Copyright: Copyright (c) 1996-99 ELSA AG (Aachen, Germany)


Contents

Application Settings

Installation and User Manual

Copyright (c) 1999, ELSA AG (Aachen, Germany)

Contents

Introduction

Installation Guide

Automatic Installation

Manual Installation

User Manual

Application List

Advanced Settings

Quick switch

ELSA Application Settings in  WINman Suite

Troubleshooting

No Settings can be Selected

Hardware Accelleration is not Switchable

Option not Switchable

ELSA Application Settings not present


Introduction

Your ELSA graphics adapter is equipped with a high-performance graphics processor that combines workstation-class 3D graphics acceleration and state-of-the-art 2D performance.

The ELSA Application Settings utility enables you to control the the hardware accelerated 3D extensions of your ELSA graphics adapter. Changes to the settings depend on the application you want to run and on the rendering performance you require.

In general you won’t need to modify the default settings. It is necessary, however, to change the driver's 3D settings for some 3D/OpenGL applications.

The simplest way to optimize the support for your application is to select one of the series of settings offered by the ELSA Application Settings utility. Most users will find this list sufficient for controlling the driver.

The ELSA Application Settings utility is to be found under Control Panel, Display, and appears in the property sheet for Display Properties as a registration card ”AppSet”.

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Installation Guide

Automatic Installation

In general the ELSA Application Settings is installed automatically with your ELSA graphics driver. You can check the installation by opening the Display Properties property sheet. There you should find a tab with an ELSA logo named ”AppSet”

Manual Installation of Application Settings

The utility ELSA Application Settings works very closely with the display driver. Therefore a manual installation should be done only in exception cases. You also have to be sure that the proper versions of display drivers are installed.

•	The version numbers of display drivers and all other installed ELSA Tools can be read out with the tool ELSA Info

To install the utility ELSA Application Settings you need two files, the compressed archive GLSET.CAB and a INF file named EAPPSxxx.INF. The characters xxx depend on your installed graphics board.

Be sure that the dialog ”Display Properties” is closed.

Right-click the INF file and select the command Install from context menu.

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User Manual

In this chapter we describe how to activate and use the ELSA Application Settings property page.

The Application Settings Property Page

In the Control Panel, select the Display Properties or call the Display Properties sheet by right- clicking on the desktop and selecting Properties. At the top of this sheet there is a tab for each property page. Selecting the ELSA AppSet tab activates the ELSA Application Settings property page.

When you open the page, you see some dialog controls in the upper part. The lower part is usually blank and reserved for the Advanced Settings. These are displayed after pressing the >>Advanced<< button or if the Application Settings utility is started after changes to the settings have been made.

In the following sections, the functions of the controls are described detailed.

Hardware Acceleration

Use this switch to turn on your graphics adapter’s 3D hardware acceleration (default). If this switch is disabled, the OpenGL support will be controlled by software, which is slower! It can occur that software OpenGL is used for rendering even though you enabled the graphics adapter’s 3D extension. If this happens, then you have selected a combination of resolution and settings that cannot be supported in hardware. Especially with higher resolutions there is insufficient frame buffer to support back-buffered hardware-accelerated OpenGL. In this case an application requiring double buffering will then be supported by software OpenGL only. Single-buffered applications will run with hardware accelerated OpenGL.

To check what kind of OpenGL is currently running, use the tool ELSA Info.

Application List

The ELSA Application Settings utility can store numerous groups of settings which are defined in the Advanced Settings. The identifiers for these groups of settings are displayed in the application list box. Here you can store all the options required to optimize the operation of any application. ELSA has predefined settings for some applications. The operation of these programs will be optimized by selecting the corresponding entry from the list. Use the slider on the right to scroll through the list box and show all the entries. The default values active after installation are summarized in the "Default Settings” group.

After you have selected an entry matching your application, press the >>OK<< button to accept the settings or >>Cancel<< to discard them. The Display Properties dialog will now be closed. To activate the changes without leaving the dialog press >>Apply<<.

The buttons directly below the application list enable you to create your own groups of settings or to modify the ELSA settings for new applications.

Advanced

Pressing this button will open the Advanced Settings box in which you can change the driver's operation with OpenGL programs.

This button is a toggle switch: a second click on it closes the dialog Advanced Settings.

Add

The >>Add<< button opens the dialog "Add New Option to List” where you enter the text for the entry which is to appear in the application list. (see also Advanced Settings) Press >>OK<< to accept the string and create a new item at the bottom of the list of current settings. Press >>Cancel<< to leave the dialog and discard the changes.

Delete

The >>Delete<< button enables you to remove those application entries you have created. You cannot remove the options predefined by ELSA.

This button is only enabled when a user-defined application has been selected.

Rename

Use the >>Rename<< button to open the "Rename Option” dialog and modify the string identifiers for your settings. >>OK<< will rename the entry in the list, >>Cancel<< will discard the modifications.

