VW 2009 Section & Elevation Viewport Rendering

[din]

We have recently started using the full 3D capabilities of VW 2009, taking live section and elevation viewports off the model (rather than the 2D electronic drawing board approach we have used previously!)

When editing the Annotations of section and elevation viewports on my G5, I am having a problem - the hidden line view disappears, replaced by a wireframe view with all faces triangulated around openings. This mess of lines makes annotation and adding extra detail in the Annotations layer really difficult!

I'm pretty certain its a hardware issue, caused by my GeForce 6600 video card (which I understand was the base option for the Quad G5s) - I think the problem is the card isn't powerful enough to keep the hidden line view going.

I've checked it out on other Macs around the office with later processors, versions of OS X and video cards - I could reproduce the problem on a G5 with Leopard and the same card as me, and a Intel Macbook Pro with its standard video card, but on other Intel Macs with Leopard / Snow Leopard and later video cards the hidden line view remained when editing the annotations.

Unfortunately finances mean it will be a while before an upgrade to an Intel Mac (or VW 2011) is possible, but I've been trying to find out if a video card upgrade would solve the problem. I understand the options are limited for a Quad G5, but some refurbished GeForce 7800 GT G5 edition cards are available. Has anyone experienced a similar problem with VW 2009 and a G5, and will the Geforce 7800 GT solve the rendering problem I'm having?

[Jonathan Pickup]

I'm pretty sure you have forgotten to turn on a setting for your viewports, Display Viewport Cache, It's on the edit dialog

[din]

Thanks Jonathan,

I changed the setting and it worked fine - our IT guys will be happy!