Hello List!
I have been conversing "off line" with Materialise about my issues trying to
get Communicator working on my machine, mostly with Brian Nehez. Since
Pieter Bourqaux posted this to the entire list I wanted everyone to know the
"rest of the story". Brian wrote to me earlier today:
Hi Dan,
I just got a message back from the programmers. It seems that you need
approximately 3MB of memory for each 1 MB of STL file size. Were you
trying to open particularly large files while you had other programs
also running?
Also, apparently we are now just relying on Windows to give the messages
that you are running out of memory, so when it crashed on you did it
give some standard windows message?
Lastly, we do not have the system requirements on the website, the web
designers are looking into changing that as soon as possible. Thanks
for the suggestion!
Let me know if you have further questions or problems, hope this info
helps.
Talk to you later,
Brian Nehez
Materialise
6111 Jackson Road
Ann Arbor, MI 48103
734.662.5057
734.662.7891 Fax
http://www.materialise.com
Materialise has been working diligently to resolve my problem of not being
able to load more than 6 STL files without the program crashing.
To answer Brian's Questions:
1) My latest attempt was after closing all programs and disconnecting from
the LAN. This gave me 96% of my resources available according to the Help
screen under "My Computer". Still I was unable to load the 7th file or the
single larger STL file (first 6 files add up to 1.55 MB and the lone file is
2.01 MB).
2) Here is a screen capture of the error message. I'm afraid it's not too
informative.
<<comm_02.JPG>>
3) For those not privy to our prior conversations, my system configuration
is (nothing special!) :(
166 MHz Pentium
32 MB RAM
Running Windows 95
We have powerful workstations running off the LAN which uses Unix and we
cannot add programs to these even for evaluation. So we're left using our
slower PCs for the day to day stuff. Upgrades to NT machines with 1 GB of
RAM are on the way but slow in coming.
Pieter's points are well made but I don't think a 2.01 MB STL file is out of
the question and windows 95 simply may not have an efficient enough memory
manager to allocate the necessary resources.
As I said before, this looks like a slick program and when we figure out and
correct the source of my annoying crashes I want to tie in with a supplier
of mine across the country for a "real world" test. If this PC just doesn't
have the power I guess I'll wait for the NT station.
Has anyone else had this type of trouble? If you haven't tried the software
I highly recommend it. I haven't figured out all the tricks of attaching
the annotations so they spin with the image but a little more "playing" with
the program and I'm sure I will. Kudos to the programmer who came up with
the "Viewing Cube" (my terminology, I'm not sure what they call it). It's a
fast and sure way to view the image from any one of 14 angles. Pro-E could
take a clue from this!
-
Dan Eifert
Electronic Packaging
Lockheed Martin, Missiles and Fire Control - Orlando
E-Mail: dan.eifert@lmco.com
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Pieter Bourgaux [SMTP:Pieter.Bourgaux@materialise.be]
> Sent: Tuesday, November 02, 1999 9:20 AM
> To: rp-ml@bart.lpt.fi
> Subject: RE: Antw: Magics Communicator : Product Announcement
>
> Dear list,
>
> Please let me react on your comments.
>
> We already had communicationsessions with more than 10 STL-files, we
> didn't
> implement any limitations of file usage. The (crash)problem has to be
> windows-based or that there are not enough recourses (memory). CPU-speed
> isn't that important but memory is. But normally you won't experience any
> problems if you only use the communicator and if you don't exaggerate with
> the size of the STL-files when having 32MB of ram.
>
> The MCP-files are small bitmaps used for the preview-function in the
> import-menu. Once calculated, they're saved on the disk for faster
> visualization of the STL-piece.
>
> About the delay over the net. Normal response time on a LAN, or between
> two
> PC's who are directly connected to the Internet is less than 1 second. If
> one or both users are working from behind a firewall, Magics Communicator
> uses http protocol to conference, which can cause a delay of 2 to 5
> seconds
> between the two screens. The response time is not dependant on the band
> with
> of your Internet connection, since only small amounts of data are sent: it
> is the general Internet speed and the gateway to the Internet
> (firewall/proxyserver) that can cause a delay of a few seconds.
>
> If you really want to check out the performance of our IGES, dxf (only
> faces) and VDA-importmodules, you can ask passwords that gives you the
> chance to evaluate our software for one month.
>
> If you're having other questions concerning this software, don't hesitate
> to
> contact us at communicator@materialise.be.
