(Updated 30 May 2003)
PURE
requires a full-length PCI slot that is version
2.2 compliant. Many PCI slots that are not version
2.2 compliant will also support the card, as long
as they have a 3.3 volt rail. The PCI slot should
be a 5 volt slot and be 32 bit. 3.3 volt and 64
bit PCI slots cannot be used.
Beyond the above requirement we do not make any
motherboard recommendations. All motherboards that
we have tested that meet the above requirement are
compatible with PURE.
The following points explain the relative importance
to PURE of other PC specifications:
Memory is very important. As well as running
your application (3dsmax, VIZ or Maya) the PC will
also be running the PURE software. If you do not
have sufficient memory for both then the PC will
need to page to disk, which is relatively slow.
(To check memory usage during a render go to the
Windows Task Manager. The Performance tab gives
the total memory usage. By comparing MEM usage with
Total physical memory you can tell how much has
been paged. Some paging is not a problem as long
as it is applications you are not currently using.
To check this go to the Processes tab, which lists
all the processes and their size. The rendering
process is called netpci, also look for 3dsmax,
3dsviz or maya.)
Processor speed is fairly important. Some
stages of the rendering process use the host processor
and these benefit from a faster processor. Typically
doubling processor speed will increase the speed
of rendering by 15 to 20 percent, though this is
very scene dependent.
Dual processors are not important but can
be helpful. PURE will only use one processor during
the render. Dual processors are useful during geometry
export, when the application is sending a description
of the scene to PURE. They are also useful as during
a render the second processor is available for other
tasks, so the PC will be more responsive.
Disk speed has limited importance. PURE
uses the hard disk to store processed bitmaps and
compiled shaders. It is better if the disk is fast
but the speed of the disk will have a very small
effect on overall rendering speed.
Disk space. We recommend you allocate PURE
a cache of at least 100Mb. Ideally you will allocate
at least twice the disk space required to store
all the bitmaps in your scene. If you allocate less
space than this then PURE will still work but may
need to re-request bitmaps from the application
during the render.
(Updated 30th May 2003)
Yes, PURE software version 1.4 and later supports
Windows XP.
Older PURE software, version 1.3 and earlier, was
written for Windows NT and was also qualified on
Windows 2000. It was not qualified for Windows XP.
However, many users are using the older driver on
Windows XP and no problems have been reported.
(Updated 30th May 2003)
This problem does not affect PURE version 1.4,
it affects PURE version 1.3 and earlier.
If when running the installer you get an error
message like 'Internal error 2753.F3037_PUREStarter.exe",
or a similar messages involving PUREStarter.exe,
then run PURE.msi instead of setup.exe.
If you had already installed PURE then use the
Add / Remove Programs option on the Control panel
to remove PURE first.
This problem is caused due to a change in Microsoft
Windows Installer between the previous version 1.2
and the more recent update, version 2. This update
is installed by various software packages.
PURE.msi installs the software in a slightly different
way, which is not affected.
(Updated 30th May 2003)
This problem does not affect PURE version 1.4,
it affects PURE version 1.3 and earlier.
If the PURE installer appears to finish without
reporting errors, but fails to install the software,
then run PURE.msi rather than setup.exe. The symptoms
of this are:
-
The PURE install finishes very quickly
-
You are not prompted to reboot
-
There is no PUREStarter listed in the Startup
menu (Start menu > Programs > Startup)
This problem is caused due to a change in Microsoft
Windows Installer between the previous version 1.2
and the more recent update, version 2. This update
is installed by some various software packages.
(To check your version go to Start > Run and
type msiexec. A pop up window will tell you the
version number.)
PURE.msi installs the software in a slightly different
way, which is not affected.
PURE software can fail to install if the Microsoft
"Windows Installer" is Version 2 or greater.
(Updated 30th May 2003)
If when running the installer you get an error
message about PUREStarter, then run PURE.msi instead
of setup.exe. (If you had already installed PURE
then use the Add / Remove Programs option on the
Control panel to remove PURE first.)