This button is only enabled when a user-defined application setting is selected.

Default

Click this button to switch to the driver default settings.

This button is only enabled when an item is selected for which an ELSA default setting is available.

Advanced Settings

If you select the >>Advanced<< button, the dialog is extended with an entry for each item. These items can be modified to create new entries for this group or to change the current settings.

Usage of Advanced Controls

Most of the options have two states: On or Activated and Off or Deactivated. These states are represented by appropriate symbols in the controls for these options:

 and

If an option is not supported by the graphics board or the current display mode, the control will be displayed as disabled.

Pixel Format

Double Buffer

This switch instructs the driver to support double-buffered modes. When double buffering is enabled the frame buffer is divided into two parts in which the first buffer (front buffer) is used to display while the second (back buffer) is used for rendering. This results in flicker-free animations. Most OpenGL applications require this switch to be enabled. Note that some higher resolutions will prevent the driver from using double buffering. In this case, setting this switch will cause (slower) software OpenGL to be used!

GDI in 3D window

The driver exports additional pixel formats that support GDI drawing within the OpenGL view (PFD_SUPPORT_GDI ). Some applicatons require these types of pixel formats.

Alpha Planes

Alpha channels are used for blending and transparency effects. If an OpenGL application doesn't use alpha values, this switch allows color calculations to be limited to red, green, and blue only.

Overlay Planes

Overlay planes are used as a paletted surface additional to the normal color (RGB) buffer. Overlays are especially useful for drawn areas which are independent of the 3D image itself, such as menus and cursors. The implementation of overlay planes is only possible in TrueColor modes (32-bit) where setting this switch transforms the byte normally used for the alpha channel to an overlay plane. Some applications (e.g. Softimage) require overlay planes.

Swap Layer Buffers

Applications using overlays can perform independent writes to the different layers. With this pixel format extension (PFD_SWAP_LAYER_BUFFERS) the application can also do independent swaps of each layer from the back to the front buffer. If the layers are swapped independently, they are always copied (blit).

Stereo Modes

To run stereo applications with shutter glasses, the driver has to export stereo pixel formats. Additionally, the driver supports higher refresh rates, required for ergonomic stereo display modes. Note: You should only export stereo pixel formats if you really need to. Some applications automatically choose a stereo format although they don’t need it or behave incorrectly in a stereo pixel format. For stereo pixel formats the driver organizes the memory differently and thereby allows stereoscopic and monoscopic applications to be used simultaneously. Due to the technical limitations, however, simultaneously writing to both the front and back-buffers is not possible (as done with some applications).

Swap Buffers

Force Buffer Blit

For double buffering, i.e. switching between front and back buffer, the driver uses the fastest possible method. This is page flipping where only the displayed page is switched in contrast to blitting which copies the data using a bitblit. Page flipping needs the data to be consistent in the front and back buffer. Because some applications are using a mix of 2D (GDI) and 3D (OpenGL) commands within a 3D view, this consistency cannot be guaranteed. The user then may activate the safe but slower buffer blit method.

Wait for Vertical Blank

Some actions like page flipping are synchronized with the vertical blank of the monitor. This prevents tearing effects, but causes a dramatical performance decrease when displaying animations, because the frame rate is then coupled with the refresh rate. If you see tearing effects, enable this button to perform all actions within the vertical blank.

Broadcast GDI to Back Buffer

The Windows GDI API doesn’t know about the OpenGL back buffer. Some applications use 2D commands in their 3D views and assume that GDI draws correctly to the back-buffer. Use this key to force 2D commands to be broadcasted to the OpenGL backbuffer. 2D areas outside an OpenGL window are managed automatically by the driver in any case.

Application specific

Unix OpenGL conform

The implementations of OpenGL on different platforms vary in their drawing behavior. Pixels at the meeting-edge of two polygons should not be drawn twice when being rendered, so a decision has to be made which polygon "owns" which pixels. For example, on Microsoft Windows platforms the right-hand and lower edges of rectangles are not drawn. In Softimage 3.01 the rectangles are assumed to be drawn identical to UNIX OpenGL implementations. Enable this switch if you use Softimage 3.01.

3DS MAX Exclusive

With this option activated, 3D Studio MAX 1.x/VIZ and OpenGL applications cannot be operated simultaneously.

If this option is deactivated, then the simultaneous operation of 3D Studio MAX and an OpenGL application could result in display problems for 3D Studio MAX.

This is caused by differences between the software driver for 3D Studio MAX and hardware-accelerated drivers.

Linear Texture Mapping

When textures are enlarged, for example when zooming-in, one of two methods can be used. "Nearest neighbor" simply reproduces the nearest pixel. "Linear interpolation", on the other hand, interpolates the new pixels from those surrounding it. Activating "Linear Texture Mapping" will cause a slight loss in speed when working with textures, but the displayed results are more realistic.

