PROJECT Designer/Apple Mac Issues

[SeanMuir]

Greetings. New CarveWright owner and first time poster here in the forum.
I'm having a problem with the software. I have read through the forum and "attempted" to phone CarveWright's 1-800 number trying to resolve my problem; I found nothing similar in the forum and CarveWright's phone is always busy.
I am using a fairly new Apple MacBook Pro with Mac OS X Leopard Version 10.5.8 and my PROJECT Designer disc is Version 1.152.
The problem: The project board appears fine, at first, but when I start working on it the bottom half, to three quarters, of the board keeps going black. It appears and disappears like a flickering fluorescent light, but is gone more than it is there. If I do manage to place the cursor on one of the "dots" (red, yellow, green), even when I can't see it, I am able to drag the pattern to the desired size and shape, but the flickering is very annoying.
I suspect something didn't go quite right during the program install, but I didn't want to uninstall and reinstall without getting some help first. I have no idea if this could cause a problem with my having already "registered" with CarveWright. I wouldn't think so, but I'm not very computer savvy... better safe than sorry.
If anyone can shed some light on this problem, and maybe suggest a resolution, it would be greatly appreciated.

[atauer]

Sean,

The issue you are encountering is a rendering issue. There are currently two different work arounds for the issue you are encountering. These two work arounds should resolve the issue at hand. Please try using the following methods to help resolve the issue you are encountering.

1. Reduce display resolution for your system. The steps for doing this will vary from computer to computer, so you may need to consult the operator manual for your computer for the exact process.

2. Disable the "Toggle Auto Re-Render" within the Carvewright software. To do this, select the "View" menu within the software and click on the "Toggle Auto Re-Render" to disable it.

If this doesn't resolve the issue, post back here or email software support for more assistance. The email address is software@carvewright.com.

[cnsranch]

Couple other things you can try -

Edit preferences, increase your rendering cache - also turn hardware acceleration off.

You can also get a PC:-D

[SeanMuir]

You can also get a PC:-D
I was a PC guy for years, until I bought a Dell XPS about one year ago. I needed a new laptop and was torn between PC and making the switch to Mac. I decided on the PC because I already had several programs I didn't want to replace. Bad idea. The Dell XPS was 64 bit and couldn't use any of my old programs. I bought Photoshop Elements 6.0 and a Wacom Bamboo tablet. I guess the laptop didn't like one, or both, as it would crash several times a day. BestBuys ran a diagnostic on the machine and said it was fine. Now I'm not happy with Dell or BestBuys!!!
I loaded PROJECT Designer into my old Sony Vaio and it worked much better; no disappearing board, right up until I applied text to the design. The program (not the computer) would freeze, giving me the "Program not responding" message.:mad:
Thanks for the suggestions guys. I'll try to give them a try, but like I said, "I'm not very computer savvy." Although computers are quite different, I'd like them to be like cars and televisions; I don't want to know how they work, I just want them to work!:cool:
Sean

[cnsranch]

I was just yanking your chain Sean.

I do know that the more ram in a PC, the better for Designer.

[SeanMuir]

I didn't care for the idea of reducing my display resolution, so I went with disabling the "Toggle Auto Re-render" approach. It solved the problem, thank you, but it reduced the display resolution :roll:
Now I'd like to try the "increase rendering cashe" and "turning off the hardware acceleration", except, I have no idea how to do those things.
Maybe I should just stick to watching TV... just kidding.

[Billions]

Hey Sean, increasing render cache and turning off hardware acceleration aren't that difficult, but it's not totally obvious, so don't be hard on yourself:

Here's how:

1. Start up the 'Designer' software.

2. Click on the first menu to the right of the Apple logo, the 'CarveWright' menu... select 'Preferences...' and when the window opens, you will see two tabs, "General" and "3D Graphics" - on the "General" page you will see 'Rendering Cache' with some up and down arrows to increase/decrease the cache. I don't know the best numbers, I have set mine on 128megs but I don't know what setting will work best for you, maybe start with 30 or 40?

Clicking on the "3D Graphics" tab, you will see an area to select "auto, on, off" for the hardware acceleration. Again, I don't know what will work best for you, but try it at "off" like people suggest.

When you're done, hit 'OK' to close the Preferences window.

Good luck!

[SeanMuir]

Thanks a... well, Thanks a Billion(s). That was easy to do, and when I set the Rendering Cache at 50, and turned 'Off' the Hardware Acceleration, only the very bottom edge of the board would disappear. I figured that would be resolved by increasing the rendering cache, so I ran it up to 100, clicked 'OK' and restarted PROJECT Designer. I was surprised to find I was right back where I started, with most of the board disappearing. I checked and Hardware Acceleration was still 'Off'.
The recommended changes do seem to be the answer and I will continue to play with them. Thanks guys. All your help is greatly appreciated.
Sean