Rant about 3D hardware for professional applications –
Oh boy, so I have had a fun weekend regarding getting set up with 3D at home...
So I have a somewhat old desktop with an NVidia GeForce GT 240 in it, by no means a top of the line card, but it specifically states "3D Vision ready"
So I buy the 120Hz monitor, and the 3D vision kit from NVidia, totaling close to $500
Go to hook it up, all works well testing it in a game, looks pretty cool.
So I go to launch Maya. I create a stereo camera, then go to look through it in "Active" mode, and the option is greyed out.... What? OK... so I go and launch Nuke. I read that you should choose the "Crystal Eyes" stereo mode in nuke to use your active display, so I do my stereo set-up, right click in the viewer, Stereo modes..... Only anaglyph and interlaced are listed.
So I do some more digging. Turns out your video card has to have "Quad buffer stereo" to work with anything other than games, and it turns out this functionality is limited to the Quadro series of cards... even though all GeForce cards are physically capable. Nvidia has seen fit to limit this option in the drivers only to Quadro for obvious money reasons.
So I decide to try this all out on my Server computer which has a Quadro FX 1400 in it. Which even sports the separate shutter sync port on the back. It is a card made to support professional 3D. An old card, yes. But there are drivers for it for windows 7.
Ok, so I get everything installed, and set up and same issue here. It seems NVidia REMOVED that feature for this card ONLY on the windows 7 drivers. So if I want 3D I have to go linux or Windows XP. They literally removed functionality from a professional board. With no notification to the owners or in the release notes.
Ok, last thing I try is my laptop. it has th ebest card of all of these systems. An NVidia Quadro FX 880M. The laptop has a displayport plug, so I go and buy a DP to DVI adaptor, and get everything set up. Nothing works at all. Turns out I got the wrong type of DVI adaptor and that instead of the $15 one I need the $100+ one that is Dual link. My fault I guess for not reading up on this one.
T_T
So all this money and effort and I still need to spend more money on either a Dual link adaptor, OR a new NVidia Quadro card (a new one) to USE my 3D setup. Even though my current cards say they support 3D.
So.. I just needed to vent a bit.
Not I'm off to look for a cheap Quadro card.
-WACOMalt
