Windows needs OpenGL

[bilyo]

I've run Sketchup ver 7.1 in WinXP for a long time with no problem. I am now running XP as a guest in Virtualbox. I re-installed ver 7..1 and when I ran it for the first time it gave me an error message stating that it could not find OpenGL I've found an OpenGL driver on the OpenGL website. Do I just download and install it in WinXP? Or, is something else required as well?
Thanks

[mpack]

You need to enable 3D acceleration in the VM settings, and install the Guest Additions. Details are in the user manual.

You should not need to install any third party drivers - and I don't recommend that you try.

[bilyo]

I have enabled 3d graphics and Guest Additions are installed with 3d graphics (experimental). Sketchup runs and I get a drawing screen but it responds erratically to drawing attempts. It works fine on a non-virtual Windows installation on the same physical machine. Virtualbox is working beautifully with another Windows based CAD program.
I appreciate the help.

[mpack]

I don't think I can offer much else. An app with heavy hardware dependencies (in this case requiring good graphics), either works well in a VM or it doesn't. There is really nothing we can do if it doesn't: only Trimble can find out what assumptions are failing.

[loukingjr]

@bilyo, If you do a search for Sketchup on this forum you will see that people have had different levels of success running various versions.

[bilyo]

Thanks for all the great advice and help. My current installation of WinXP as guest running my favorite CAD program is working great. I was only trying to also install Sketchup on the same virtual machine as a convenience. I don't use it often and have access to it elsewhere. I did search for and read the other "problem with Sketchup" posts. But, I think I'll give up on it for now and, maybe, try again at a later time.
Thanks again.

[bilyo]

Follow-up,
After a couple of system updates including the kernel and a couple of VB updates, I decided to give this another look. In the process, I found another poster with the same problem. He fixed it by turning off 3d acceleration. I worked for me too.

[mpack]

He fixed it by turning off 3d acceleration. I worked for me too.

Hmm. For the benefit of future readers I'd say that it would typically be... unexpected - to increase the performance of a 3D graphics app by turning off 3D graphics acceleration. And if that does happen than the true problem may be with the graphics drivers on the host.

[loukingjr]

FWIW I don't think the issue is performance. There seems to be an issue with certain kinds of graphics programs and how they generate various elements, panels, toolbars etc. Blender is another, see: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=66797.

Perhaps it's how they overlay elements. I'm not sure. Turning off 3D acceleration helps the drawing of the elements but of course everything is slower.

The problem manifests itself across hosts, graphics cards and drivers, OpenGL versions etc, so it does seem to be an issue with 3D acceleration.

[bilyo]

I can't say that I've noticed any reduction in speed. However, drawing in CAD is not like playing an action game. So, any minor speed reduction probably wouldn't be noticed (I assume). I only use this installation for CAD and it rarely gets connected to the internet. I'll continue to use it without 3d and try turning it back on from time to time. Since 3d is currently experimental, It will likely get fixed some day.

[loukingjr]

3D has been experimental for a long time.

I've mentioned this elsewhere but, I have a Kubuntu guest running Plasma 5 and without 3D it's about as fast as any guest with 3D. I have to disable 3D in it because the GUI doesn't draw properly with 3D enabled.

[mpack]

If you don't notice a lag when rotating complex 3D models then you probably don't need to worry about it.

[bilyo]

I'm not sure what constitutes "complex" for this purpose but, using 2d, I've created a model house with several push-pulls, a couple of components, several rectangles, and lines. Not sure if this is complex enough to make a good judgement but, so far, no lag.

[mpack]

The features you mention don't add to graphical complexity. It's the same number of objects regardless of what the push pull state is.

A complex (enough) graphic model would be one that contains, lets say, 1 million polygons. Rotating and shading that in real time ought to be a decent test of software-only graphics performance.

[bilyo]

I don't think I will ever reach that degree of complexity in any of my drawings. 2d only will probably serve my purposes; for a while, at least.

For a test, I downloaded a couple of pre-done models that looked complex. However, they turned out to be done with a later version (I'm using ver. 8 ) and I couldn't use them. I didn't spend a lot of time trying to find one that works. Based on what you are saying, they were probably not "complex" anyway.