000 to
upgrade to 4+ GB or RAM) it
might only result in a marginal
increase in rendering
performance. Whereas if i come
to learn that rendering these
huge vrml files is a stronger
function of the amount of (or
type of??) video RAM, then
maybe i should focus my
investment in upgrading my
vidoe card/video RAM instead.


What about server type
technology?? Do i need to go
to server type technology with
4 intel Xeon quad processors?
I am in the midst of
researching with Dell and they
said that server technology is
optimized for serving files or
web pages and storing data and
not really meant for video
intensive graphics type
applications . (that is why i
asked whether having lots of
ram like 8GB would do the trick
without too much focus on Video
card or video ram memory or
visa versa???). If amount of
video RAM is not really a
limiting factor then should i
try using quad configured
processors (4 processor server
systems). --in other words
maybe rendering such huge vrml
files is a processor issue
(remember i got 100% cpu usage
on my dell P-IV, 1.25 GB RAM;
64 MB video ram).

Do you have any suggestions on
what system software or
hardware requirements will
adequately render my 174
MB .wrl files generated from
CAD packages in the manner i
described above? I just need
to know whether upgrading to
say 4-8GB of RAM would load the
file entirely in RAM and
consequently allow it to be
manipulated therein. Or do i
need to concurrently upgrade my
video-or would the upgrade in
physical RAM simultaneously
diminish my need for VRAM (and
also do i need special video
card or up my VRAM as an
independent consideration??)


HELP!!--please pass this on to
the appropriate group to see if
any one of your technical
experts team can help me out.

If you need me to relate more
information to you that can
help me to open and manipulate
my files with Cortona please
let me know. After getting to
the bottom of this i would like
to load my .wrl file into a 3D
modelling package and see what
i can do to optimize the file
size. For example--getting rid
of all the indentations in the
vrml syntax code which takes up
a lot of memory (indentations
are good for readability
purposes, but with a million
lines of code, indentations can
take up a lot of memory--about
35 MB!). I can also reduce the
polygon count to whatever
extent possible by
consolidating and grouping
objects, and by not rending
backside or hidden objects/
normal vectors...and so on).
But first, i need to know what
it takes to load these monster
files in the (RAM, VRAM) and
manipulate them to ones content
as an initial consideration.

Please note, these are the
specs of the computer(s) i used
to view my 174 MB VRML file
using Cortona VRML Client Plug-
ins:

DELL DIMENSION 8200;P-IV; 1.25
GB RAM; 2.0 GHZ processor; 64MB
video card
- Operating System: windows xp
professional
- The version of the HTML
browser that
works with Cortona VRML client:
IE
RAM: 1.25 GB of RAM
Front Side Bus: 433 Mhz
video card: 64MB AGP4X bus--
NVidia GeForce 4 MX 420
graphics card w 3D acceleration
[computer did NOT render an
image, i simply got a not
responding error and the
computer failed and had to
reboot]

MAC G5
-DUAL 2.0 Ghz G5 processors
-OSX
-NETSCAPE
-1.5 GB RAM
-1 GHz Front side bus
-im not sure what video card
specs on the particular G5 i
used nor the amount of video
memory it carried
[Here, the computer was able to
render an image but was still
loading it and so i could not
use the cursor to click on any
menus for editing or manipulate
the rendered file]


Kindly,

Doug

		ParallelGraphics Forums Cortona Renderer

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