3DVIA®

Minimum System Requirements:

• Microsoft Windows
  • Microsoft Windows (2000, XP or Vista)
  • Pentium II (or equivalent)
  • 256 MB of RAM
  • DirectX 9.0c (August 2007) or higher
  • Internet Explorer (4.0+), Firefox (1.0+), Netscape (6.1+)
• Apple Mac OS
  • Mac OS X Tiger (10.3.9) or later
  • G3 or Intel Core Solo/Duo Processor
  • 256 MB of RAM
  • Safari, Camino or Firefox
• IMPORTANT: Netscape Navigator 4.x is no longer supported.

• Microsoft Windows
  • Direct3D or OpenGL compatible 3D accelerator graphics card with at least 32 MB of RAM
  • Internet Explorer 6.0 or Firefox 1.0
  • Monitor color display set to 32 bits (True Color)
  • DirectX compatible Sound Card
• Apple Mac OS
  • Intel Core Duo
  • Firefox 1.0
  • Monitor color display set to 16 bits (65536) or 32 bits (True Color)
  • Sound Card

The 3DVIA Player is currently available for Microsoft Windows and Apple Mac OS X. Here is a list of operating systems and browsers supported for both platforms:

• Microsoft Windows
  • Operating System: 2000, XP or Vista
  • Browser: Internet Explorer, Firefox, Mozilla, Chrome or Netscape
• Apple Mac OS
  • Operating System: Apple Mac OS X
  • Browser: Safari, Camino or Firefox
• IMPORTANT:
  • Under Apple Mac OS X, Power PC and Mac Intel are both supported.
  • The 3DVIA Player does not support AOL Web browser at this time.

No, the 3DVIA Player is not supported by AOL Web browsers. Please use another Web browser such as Internet Explorer or Firefox.

Since version 4.1, the 3DVIA Player requierd Microsoft DirectX 9.0c (August 2007) or higher.
Visit Microsoft's Download Site.

Make sure to disable any download acceleration utility.

Under Microsoft Internet Explorer for Windows, the 3DVIA Player first downloads an .exe file, installer.exe that will install an ActiveX control and continue the installation of the the 3DVIA Player. Modify your Internet security options to authorize ActiveX control installation and execution.

Make sure that your network administration policy allows you to download .exe/.xpi files.

Contact your network administrator to make sure that your proxy/firewall settings allow you to download .nwi, .packed, .exe and/or .xpi files.

You must have administrator rights to install the 3DVIA Player.

Using Firefox, I got a JavaScript application error dialog box stating "3DVIA Player installation failed".

Click the Ok button of this dialog box, then at the top of the Firefox window, click the "Modify Options" button to authorize 3dvia.com to install software. Click the Install button again.

For Windows 2000/XP/Vista, from the Start Menu, choose Run. In the dialog box that appears, type "DxDiag" (without quotation marks). The DirectX Diagnostic Tool application should launch. The manufacturer of your 3D graphics accelerator card will be displayed on the Display tab.

Note this information to check and eventually update your driver on the manufacturer's website.

From the Start Menu, choose Settings/Control Panel. Next, double-click Display and select the Settings tab. Make sure Colors/Color Palette is set to 32-bits (True Color).

• Joystick: no support
• Web BBs: tested on the following browsers: IE, Firefox 1.0, Netscape (7.1 and 7.02), Safari, Camino
• PauseOnFocusLost variable: not supported

Limited support of the following BBs depending on the browser type:

• Back & Forward BB: supported only on Firefox, Netscape, Camino
• Go to Web Page: supported on all browsers (when working, same behavior as Go to Web Page)
• Navigate to Web Page: supported on Firefox, Safari, Netscape, Camino
• Home: supported on Firefox, Netscape, Camino.
• Search: not supported

JavaScript:

Because of the weakness of the communication support (JavaScript) between Mac browsers and plugins, some JavaScript features work partially, others not at all.

• Pause Input and Resume Input: not supported

Known Mac Player feature Issues:

• Unicode: limited support (as on PC). Make sure the proper font is set up in the composition to match the supported ones of Mac OS X (for instance Arial on Mac doesn't cover the kanji characters...). More generally, prefer Helvetica on Mac than Arial (default on PC).
• Contextual Menu: depending on the frame rate of the composition, you may right click several times before the menu appears.
• Fullscreen: switching between windowed and fullscreen mode by using Cmd + Enter may not work correctly (you may have to hit these keys several times before switching).
• The CMO Test TestLogicTest.cmo (provided in the samples) crashes the Mac Player (to be fixed in the next official version).

Known Mac Player installation issues:

• Make sure no browser is running while installing the plugin (check the Finder's Dock to make sure there's no browser running).
• In some configurations (not identified yet), the installer doesn't properly replace older versions of the Mac Player by the desired one.

Ways to verify your Mac Player installation:

1. Go to your folder "Library/Internet Plugins" and make sure there are the following files:
   • loading.vmo
   • NPVirtools.plugin
   • nsl4xScriptablePluginVirtools.xpt


2. Check the installed version :
   • Launch a Virtools composition in the Mac Player.
   • Display the contextual menu (rightclick or control-click) -> Settings.
   • Check the version in the settings dialog box.

How to uninstall the Mac Player:

There is no automatic uninstall for the Mac Player, but you can easily uninstall it manually:

• Go to your folder "Library/Internet Plugins" and delete the following files :
  • loading.vmo
  • NPVirtools.plugin
  • nsl4xScriptablePluginVirtools.xpt

In the Firefox web browser, some extensions can modify the web pages for several purpose, and at the same time mess with the values exchanged between Firefox and the Web Player. Extensions that could pose some problems in Firefox are mainly:

• • Advertisement / popup blockers
  • Web development Tools (HTML / JavaScript / Analyzers)
  • Any extension that modifies the original web page (customizing the look and feel of a page, removing/adding elements in a page etc...

Under Windows Vista/Seven and Internet Explorer 7+, the 3DVIA Player may not be able to read the input from the mouse or keyboard. This is due to Windows security policies.

In such cases, the solution is to run the browser as administrator. To do so, right click on Internet Explorer shortcut and select Run as Admin.

Note that this problem does not exist with Mozilla Firefox.

If you refresh your FireFox browser (by pressing F5 for instance), it may freeze the execution of “Modify Component” building block, then resulting in abnormal behavior of your schematic. As a work around, you could use “Set Component” building block instead of “Modify Component” building block.

Experience may have been built on previous version of 3DVIA Virtools by developers using custom component that has been modified in that new version. Until developers has not compiled it with 3DVIA Virtools 5.0 SDK, this could not run properly inside 3DVIA Player 5.0.