Re: Re: Mathematica 6.0.0 no graphics output on Windows XP
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg85384] Re: [mg85353] Re: Mathematica 6.0.0 no graphics output on Windows XP
- From: John Fultz <jfultz at wolfram.com>
- Date: Thu, 7 Feb 2008 22:33:32 -0500 (EST)
- Reply-to: jfultz at wolfram.com
On Thu, 7 Feb 2008 04:43:57 -0500 (EST), beggars.banquet at gmail.com wrote: > On 6 f=E9v, 05:39, Carl Woll <ca... at wolfram.com> wrote: > >> Adam Weyhaupt wrote: >>> A colleague of mine has a fresh installation of Mathematica 6.0.0 on >>> a Windows XP machine. The kernel seems to be running fine (2+2=4), >>> but graphics commands generate no output (only the line " -Graphics- >>> " (no quotes) is printed to the output). If you switch to Version 5 >>> graphics the graphics work fine (but of course are not rotatable, >>> etc.) I looked in the archive but saw nothing relevant. >>> >>> I realize that 6.0.1 is available, but it will be a few days until he >>> can get it installed and we are curious if you have any thoughts on >>> this issue. >>> >>> Thanks! >>> >>> Adam >>> >> Looks like the default output is OutputForm. Change it (from the menu >> item Edit | Preferences | Evaluation) to StandardForm or >> TraditionalForm. >> >> Carl Woll >> Wolfram Research >> > I got the same problem with Mathematica 6.0.1 under XP SP2, although > it only concerns 3d plots; only an empty box when I try to render the > graphics. I found a way to avoid this problem: just add PlotStyle -> > Directive[Opacity[0.x]] to your Plot3D options and it should be fine. > Set x to 99 to avoid losing quality, as soon as you put a value of 1, > same empty box. However, this fix is not that helpful as Opacity is > supposed to slow down the rendering. But this should do until you find > something else. This is a different issue entirely. When a 3D graphic has no transparency, Mathematica sends the polygons to your graphics hardware to be sorted from back to front using a method called z-buffering. This makes sure that, when polygons overlap in the plane of the screen, you see the frontmost one. This method simply can't be made to work with transparency, however, so a 3D graphic with any transparency at all uses an alternative software algorithm called a BSP tree. It sounds to me like there's some sort of compatibility issue with your video driver or card where z-buffering isn't performing as Mathematica would expect. You'll probably want to look into this, since z-buffering is *much* faster than using a BSP tree. I would suggest the following: * Make sure you have the most up-to-date version of the driver for your video card. * If you're still experiencing problems, contact Wolfram Technical Support, describe the problem, and send them the results of evaluating SystemInformation[] (you can click the Copy button, then paste into an email). Sincerely, John Fultz jfultz at wolfram.com User Interface Group Wolfram Research, Inc.