SI 3.5x/3.7x optimization

Some OpenGL applications use GDI functions to draw menus or dialogs in a double-buffered OpenGL view. With this switch activated, applications running in full-screen mode execute their GDI drawings in the front and back buffer simultaneously. This double write is done in hardware, so there will be no loss in performance. Softimage 3.5x/3.7x requires this flag to be set.

Quality / Performance

Fast Clear Planes

Fast Clear planes are used to for faster clearing of the depth buffer (z-buffer). The depth buffer on the ELSA graphics adapter board is situated in the DRAM, whereas the color buffer (frame buffer) is in the VRAM. Clearing VRAM is much faster than clearing DRAM. Time can be saved by only partially clearing the DRAM. Therefore information is stored to define which pixels are to be cleared and thus reduces the amount of memory to be written while running an animation. This switch is normally set to speed up drawing performance in animations. Disable this switch if an OpenGL application needs to read back depth buffer information (e.g. Microsoft's OpenGL Hardware Compatibility Test).

Anti-Aliasing (lines)

This switch enables functions designed especially to support rendering of anti-aliased lines and points on graphics adapters with the PERMEDIA 2 chipset. When switched on, the jaggy appearance of lines is reduced so that the lines appear smooth. The increase of rendering quality however causes a loss of rendering speed.

NOTE: This switch is only effective on GLoria Synergy adapters.

Mip Mapping

For a better rendering quality texture maps are stored in different sizes (mip map levels). These texture maps will be used to calculate (filter) the resulting pixel. Deactivate mip maps to reduce the amount of memory needed on the graphics board and calculation time.

Texture Compression

Color reduction

Textures may be stored in an reduced 16 bit format instead of 24 or 32 bits per pixel.
Auto:	Depending on the current color depth the driver may to reduce the texture maps.
On:	True Color texture maps will always be reduced
Off:	True Color texture maps will never be reduced. The texture maps give the best quality

Compression ratio

To store as many texture maps on the graphics adapter as possible, it is possible to shrink the textures in size. With higher compression rates you will lose some quality but gain performance.

Quick Switch

The "Options list for Quick Switch" dialog is for selecting the applications which will subsequently be displayed in the "Display: AppSet" submenu of the WINman Suite The left-hand list shows the applications which will appear in the Quick Switch menu, and other applications are listed on the right. Use the two buttons to move applications from one side to the other.

ELSA Application Settings in the WINman Suite

The WINman Suite enables fast access to the list of application in the utility ELSA Application Settings. To call this utility, just access the task bar and click on the WINman Suite symbol [image]. A pop-up menu will be displayed: use the "Display: Application Settings" entry to open the ELSA pplication Settings property page. Here, you can call the Help or select one of the applications listed. In this menu, the entries displayed have already been selected in Quick Switch dialog in the utility ELSA Application Settings.

Select the top menu entry to start or activate the ELSA Application Settings utility.

Here you will find a list of applications selected for the Quick Switch menu. Selecting one of these entries immediately changes the driver settings. The active entry is shown with a check mark. Some changes require Windows NT to be restarted.

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Troubleshooting

Hardware Acceleration Cannot Be Switched On

If the control ”Hardware Acceleration” is disabled, the display driver does not support OpenGL 3D hardware acceleration in the current display mode. There are different reasons for this:

•	Some of the ELSA graphics boards do not support 3D accelleration in 8BPP (256 color) modes
Select another color depth.

•	May be you have selected too high a display resolution, and there is not enough video memory available for ”Double Buffering”. Because nearly all OpenGL applications need ”Double Buffering”, the display driver disables 3D hardware acceleleration.
Decrease the display resolution or color depth.

No Applications Can Be Selected

This happens when the option ”Hardware Acceleration” is disabled. In this case, the default software OpenGL drivers are active, which the ELSA Application Settings cannot control.

Activate the option ”Hardware Acceleration”.

Option Cannot Be Switched

This option is probably not supported by your current graphics driver. This may arise from the following:

•	Some options are not available in all display modes (”Alpha Planes” only in 32BPP modes or ”Stereo Modes” only with sufficient video memory)
If you need this option, select another resolution or color depth.

•	Some options not available or not rquired on all graphics boards

ELSA Application Settings not present

This is happens when ELSA Applcation Settings is not supported by your display driver or graphics board.

Install this program only in combinaiton with the matching display drivers.

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ELSA Info is a utility to display general system information and detailed information about the ELSA drivers and tools.
This tool is installed automatically during the display driver installation and can be started in the dialog ”Display Properties” by selecting the property page ”ELSA Info”.


A group is a set of single options for a special application or application group. This groups are stored in the ”Application List” under the name of the application for which this is the optimal setting.


