VMD-L Mailing List

From: Emiliano Ippoliti (e.ippoliti_at_grs-sim.de)
Date: Tue May 11 2010 - 02:37:15 CDT

Dear John,

thanks for your reply.

I have installed Fedora Linux but I have not removed Windows 7 since in principle I do not give up the idea to use VMD also on Windows... and finally I was successful!

My problem was very simple but I want to post it so can be helpful for other users in this mailing list.

At the beginning, I proceed to read the initial messages of VMD startup and I noticed a very similar message like yours:

info) OpenGL renderer: Quadro FX 4800/PCI/SSE2
Info) Features: STENCIL STEREO MDE CVA MTX NPOT PP PS GLSL(OVF)
Info) Full GLSL rendering mode is available.
Info) Textures: 2-D (8192x8192), 3-D (2048x2048x2048), Multitexture (4)

so VMD recognized correctly my gear.

Then, I moved on the Nvidia driver settings following the instructions on the website you mentioned. Of course, I had already tested any possible configuration (included the one specified by Nvidia) before but in the wrong way: usually I changed the settings and then I pressed the "apply" button looking at any changes in the visualization on the VMD window.

However, I found out that the changes in the settings even if they are stored in the memory they are really *not* applied to the graphics card until a restart of the OS!

After a restart of the computer with the correct Nvidia settings for my case the emitter turns on as soon as I opened VMD.

Another useful note which can be useful to other people is that it is not necessary to use the 3-pin mini-din to 1/8” stereo cable as it states in the Nvidia page (in fact I do not have it because in Europe and Asia it is not provided in the 3D Vision kit): I have used a normal USB interface, so the signal which drives the emitter does not come from the graphics card DIRECTLY but goes through the motherboard: however, it works perfectly.

Thank you again.

Best,
Emiliano

On 10 May 2010, at 6:47 PM, John Stone wrote:

>
> Hi,
> An important question that you haven't answered in your first email
> is whether or not you see the word "STEREO" listed among the OpenGL
> features detected by VMD during startup. In order to use quad-buffered
> stereo in VMD, your driver settings have to be changed so that you
> see the STEREO option appear in the VMD startup messages, e.g.:
>
> Info) OpenGL renderer: Quadro FX 5600/PCI/SSE2
> Info) Features: STENCIL STEREO MSAA(16) MDE CVA MTX NPOT PP PS GLSL(OVF)
> Info) Full GLSL rendering mode is available.
> Info) Textures: 2-D (8192x8192), 3-D (2048x2048x2048), Multitexture (4)
>
> If VMD doesn't find a quad-buffered stereo-capable OpenGL visual during
> the startup process, then you won't be able to use the emitter etc on your
> machine.
>
> If you're still running Windows 7, check your driver options vs. the
> NVIDIA page here:
> http://www.nvidia.com/object/quadro_pro_graphics_boards.html
>
> If you've moved to Linux, then Axel's suggestions should be fine.
>
> Cheers,
> John Stone
> vmd_at_ks.uiuc.edu
>
> On Sun, May 09, 2010 at 05:58:46PM +0200, Emiliano Ippoliti wrote:
>> Dear Users,
>>
>> in my University I have an hardware system formed by:
>>
>> 1 - PC with Nvidia Quadro FX 4800 graphics card.
>> 2 - Operating system Windows 7 64 bit
>> 2 - Projector ACER H5360 DLP 720P (3D ready) connected to the PC by HDMI
>> 3 - Nvidia GeForce 3D Vision Emitter connected to the PC by USB
>> 4 - Nvidia GeForce 3D Vision glasses
>>
>> I have successfully tested the stereoscopic visualization with some DEMOs from Nvidia. Now, I would like to use it with VMD.
>>
>> However when I try to open VMD and select the Stereo visualization (I have tried both "CrystalEyes" and "CrystalEyesReversed" setting) the projector visualizes the two images for the left and right eye (I see the image is double) but the emitter does not start and so I can not see the stereoscopic effect by the glasses.
>>
>> I tried to enter the Nvidia driver in order to change the default setting for VMD program and force explicitly to use the "3D DLP display" settings though I have had no result.
>>
>> Looking at the "Tips & Tricks" manual of Nvidia GeForce 3D Vision package, I read that it currently support only the Full screen applications and cannot run in windowed mode.
>>
>> Is this the problem with my hardware? Or do you think that the problem is elsewhere?
>>
>> Is there a way to run VMD in full screen mode?
>>
>> In case is not, are the VMD developers planning to insert a full screen mode in the near future?
>>
>> Do you know some way to overcome the problem?
>>
>> In case the only possibility is the replacement of the emitter and glasses (I have to replace both of them?), which ones are compatible with VMD?
>>
>> Thank you in advance for any reply.
>>
>> Best regards,
>> Emiliano
>
> --
> NIH Resource for Macromolecular Modeling and Bioinformatics
> Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology
> University of Illinois, 405 N. Mathews Ave, Urbana, IL 61801
> Email: johns_at_ks.uiuc.edu Phone: 217-244-3349
> WWW: http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/~johns/ Fax: 217-244-6078

---------
Dr. Emiliano Ippoliti
Assistant Researcher
German Research School for
Simulation Sciences GmbH
52425 Jülich | Germany
Members: Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH | RWTH Aachen University
Tel: +49 2461 61 8920
Email: e.ippoliti_at_grs-sim.de
Web: www.grs-sim.de
Members: Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH | RWTH Aachen University
Registered in the commercial register of the local court of
Düren (Amtsgericht Düren) under registration number HRB 5268
Registered office: Jülich
Executive board: Prof. Dr. Heiner Müller-Krumbhaar | Prof. Marek Behr, Ph.D.
---------