Graphics Card Woes

[sam]

This is my problem.......i cannot work with all of my tutorial book
because my computer will not read artcams relief (.rlf) files that the program comes with.

Example.....the Edinburgh Castle tutorial, i can see the "thistles.rlf" file but I cannot open/access them.

With the help from some computer savvy people I have learned that my graphics card may not be up to the task....if there even is one

So, I have attached a text list of my computers system..........can someone tell me if I can update my graphics card to work with ArtCAM's 3D software?

Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.061219-0316)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Dell Computer Corporation
System Model: Dimension 4600i
BIOS: Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 A10
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.80GHz
Memory: 1022MB RAM
Page File: 175MB used, 3824MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.2180 32bit Unicode


Thanks , Sam Errett

[jbworden]

Sam,

It's not likely that this is a hardware problem. What software are you trying to use to read the rlf file?

[garyb]

Sam, 9 of 10 times this is a grapics problem.
First try updating your driver, if that doesn't do it switch your graphics card out. You need a card with open GL support (2.0 recomended) and at least 512mb.
I have found the NVidia Geforce cards work well, you can usually find them for around $80

The open GL 2.0 support is one of the features for AC 2009 release

[sam]

For what it is worth.....I am artcam pro 9

[sam]

Also, will the NVidia Geforce card work with the computer that I am using, because it is an older computer?

[scottcox]

Sam,

Forgive me if you've already got this covered, but the *.rlf format is just the relief model, not a "project" file. You'll have to start a project in ArtCam and then import the *.rlf (I think that's how ArtCam works).

[sam]

Example.....working with the Edinburgh Castle tutorial, I can get all the the way through the tutorial (the base , rim, textures 1 & 2) and everything works as it should.

But when I get to the "open relief from file", I click on the radio button and I can see the "thistles.rlf" file in the menu box but I cannot open/access them.

Also, the menu box does not show a diagram at the bottom of the menu box.

-Sam