This answer explains what to do if you encounter
problems installing the PURE software or if when
you render from RenderPipe to PURE you get a message
like 'Error: Driver / Card not responding' or 'Couldn't
connect to PURE card: Connection refused'.
If you are running NT first check that the PURE
software has been installed. There should be a PURE
icon on the task bar. If there is not, then go to
the Start > Programs > Startup menu and check
that there is a PUREStarter item. If there is not
then go back to the software install stage and run
PURE.msi instead of setup.exe.
Look at the rear metal plate of the PURE card.
Is the green light illuminated? If the green light
is not illuminated then either the card is not inserted
properly or the computer does not support this type
of PCI card. Try to reseat the card. If that does
not help, try a different slot. If the green light
is still not illuminated then the machine almost
certainly does not have a 3.3 volt rail so is not
suitable - see page 3-3 of the PURE user manual
for more information.
The rest of this answer assumes the green light
is illuminated.
Go to the PURE diagnostics panel by right-mouse
clicking on the PURE icon on the task bar and choosing
'Diagnostics' from the menu. At the bottom of the
diagnostics panel is a line headed 'Current Status':
If the status is 'Ready' the PURE software is
correctly installed and ready to render.
If the status is 'Rendering' then PURE is already
rendering.
If the status is 'driver / card failure' then
continue through this answer.
If you are using version 1.1 of the PURE software
then update to version 1.3-1 or 1.4-4 as they contain
an improved driver.
The next stage is to check the driver status for
a resource clash - see page 3-6 of the user manual
onwards for advice on how to identify this. To solve
a resource clash you must go to the BIOS and switch
off Plug and Play. There are many different BIOSs
so it is not possible to provide instructions for
this.
Very rarely the problem will not be caused by a
resource clash. If there is definitely not a resource
clash, or if switching off plug and play does not
help, then you can also try:
reseating the PURE card
using a different PCI slot
removing other cards - temporarily remove all
non-essential cards and if the PURE card then
works add the cards back in one at a time
a different computer
See the previous question 'PURE
software installation problems' above.
This message usually indicates that PURE Starter
is not running. Try the following:
Check that PURE Starter is in the Startup sub-menu
of Window's Programs menu. If it is not, then
re-install the PURE software (remove it first
using the Add / Remove Programs option on the
Control Panel).
Reboot the workstation.
This is specific to PURE. The symptoms are:
The render fails with a message like 'Error reading
from network [a]: Connection reset by peer'
The PURE diagnostics (right mouse click on the
PURE icon) contains a message 'Couldn't stop socket
blocking: Socket operation on non-socket'
When PURE starts to render it creates a socket.
The socket is used to communicate with the netpci
program, which actually does the rendering. When
this error is seen it is because something has prevented
the socket being created or caused it to become
invalid. This can be caused by third-party software
such as anti-virus software or system security utilities.
Disable them one by one until you identify the one
causing the problem. Once you have identified which
is causing the problem, re-enable the others and
check there is just one cause. Then investigate
the settings available in the software causing the
problem as it is often possible to give PURE security
clearance.
In one reported case it was found necessary to
remove the anti-virus software to cure the problem.
New 12 June 2003
If rendering stops with a message like 'Error allocating
space for picture' or 'Couldn't load picture source
file', the problem may be that the file name and
path of a bitmap is too long or contains a lot of
capital letters.
Right click on the PURE task bar icon and choose
Diagnostics. Look for the error message in the Log
Messages area.
This answer applies if the message 'Error allocating
space for picture' is preceded by the message 'Couldn't
load picture source file', followed by a long name,
then a message like 'Error: Unable to open file.
- The system cannot find the path specified' or
'Error: Unable to open file. - The filename or extension
is too long'
The filename for a bitmap being passed to PURE's
cache is too long. PURE creates file names using
their whole path, so the resulting filename can
be quite long.
Some applications differentiate between objects
named with capital and lower case letters, whereas
Windows does not. To ensure names are unique PURE
encodes capital letters, which increases the length
of the filename used in the cache.
If you encounter this problem you can solve it
by doing one of following:
