AutoBOOST User's Manual Version 5.0 Introduction Congratulations! You have purchased one of the most powerful productivity tools available for AutoCAD users. In very little time you will be ready for a new level of productivity. AutoBOOST is a set of high performance, full feature real and protected mode drivers specifically designed for AutoCAD R10, AutoCAD 386 R10 and R11. AutoBOOST is a proven product with more than 4,000 users world wide. In addition, the new 256-color driver will also support AutoShade, RenderMan, and 3D Studio. How this manual is organized This manual is organized in three parts: Protected Mode Installation & Configuration, Real Mode Installation & Configuration, and Using AutoBOOST Commands. At the end of the manual there are two appendices which will help you with the configuration. Appendix A contains a summary of menus used by CONFIG.EXE utility, and Appendix B explains how to configure with AutoSHADE, and 3D Studio. I. Protected Mode Installation and Configuration Before using AutoBOOST display list drivers, three steps must be performed. First the relevant programs must be moved to your hard drive, then the proper program must be configured, and finally AutoCAD (AutoShade or 3D Studio) must be configured for operation with an ADI driver. What's on the diskette The diskette accompanying this manual contains programs and document files. AutoBOOST has been organized into several programs according to the capabilities of your graphics board, and drawing requirements. The following programs are on the standard distribution diskette: BOOST16.EXP 16-color program for VGA BOOST256.EXP 256-color program for VGA BOOSTxxxx.EXP Programs for other display boards The following utility files are also included: CONFIG.EXE Configuration program for AutoBOOST. README.DOC Latest information on the programs For a complete list of programs provided on your diskette please see the README.DOC file. Copying AutoBOOST to your disk The installation process consists of copying the desired files to your hard disk. Only the executable files *.EXP,and the configuration utility CONFIG.EXE are needed for the driver operation. These files can reside in any directory on your hard disk. For example to copy all files from \GENOA\AUTOCAD to the directory BOOST on hard drive C:, the following commands can be used: C: MD \BOOST CD \BOOST COPY \GENOA\AUTOCAD\*.EXP COPY \GENOA\AUTOCAD\*.EXE Configuring AutoBOOST Configuration of AutoBOOST is a simple process using the CONFIG.EXE utility program. This program must be run before AutoBOOST can be used. To run the program type the following: CONFIG The program will then present you with a list of driver files and a brief description of each driver available to you. Simply use your arrow keys to highlight the desired driver and press the key. The driver file is configured according to selections made in subsequent menus. At any point you may press the key for help. Software Registration Menu This menu will be displayed the first time you configure a driver, the menu will prompt you for your company name. Once you accept the name, it can not be changed and will appear as part of all AutoBOOST identifications. Main Configuration Menu This menu allows you to access all configurable options of AutoBOOST. You can access an option by using the cursor keys to highlight the menu title and then pressing the key to activate the selected menu. When you are finished with all your configuration changes, highlight the "Save New Configuration & Exit" option and press the key. The key can be used for on-line help. For more information on these menus see Appendix A. Configuring AutoCAD In order for AutoCAD to be able to properly recognize the AutoBOOST display driver, the environmental variable DSPADI needs to be set to the drive and directory where the display driver resides. It is very important that this setting is done correctly or AutoCAD 386 will not recognize AutoBOOST. It is recommended that the command similar to the following is placed in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file: SET DSPADI=C:\BOOST\BOOST16.EXP Note that there are no spaces around the equal sign. The above command assumes that you have already configured the 16-color driver BOOST16.EXP, and that the driver has been copied into C:\BOOST directory. The AutoCAD 386 program itself must also be properly configured to use the P386 ADI v4.0/4.1 video display. This is done by using the following steps: Invoke AutoCAD Select option (5), "Configure AutoCAD" from the "Main Menu". Select option (3), "Configure video display" Select option (1), "P386 ADI v4.0/4.1" Select option (0), "Return to Main Menu" Press "Y" to save the new configuration You are now ready to use the AutoBOOST driver. Trouble shooting AutoCAD will not enter graphics mode The following is the one most commonly encountered message during the installation process: "Please Correct Display Adapter / Configuration Inconsistency" This message usually means that AutoBOOST did not load or initialize properly. Please verify that in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file that "DSPADI" is set to the directory path where AutoBOOST resides, and that the AutoBOOST driver has been properly configured with the CONFIG.EXE utility program. Excessive hard disk activity When the display-list gets large, the DOS-Extender will start paging least used memory to disk, causing a performance decrease. If this occurs often you should add more memory to your system. Technical support If you are experiencing problems please contact AutoBOOST technical support at: Graphics Software Labs, P.O. Box 6247, Huntington Beach, CA 92615, USA (714) 960-6361 II. Real Mode Installation and Configuration What's on the diskette The real mode drivers are easily distinguished from the protected mode driver by the extension *.EXE. The following programs are available: BOOST16.EXE 16-color program for VGA BOOST256.EXE 256-color program for VGA BOOSTxxxx.EXP Programs for other display boards CONFIG.EXE Configuration utility BOOST.DOC Latest information on the programs Copying AutoBOOST to your disk The installation process consists of copying desired files to your hard disk. Only the executable files BOOST*.EXE, and the configuration utility CONFIG.EXE are needed for the driver operation. For example the following commands can be used to install the AutoBOOST: MD BOOST COPY \GENOA\AUTOCAD\*.EXE C:\BOOST\*.* Configuring Real Mode AutoBOOST The configuration of AutoBOOST is a very easy process with the CONFIG.EXE utility program. The steps are similar to those used for protected mode versions of the driver (see section titled Configuring AutoBOOST, at the start of this manual), except that several additional options are available. Interrupt Vector (in hex) Real mode version of AutoBOOST is an AutoCAD ADI real mode driver using ADI 4.0 interface via a software interrupt. By default AutoBOOST utilizes interrupt 7Ah. Display list drive AutoBOOST uses a display-list to store the description of a drawing sent by AutoCAD to the driver. This display-list is stored by the driver in a file. If you are using multiple viewports, there will be multiple display- list files in use. AutoBOOST allows to specify which drive is used to store the display list files. For best performance it is recommended to use a RAM based drive (such as one used by a VDISK). Pop-up save area drive A virtual disk option is also available for the pop-up menu data storage file. The drive specified in this option will be used to save the region under the pop-up menus. Changing CONFIG.SYS File Since AutoBOOST may use several files to store its display lists, you will need to make sure that both FILES and BUFFERS variables in our CONFIG.SYS file are set to values over 30. For example: FILES=30 BUFFERS=30 Running AutoBOOST Removing Existing ADI Drivers AutoBOOST is your new ADI driver. If you were previously running AutoCAD with a different ADI driver, you must remove the old driver. These drivers are often loaded from the AUTOEXEC.BAT file or from a batch file used to launch AutoCAD. It is recommended that after you remove all other ADI display drivers from your *.BAT files you also reboot the system before AutoBOOST is loaded. Loading AutoBOOST You must load AutoBOOST before you run AutoCAD. To load AutoBOOST, go to the directory where AutoBOOST was installed and type BOOST16 (or the name of the driver you have chosen). You should then see a sign-on screen showing the license number, the distributor, and your company name. Pressing any key will complete the loading of the driver. If instead of the sign-on screen you see a blank or distorted screen, you may have selected the wrong graphics card during your configuration of AutoBOOST. If, after reviewing your AutoBOOST configuration, you are still having difficulties, call our technical support line for assistance. If you see a message from AutoBOOST saying that it is already in memory, you may have to unload AutoBOOST (see section titled Unloading AutoBOOST). If you see a statement that says interrupt vector for which AutoBOOST has been configured is in use, this means that you may still be loading an old ADI driver, in which case you should unload the old driver (see section Removing Existing ADI drivers). If you are not loading any other display drivers by accident, then you may have another software product using that interrupt vector. To solve this problem you should reconfigure AutoBOOST and AutoCAD to use a different interrupt vector (see section AutoBOOST Interrupt Vector, and section Configuring AutoCAD). No License Screen Pause /N The