The Viewport Settings dialog box enables you to improve the display performance of Creo Elements/Direct 3D Access when using the dynamic mouse functions and when redrawing viewports.
By reducing the information displayed when dynamically manipulating a model, or redrawing a viewport, you can help to improve performance.
For Dynamic Viewing:
• [x] Suppress Model Edges
• [x] WP as per Show
• [x] Label as per Show
• [x] CAE Model as per Show
• [x] Simplify Model
• [ ] Timeout for Redraw
For Viewport Redraw:
• [x] Simplify Model
For All Redraws:
• [ ] Occlusion Culling
• [ ] Display Lists
The options in the 3D menu are reviewed here, and described in more detail below:
For Dynamic Viewing:
Select how to display a model when using the dynamic zoom, translation, and rotation functions. The default setting is to suppress model edges. The options are:
• In the 3D Object box, Use Show Properties displays all parts of the model as selected in the Show menu.
• Suppress Model Edges switches off the edges of a model when using the dynamic viewing functions.
• Show Model Edges Only displays only the model edges of a model when using the dynamic viewing functions.
• Suppress Lines and Caps
• Show Model Wireframe displays a wire representation of a model when using the dynamic viewing functions.
• In the Workplane box, Use Show Properties displays all parts of the workplane as selected in the Show menu.
• Suppress Edge Properties, Suppress WP Edges, Suppress WP Border, and Suppress Workplane suppress different aspects of workplanes. The last option suppresses workplanes altogether.
• In the Label box, Use Show Properties displays labels as selected in the Show menu.
• Suppress Labels switches off labels during dynamic viewing.
• In the CAE box, Use Show Properties displays Design Analysis aspects of the model as selected in the Show menu.
• Suppress Mesh/Result switches off Design Analysis meshes and results during dynamic viewing.
• Suppress CAE switches off all Design Analysis aspects during dynamic viewing.
• Simplify Model specifies the simplification threshold used to display small components of a model when using dynamic viewing.
• Timeout for Redraw specifies a time limit (in milliseconds) so that a redraw can be interrupted during dynamic viewing if it takes longer than the timeout limit. If a redraw is timed-out, the next frame is displayed.
For Viewport Redraw:
Select the simplification threshold used to display small components of a model during viewport refreshes, for example, when triggering a redraw by clicking Redraw in the title bar of the viewport. Smooth Camera Update: By default, Creo Elements/Direct 3D Access moves the camera smoothly from one viewing point to another when the camera position is changed (for example when the View commands Fit or Last are used). Creo Elements/Direct 3D Access automatically selects the appropriate update increments according to the current hardware configuration and speed. Use the slider to control the increments. To switch off this feature, deselect the checkbox.
For All Redraws:
Switch on occlusion culling and/or OpenGL display lists.
There are two sliders in the Viewport Settings dialog box to enable you to control the simplification threshold during dynamic rotation of the model and during normal viewport refreshes. These two thresholds mean that you can use more aggressive simplification while rotating a model than when working interactively on a part, when a higher degree of accuracy is required.
To change the 3D graphical settings of a viewport:
1. Click File > Settings > Viewport. Creo Elements/Direct 3D Access opens the Viewport Settings dialog box.
2. Select how to display a model when using the dynamic viewing functions. For most graphics cards, a reasonable compromise between improved performance and visual clarity can be achieved by displaying the shaded model but suppressing the model edges when using the dynamic viewing functions (the default setting). If you don't select any of the option buttons, the dynamic viewing functions display the model as defined in the Show menu.
3. Set the simplification threshold for the display of small components when using the dynamic viewing functions by moving the Simplify Model slider. This sets the extent to which small components of a model are displayed when rotating a model.
The simplification threshold is a value in the range 1 to 100. A setting of 1 simplifies small components which occupy only a few pixels on the screen, whereas a setting of 100 will simplify most displayed components. The default simplification threshold is 57.
4. Set the redraw timeout limit to stop redrawing the viewport if it takes longer to redraw the viewport than the timeout limit. To set the timeout limit, move the Timeout for Redraw slider. The default timeout is 1000 ms.
5. Set the simplification threshold for the display of small components when explicitly triggering a viewport redraw by moving the Simplify Model slider.
The simplification threshold is a value in the range 1 to 100. A setting of 1 simplifies small components which occupy only a few pixels on the screen, whereas a setting of 100 will simplify most displayed components. The default simplification threshold is 40.
6. If your workstation includes an OpenGL-based graphics card, switch on Occlusion Culling to prevent the rendering of hidden components of your model. Occlusion culling can improve the general performance of Creo Elements/Direct 3D Access, especially when working with large, densely-packed models.
7. If your workstation includes an OpenGL-based graphics card, switch on Display Lists to buffer and optimize 3D output. The use of OpenGL display lists can significantly improve the performance of Creo Elements/Direct 3D Access, however, this feature does require slightly more memory than when display lists are not used.
You can set two thresholds for component simplification because, when using dynamic viewing functions, you can generally set a greater level of simplification when using dynamic viewing functions than when working interactively with a part.