When double buffering is enabled, the frame buffer is divided into two parts in which the first buffer (front buffer) is used for the display while the second (back buffer) is used for rendering. This results in flicker-free animations. Most OpenGL applications require this switch to be enabled.


Use this switch to turn on your graphics adapter’s 3D hardware acceleration (default). If this switch is disabled, the OpenGL support will be controlled by software, which is slower!


Your ELSA graphics board currently does not support OpenGL hardware acceleration. Select the comman >>Help<< from the main menu for further information.


The Application Settings utility can store numerous groups of settings. The identifiers for these groups of settings are displayed in the application list box.


This button opens a dialog where you enter the text for the entry which is to appear in the application list.


This button enables you to remove those application entries you have created. You cannot remove the options predefined by ELSA.


Use this to open a dialog and modify the string identifiers for your settings.


Pressing this button will open the Advanced Settings box in which you can change the driver's operation with OpenGL programs.


This button restores the ELSA settings for an application if you have made modifications to the options.


The "Options list for Quick Switch" dialog is for selecting the applications which will subsequently be displayed in the "Display: AppSet" submenu of the WINman Suite. Online help for this function is available in the dialog "Options list for Quick Switch".


This switch instructs the driver to support double-buffered modes. When double buffering is enabled the frame buffer is divided into two parts in which the first buffer (front buffer) is used to display while the second (back buffer) is used for rendering. This results in flicker-free animations.


The driver exports additional pixel formats that support GDI drawing within the OpenGL view (PFD_SUPPORT_GDI ). Some applicatons require these types of pixel formats.


Alpha channels are used for blending and transparency effects. If an OpenGL application doesn't use alpha values, this switch allows color calculations to be limited to red, green, and blue only.


Overlay planes are used as a paletted surface additional to the normal color (RGB) buffer. Some applications (e.g. Softimage) require overlay planes.


Applications using overlays can perform independent writes to the different layers. With this pixel format extension (PFD_SWAP_LAYER_BUFFERS) the application can also do independent swaps of each layer from the back to the front buffer.


To run stereo applications with shutter glasses, the driver has to export stereo pixel formats.


For double buffering the driver uses the fastest possible method. For some applications, the user may activate the safe but slower buffer blit method.


Some actions like page flipping are synchronized with the vertical blank of the monitor. This prevents tearing effects, but causes a dramatical performance decrease when displaying animations, because the frame rate is then coupled with the refresh rate. If you see tearing effects, enable this button to perform all actions within the vertical blank.


The Windows GDI API doesn’t know about the OpenGL back buffer. Some applications use 2D commands in their 3D views and assume that GDI draws correctly to the back-buffer. Use this key to force 2D commands to be broadcasted to the OpenGL backbuffer. 2D areas outside an OpenGL window are managed automatically by the driver in any case.


The implementations of OpenGL on different platforms vary in their drawing behavior. For example, on Microsoft Windows platforms the right-hand and lower edges of rectangles are not drawn. In Softimage 3.01 the rectangles are assumed to be drawn identical to UNIX OpenGL implementations. Enable this switch if you use Softimage 3.01.


With this option activated, 3D Studio MAX 1.x/VIZ and OpenGL applications cannot be operated simultaneously.


When textures are enlarged, for example when zooming-in, one of two methods can be used. "Nearest neighbor" simply reproduces the nearest pixel. "Linear interpolation", on the other hand, interpolates the new pixels from those surrounding it. Activating "Linear Texture Mapping" will cause a slight loss in speed when working with textures, but the displayed results are more realistic.


Some OpenGL applications use GDI functions to draw menus or dialogs in a double-buffered OpenGL view. With this switch activated, applications running in full-screen mode execute their GDI drawings in the front and back buffer simultaneously. This double write is done in hardware, so there will be no loss in performance. Softimage 3.5x/3.7x requires this flag to be set.


Fast Clear planes are used to for faster clearing of the depth buffer (z-buffer). Disable this switch if an OpenGL application needs to read back depth buffer information (e.g. Microsoft's OpenGL Hardware Compatibility Test).


This switch enables functions designed especially to support rendering of anti-aliased lines and points on graphics adapters with the PERMEDIA 2 chipset. When switched on, the jaggy appearance of lines is reduced so that the lines appear smooth. The increase of rendering quality however causes a loss of rendering speed.


For a better rendering quality texture maps are stored in different sizes (mip map levels). These texture maps will be used to calculate (filter) the resulting pixel. Deactivate mip maps to reduce the amount of memory needed on the graphics board and calculation time.


Textures may be stored in an reduced 16 bit format instead of 24 or 32 bits per pixel.


To store as many texture maps on the graphics adapter as possible, it is possible to shrink the textures in size. With higher compression rates you will lose some quality but gain performance.


For this item no context sensitive help is available. Pleas look into the Online Manual, which you can activate by pressing the >>Help<< button.