sign-on screen and the wait for a key during the AutoBOOST loading can be disabled by using the /N command line option. This can be helpful when a batch file is used to load AutoBOOST. You should use this option only after you are sure that AutoBOOST can load successfully with your current graphics card setting. To load AutoBOOST without pause type: BOOST16 /N Unloading AutoBOOST /U The command line option /U is used to unload AutoBOOST from memory. To unload AutoBOOST, go to the directory that contains the AutoBOOST program and type: BOOST16 /U Configuring AutoCAD To use AutoBOOST, AutoCAD must be configured for ADI v4.0 display. This is done from AutoCAD main menu as follows: Select option 5 - Configure AutoCAD in Main menu Select option 3 - Configure video display Select ADI v4.0 Select interrupt vector (default is 7A). Using a VDISK or RAMDRIVE For increased performance, we suggest that you set up a VDISK to hold the display-list. This will result in faster drawing speed. The size of VDISK to use will depend on the maximum size of the display- list which depends on the type of entities in your drawings. On average the display-list should be 60% of the drawing size. However, drawings with a large number of circles, arcs, and text will produce display-list larger than average. To determine the size of VDISK, we suggest you experiment with a variety of drawings to see their requirements. Should you underestimate the display-list size, you will get a "Disk Full" message, the display list will then be disabled, and you will be returned to regular AutoCAD speed. If needed, you can increase your VDISK size or reconfigure AutoBOOST to use the hard disk for its display-list storage. Trouble Shooting Memory Messages As AutoCAD comes up, you may see the following messages: Autolisp disabled or AutoCAD needs xxxx K of memory to use the last yyyy K of extended memory ... This probably means that there are too many resident (TSR) programs loaded. You may be able to remedy the problem by a) Checking your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files and removing those TSRs that are not needed for AutoCAD; or b) If you have a 386 system, you may be able to load some TSRs into High Memory with a memory manager like QEMM or 386MAX. or c) You could try to reduce ACADFREERAM to 20, and set LISPHEAP and LISPSTACK to lower values. Display Adapter Inconsistency message If AutoCAD displays the following message: Please Correct Display Adapter / Configuration Inconsistency then AutoBOOST did not initialize properly. This problem occurs when FILES or BUFFERS values are too low, or when the disk drive you selected to store display-list does not exist. Please verify CONFIG.SYS and AutoBOOST configuration. No ADI Driver When you attempt to bring up an AutoCAD drawing, you may get the message that there is no ADI driver loaded at a specified interrupt vector. This means that AutoBOOST may not have been loaded. If AutoBOOST has been loaded successfully, then the ADI interrupt vector for AutoCAD and AutoBOOST do not agree. You should configure both AutoCAD and AutoBOOST to use the same interrupt vector (see sections Configuring AutoCAD, and AutoBOOST Interrupt Vector). AutoBOOST Logo missing from the top of Menu If AutoBOOST is loaded properly, you will see the AutoBOOST logo in the upper-right hand corner of the screen, and the display-list size underneath it. You can use the this size to approximate the amount of memory needed by VDISK to store the display-list. When a drawing appears to load OK, but AutoCAD does not seem to understand any AutoBOOST commands, and there is no AutoBOOST Logo in the upper right hand corner, then AutoCAD was not configured for AutoBOOST. In this case you should reconfigure AutoCAD (see section Configuring AutoCAD). If AutoCAD is configured for an ADI driver, then check to make sure that an old ADI driver is not being used (see section Removing Existing ADI drivers). AutoBOOST Loaded But Commands Don't Work. If AutoBOOST logo appears in the upper right hand corner but AutoBOOST commands are not recognized, you may be redefining AutoCAD commands with an old BOOST.LSP program used in previous releases. This program is no longer necessary (use the CONFIG.EXE utility instead). Remove the re-definition and try again. III. Using AutoBOOST Commands Introduction The base version of AutoBOOST, version without the optional Birdseye or EasyPIK commands, contains only the display list clean-up command CD, and anti-alisasing related commands. The standard REDRAW command has been modified to automatically perform a display-list clean-up whenever there are erased vectors in the display-list (see AutoBOOST command CD for further details). All AutoBOOST commands can be entered from the keyboard or assigned to your tablet or buttons for quicker