Bricscad Linux with an Intel GPU

Justyn B
Justyn B
in Linux
Hi,

I've looked into the Bricscad Linux version from time to time over the last few years, but the lack of support for any of the 3D rendering modes on machines with only Intel graphics has put me off using it.

I noticed the changelog for version 14.2.14 contains the line:
SR44143 - 3D CONTEXT: with the latest REDSDK patch, 3D modeling with hardware acceleration is now available on Intel cards. Special thanks to Florian Delizy who helped fixing the problem.

This gave me hope.

However the download page contains the text:
3D graphics hardware acceleration in RedSDK on Linux is NOT supported on:
INTEL cards. Drivers for INTEL cards are normally pre-installed with the Linux distribution, but they typically don't include any 3D acceleration.

This line about 3D acceleration in Intel graphics drivers is very outdated, so maybe this system requirements text just needs to be changed.
I noticed that Tomas Polak had some success running it on a Haswell system, but less with V15.

So what is the actual situation with Bricscad and Intel graphics?

Comments

  • Tijs Vermeulen
    Tijs Vermeulen
    Hello Justyn,

    Indeed 3D hardware rendering for INTEL was enabled at end of V14 lifetime, thanks to an INTEL initialisation correction in RedSDK suggested by Florian Delizy to Redway.

    Unfortunately on the next RedSDK update, included in V15, somehow the initialisation was broken again.
    We have not taken the time to investigate this thus far.  Since we still do not support hardware acceleration on INTEL officially, other issues received higher priority.
    Still, it is very important, and we will look into this issue again.  I expect we can start looking into it in a month or so.

    I did update the knowledge base text to make this situation clear, thanks for pointing this out.

    In the meantime it would be good to learn if hardware acceleration does work for you in V14.  You can download V14 using the "Old releases" link on the download page.

    Regards
    Tijs
  • Tomas Polak
    Tomas Polak
    Hi Justyn,
    with recently released beta V15.2.04 I get HW acceleration with Intel card working again.
  • Justyn B
    Justyn B
    Hi Tomas,

    Thanks for the update, I will check it out when I can.

    In general, do you mind telling me how you find the Bricscad experience on your machine?

    Thanks!
  • Tomas Polak
    Tomas Polak
    Hi Justyn,
    I find the experience under linux quite good except for one bug - I am constantly loosing keyborad focus. I couldn't find the culprit, so I cannoot fole a bug, but it happens quite often. There are lots of other samall bugs and annoyances, but this one is major for me.
    I am currently testing BricsCAD under windows and I must say that some of the little problems I have (and which I thought are related to linux) happen under windows too.

    When I moved to BricsCAD, I wrote a short comparison of BricsCAD and DraftSight under linux:
    http://linuxaideddesign.blogspot.cz/2014/08/a-users-perspective-on-linux-cad.html

    Tom
  • Justyn B
    Justyn B

    Thanks for the summary, and the interesting blog post!
  • Justyn B
    Justyn B


    We have not taken the time to investigate this thus far.  Since we still do not support hardware acceleration on INTEL officially, other issues received higher priority.
    Still, it is very important, and we will look into this issue again.  I expect we can start looking into it in a month or so.

    Hi Tijs,

    Now that hardware acceleration on Intel is working again, do you plan on supporting it officially?

    Thanks.
  • Hrvoje T
    Hrvoje T
     Hi!
    I'm using Ubuntu 15.10 and BSC Version 16.1.09 (x64) revision 41330. I have many graphic glitches. How do I disable hardware acceleration? I have i5 with HD4000
    imageScreenshot from 2016-01-20 23-36-12.png
  • Николай (Nicholas) Кудрявцев
    Николай (Nicholas) Кудрявцев

    I have many graphic glitches. How do I disable hardware acceleration?

    Hi,

    Try play with "GL Swap Mode" (Settings -> Program Options -> Display). Sometimes it helps.
  • LUIS MAKOS
    LUIS MAKOS
    ok i have laptop with hybrid gpu, intel and amd is there support for 3d acceleration on amd discrete gpu? i'm running ubuntu 16.04 and i can enable my discrete gpu with "env DRI_PRIME=1 " adding inside the script that i initiate 

    Hello Justyn,

    Indeed 3D hardware rendering for INTEL was enabled at end of V14 lifetime, thanks to an INTEL initialisation correction in RedSDK suggested by Florian Delizy to Redway.

    Unfortunately on the next RedSDK update, included in V15, somehow the initialisation was broken again.
    We have not taken the time to investigate this thus far.  Since we still do not support hardware acceleration on INTEL officially, other issues received higher priority.
    Still, it is very important, and we will look into this issue again.  I expect we can start looking into it in a month or so.

    I did update the knowledge base text to make this situation clear, thanks for pointing this out.

    In the meantime it would be good to learn if hardware acceleration does work for you in V14.  You can download V14 using the "Old releases" link on the download page.

    Regards
    Tijs
  • Mikael Nordvall
    Mikael Nordvall

    ok i have laptop with hybrid gpu, intel and amd is there support for 3d acceleration on amd discrete gpu? i'm running ubuntu 16.04 and i can enable my discrete gpu with "env DRI_PRIME=1 " adding inside the script that i initiate 



    @ Luis: Look at this post:
    https://forum.bricsys.com/discussion/30468
  • Mikael Nordvall
    Mikael Nordvall
    @Louis: The short answer is yes, 3D acceleration works very good with AMD (discrete) GPU.
This discussion has been closed.