Optimizing Solid Edge Display Performance

Displaying 3D data is one of the most intensive operations your computer performs. With Solid Edge you can find the optimum balance among the factors that influence display speed and display quality, based on your computer's capabilities.

Solid Edge is designed to use OpenGL(r) for displaying 3D data. Most graphics cards are designed to accelerate OpenGL(r) based applications with little or no intervention from the application or user. You should use as much graphics card functionality and acceleration as possible to optimize both display speed and display quality. As display technologies and rendering techniques advance, most graphics card vendors take advantage of them. However it is not always possible for older graphics cards to support new functionality efficiently.

To accommodate legacy configurations, Solid Edge provides several options to control the application display methods for 3D data. To modify the method Solid Edge uses to display graphics, choose Solid Edge Options on the Application menu, and from the following options on the View tab of the Options dialog box:

If available, the Graphics Card (Advanced) option provides the best quality display, but the Graphics Card (Basic) option provides the fastest display. The Use Display List option increases the performance of the Graphics Card (Advanced) option so that the display rate approaches and sometimes matches the display rate of the Graphics Card (Basic) option.

Automatically Selecting Graphics Cards

You can improve system display by allowing Solid Edge to automatically select the appropriate graphics card setting during startup.

Solid Edge delivers the AutoConfigure.txt file to the Solid Edge Program folder. This file contains information about widely used graphics cards such as the vendor, card name, driver version, default application display, and maximum application display. When the Automatic Selection option on the View tab is set, Solid Edge uses the information in the AutoConfigure.txt file to build the list of display options. For example, if the default setting in the AutoConfigure.txt file for your installed graphics card is Graphics Card (Advanced), then the Graphics Card Driven (Advanced) is automatically set.

If your graphics card is not in the list in the AutoConfigure.txt file and the Automatic Selection option is set, the graphics card setting defaults to Backing Store. If your graphics card is not in the list in the AutoConfigure.txt file and the Automatic Selection option is cleared, the graphics card setting list on the View tab contains all available settings.

If your graphics card is in the list in the AutoConfigure.txt file and the Automatic Selection option is cleared, the graphics card setting list on the View tab contains all settings up to the maximum value for your card. For example, suppose the maximum value for you graphics card is Backing Store, the list on the View tab contains Backing Store and Software Driven.

Note:

For more information on the contents of the AutoConfigure.txt file, you can use a text editor to open the AutoConfigure.txt file. However, the settings in this file are very sensitive and you should not edit them. You should report any graphics card related problems to Solid Edge Support.

Troubleshooting

If you are dissatisfied with Solid Edge graphics display, do the following:

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