access. All command names can be changed through the CONFIG.EXE program. All AutoBOOST commands can be made transparent to any AutoCAD commands by preceding it with a quote character <'>. The key will repeat the last AutoBOOST command entered, except when you are in the middle of an AutoCAD command. Command Summary CD or 'CD (Clean Display-list) How Editing Modifies the Display-list _____________________________________ Changes in the drawing which cause graphics to be undrawn and drawn are captured in the display-list and appended in the order they are made. For example, suppose an object in the drawing is moved from one location to another. On completion of selection, the active graphics are dragged to the new location and their new position is fixed. AutoCAD will draw the graphics in the background color at their initial position, then draw the graphics in their proper color in their final position. Both draw sequences cause graphics to be added to the AutoBOOST display-list, and both can be observed when an AutoBOOST viewing command is used to draw the modified display-list; the object which was moved will be drawn in it's proper color at it's original position, then be undrawn, (i.e. drawn in the background color) at it's original position, then drawn in it's proper color at the new position. Thus, the appearance of the AutoBOOST display-list captures a "window of history" of the drawing through several incremental edits. The window is "replayed" every time an AutoBOOST command is used to view the display- list. Cleaning the Display-List _________________________ Because the undrawing of graphics still causes data to be appended to the display-list, indefinite editing activity will fill up the available space maintained by AutoBOOST. To purge the display-list of unneeded editing history, you can use the CD command or invoke an AutoCAD REDRAW. This creates a completely new display-list which exactly represents the current state of the active drawing, without any redundant undrawn objects. AP (Anti-Aliasing On) Removes the "jaggies" from your diagonal lines, circles, and polygons. Performs anti-aliasing on all lines over any background, and on all polygons. Anti-aliasing is not supported by all boards. AO (Anti-Aliasing On) Removes the "jaggies" from you diagonal lines and circles. Performs anti- aliasing only on lines over black background. This method is much faster than the one used for AP command, but is limited only to line drawings. AF (Anti-Aliasing Off) Disables anti-aliasing, all drawing is done in a conventional manner. Cancels both AP and AO commands Appendix A CONFIG.EXE Summary In this section is a description of the menus used in the configuration utility CONFIG.EXE. Set Board Type and Resolution This option allows you to tell AutoBOOST which graphics card you are using, and at what resolution. The current graphics option is indicated by the highlighted line. To select a different card, or resolution, use the cursor keys to highlight the desired line and then press the key. If you don't see a listing of the card that you have, you can try a generic version or a similar card type. Sometimes different manufacturers will use the same graphics chip sets. If you are still having trouble, after trying several configurations, call for technical assistance (please see cover sheet for our phone number and address). Set Screen, Interrupt, Disk.. BirdsEye Box Position. Not used in versions without Birdseye. BirdsEye Size Not used in versions without Birdseye. Button To Activate BirdsEye Not used in versions without Birdseye. Digitizer Tablet Mapping Not used in versions without Birdseye. Interrupt Vector (in hex) Not used in the protected mode driver. See section titled Real Mode Installation & Configuration for more details on use in real mode. Display list drive Not used in the protected mode driver. See section titled Real Mode Installation & Configuration for more details on use in real mode. Text Character Box Size AutoBOOST can display up to three different size text fonts in your AutoCAD banner and command areas. Based on your graphics card resolution and graphics area needs, you may choose which size text font AutoBOOST should use. This menu will display possible choices and list the current selected font size. Use arrow keys to toggle choices, press key to choose. Scroll Area Height When running AutoCAD, in single screen mode, the command area is below the graphics region and is set to a scroll height of three lines. This menu allows you to tell AutoBOOST to either increase scroll area for a greater command history or to decrease it in order to provide more graphics area. Use arrow keys to toggle choices, press key to choose. Flip Screen Save AutoBOOST attempts to save the graphics area when you flip to text mode and to restore the