>
> Regards,
>
> Pieter
>
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> Pieter Bourgaux RP Software division
> Application Engineer tel. + 32 16 39 66 74
> Materialise n.v. fax. +32 16 39 66 00
> Technologielaan 15 pieter.bourgaux@materialise.be
> B-3001 Leuven http://www.materialise.be
> Belgium
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Eifert, Dan [mailto:dan.eifert@lmco.com]
> Sent: vrijdag 29 oktober 1999 17:30
> To: 'Volker Pohlisch'; rp-ml@bart.lpt.fi
> Subject: RE: Antw: Magics Communicator : Product Announcement
>
>
> I have also downloaded the demo version and tried assembling a set of STL
> files. The first 3 files imported perfectly but the 4th caused a
> catastrophic program failure with complete shutdown. I then went back
> into
> Pro-E (from which the STL's were created) and assembled the parts first
> and
> made one STL of that. This new file is slightly over 2 MB large and it
> also
> causes the program to crash. Somehow I ended up with additional files in
> the directory with extension .MCP. I don't know if there is a file size
> limit with the demo version of this promising software or if I found a
> bug.
> I'd also like to know what the .MCP files are. I was, however, able to
> share the files which came with the demo with an associate inside our
> company LAN and it worked quite well. There was a little lag in his being
> able to see what I typed but that's to be expected I suppose. I have to
> wonder what the lag would be over the internet with standard phone lines.
> My company has T1 lines but not everyone is so lucky. Also, it has to be
> the priciest "shareware" ($299 standard and $999 Pro) that I've ever seen!
>
> -
> Dan Eifert
> Electronic Packaging
> Lockheed Martin, Missiles and Fire Control - Orlando
> E-Mail: dan.eifert@lmco.com
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Volker Pohlisch [SMTP:vpohlisch@fciconnect.com]
> > Sent: Friday, October 29, 1999 4:21 AM
> > To: rp-ml@bart.lpt.fi
> > Subject: Antw: Magics Communicator : Product Announcement
> >
> > I ve installed the shareware yesterday and I tried not so much with this
> > software. But I can tell you all I have seen until now is very
> > interesting. It is really revolutionary.
> > Unfortunately you won`t have full functionality with the shareware. The
> > IGES and DXF-translator can only be tested with the enclosed demo-files,
> > the VDA-translator cannot be tested anyway. This is a big disadvantage
> > because I cannot see the result of a file translation from our own
> > cad-model.
> > I have to try out the internet-connection with this software. If this
> > works as promised, I think this is a real good thing.
> >
> > Kind regards
> > FCI Automotive Deutschland GmbH
> >
> > Volker Pohlisch
> > Prototype Shop
> >
> > Tel.: ++49 911 5272 204
> > Fax: ++49 911 5272 385
> > e-Mail: vpohlisch@fciconnect.com
> >
> > >>> Bart Swaelens <Bart.Swaelens@materialise.be> 28.10.99 >>>
> > Dear List,
> >
> > Materialise has created a new and revolutionary product for 3D CAD
> > communication over the internet : Magics Communicator.
> >
> > Did you ever experience the problem of communicating about a 3D CAD
> object
> > over the telephone ?
> > Did you ever had conversations like : "Do you mean the little button
> above
> > the small pin ? Or do you mean the button aside of the big hole ? ...
> > ??!!"
> >
> > In this case, we have an interesting product for you.
> > Magics Communicator allows you to read and visualize your 3D CAD file
> > (IGES,
> > STL, VDA, DXF) and to make annotations, measurements and redlines in
> > different scenes with different parts. You can send such a presentation
> > to
> > your correspondent, with a file size that is 15 times smaller than an
> STL
> > file.
> >
> > But you can also do a real time communication in two directions : if you
> > rotate the part at your computer, the part will be rotated
> simultaneously
> > at
> > the other computer. If you indicate a feature, this indication is
> > immediately visible at the other side...
> >
> > Do you want more good news ? It is shareware !
> > You can download a full functional version from our website, and try out
> > all
> > features, without asking for passwords.
> > All you need is a Windows computer with internet access : if you can
> surf,
> > you can communicate !
> >
> > You can download from our US server :
> > http://www.materialise.com/communicator
> >
> > or from our EU server :
> > http://www.materialise.be/communicator
> >
> >
> > Have Fun !
> >
> >
> > Bart Swaelens
> > Materialise Software
> > http://www.materialise.com
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > For more information about the rp-ml, see http://ltk.hut.fi/rp-ml/
> >
> >
> > For more information about the rp-ml, see http://ltk.hut.fi/rp-ml/
>
> For more information about the rp-ml, see http://ltk.hut.fi/rp-ml/
>
> For more information about the rp-ml, see http://ltk.hut.fi/rp-ml/
For more information about the rp-ml, see http://ltk.hut.fi/rp-ml/
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