This page allows you to select a graphics device for hardware-accelerated graphics.

The graphics quality settings available will depend on the graphics device, and the DirectX drivers for that device.

Option

 

Description

Current Acceleration Device

The graphics accelerator (GPU) that is currently being used to draw the CAD view.

Startup Acceleration Device (*)

Lists all the graphics cards in your system, and lets you switch between them or turn off hardware acceleration by selecting None. The device with the largest dedicated video memory is flagged as "recommended". If you change the device, it will become the active device only after you restart the program.

Graphics Quality

Specify the desired graphics quality and anti-aliasing ("smoothing"). You are encouraged to experiment with this setting to find which option suits you best:

  • None - Smoothing is disabled, however, rendering will be slightly faster.

  • Standard - The default Multi-sampling Anti-Aliasing (MSAA) technique provided by the selected graphics card (acceleration device) is enabled. It smooths jagged lines and edges, and improves the appearance of small texton screen, but slows down rendering performance. This method makes the lines thicker and dimmer on some devices, which may not be acceptable if you are used to thin and crisp lines. Devices can implement the technique at various levels. An information box indicates which MSAA level the selected card supports. By default, the best level for the device is selected.

  • Enhanced - This method provides better visual quality by removing all jagged lines/edges while maintaining crisp and thin lines with ignorable performance cost. If an acceleration device is detected, this method is selected by default.

  • Highest Quality - The highest level of anti-aliasing is selected.