information when you return to graphics mode. Some graphics cards may corrupt the portion of the image that AutoBOOST tried to save. This menu gives you the opportunity to have the graphics region redrawn after flip screens, should you need to do so. Use arrow keys to toggle choices, press key to choose. Dual Screen Enable/Disable If your computer system has both a monochrome (MDA) and a VGA/EGA display, AutoBOOST will automatically go into dual screen mode if AutoCAD is run from the monochrome screen. This menu provides you with the option of disabling dual screen mode if you desire to do so. Use arrow keys to toggle choices, press key to choose. Layer Indicator color The "LAYER" indicator in the upper left corner of the graphics screen can be displayed in either the default text color or in the current drawing color. This option gives you the ability to choose which mode you would like to use. Use arrow keys to toggle choices, press key to choose. Set Text and Menu Colors This option presents you with a list of display items whose colors you can modify by highlighting the desired option and using the arrow keys to toggle color choices. For example, you can change the graphics background color between light grey and black. You can also change the background and foreground colors of text, alert boxes, the menu bar, pull-downs, and the dialogue box. If the colors on the graphics screen do not appear to be the colors chosen from the CONFIG.EXE file check your monitor connections. Set Custom Command Names This option allows you to change the names of the AutoBOOST commands should they conflict with any of your other customized operations. This is done by using the cursor keys to highlight the command whose name you would like to change, typing in the new name, and then pressing the key. After entering the change, the command name will be updated. The default command names are: Description Default Command Name Clean Display List CD Anti-alias lines AO Anti-alias polygons AP Disable anti-aliasing AF Set Command Names Sent to Foreign AutoCAD AutoBOOST performs several functions by passing an AutoCAD command name string back to AutoCAD. Since versions of AutoCAD for different languages may use different names to perform these commands, it may be necessary to inform AutoBOOST of the new names. This menu item is used to define the new names. Currently the following three commands are used by AutoBOOST: ZOOM ZOOM PREVIOUS REDRAW Appendix B - Configuring AutoShade and 3D Studio Configuring Autoshade and RenderMan First set the environment variables using the DOS SET command to where the AutoBOOST driver resides. For example if AutoBOOST is in drive C:, directory BOOST, then the following commands would be used: SET DSPADI=C:\BOOST\BOOST256.EXP SET RCPADI=C:\BOOST\BOOST256.EXP SET RDPADI=C:\BOOST\BOOST256.EXP Next, start AutoShade with the /R command line option: SHADE /R AutoShade program will then ask several questions about the devices being used. The following are related to the AutoBOOST driver: Select Display Device: Select the P386 Display Device Interface display driver. Select Rendering Display Driver: Select the P386 Display Device Interface rendering driver Do the display and AutoShade rendering devices share a single screen? Answer Y. Do the display and RenderMan devices share a single screen: Answer Y. Does flip screen require redraw? Answer Y. The rest of the questions are answered according to type of the pointing and hardcopy devices being used. It should be noted that only the 256-color, and the 32k-color, drivers work with AutoShade and RenderMan. The 16-color drivers do not. Configuring 3D Studio Configuration Configuration of 3D Studio is done in three steps. First, delete the configuration file 3DADI.CFG. Second, edit the file 3DS.SET, so that device name after the DEFAULT- DISPLAY and MAIN DISPLAY definitions are set to the following: DEFAULT-DISPLAY = "rcpadi" ... MAIN DISPLAY = RCPADI Note that in the first case there are quotes around the name rcpadi, but not in the second. In the third step, set the environment variable RCPADI, using the DOS SET command, to where the AutoBOOST driver resides. For example, if AutoBOOST is in drive C:, directory BOOST, then the following command would be used: SET RCPADI=C:\BOOST\BOOST256.EXP It should be noted that only the 256-color, and the 32k-color, drivers work with 3D Studio. The 16-color drivers do not. Known problems On some boards, e.g. Everex Viewpoint, it is often difficult to return from rendering to the display screen. In such cases the line, in the file 3DS.SET, containing MAIN-DISPLAY should be deleted or commented out. 3D Studio often starts excessive disk activity and often crashes after rendering several times in a row. You need to exit 3D Studio periodically to release allocated memory.