Dual monnitors....lots of research...no solution

[rlink]

Hello all. I've got a question that revisits the dual monitor issue in Maya. I've looked extensively throughout the web, the newsgroups and the specialized forums on highend3d and creativecow. There is a LOT of information on dual monitor configuration issues...but none seems to address my question or provide a solution.

Some background: I realize that windows XP in its native mode supports dual monitors but does not support OpenGL in the second monitor. I experienced this problem with my first configuration but thought I would have it beat with the second.

First configuration:

Maya PLE
Geforce 3 AGP
Voodoo 5 PCI

This setup worked fine except that the windows placed on the second monitor would not refresh. As I understand it, this is due to the problem with Opengl on the second monitor (as above).

I have some experience with dual monitor setups in other applications so i really wanted to have the dual stuff working for Maya. After reading a lot about using the dual head Geforce 4 Ti 4600 with dual monitors, I went ahead and took the plunge.

The new configuration:

Geforce 4 Ti 4600
CRT monitor on VGA port
LCD monitor on DVI port
Running nView from Nvidia and most recent drivers.

Result: No difference! Windows on the second monitor (i.e. hypershade or render) do not refresh. Now that is very frustrating. The stuff I read on the web suggested that this should work well. The documentation for nView from Nvidia promised that both monitors should run OpenGL just fine.

So....I'm back to the starting point ($400 poorer, of course). Does anyone have any experience getting this to work? Is this some sort of configuration problem? Does nView simply not work with Maya this way despite the Nvidia's claims? Do I need to turn off the Dualview feature in windows in some way? Give up?

Thanks in advance for any information.

Sincerely,

Rick

[frankb123]

I have a solution, though you may not like it.

I run 4 monitors and maya seems to refresh everything fine.. including running a separate view panel in each monitor (maximized or not). Changes to shader attributes in the attribute panel on one monitor update the swatches in hypershade running on a separate monitor, etc. Moving geometry in perspective causes top view on a different monitor to move, side view updates on yet another monitor, etc.

The bad news is that this might be a driver issue and thus be hardware specific and tied to the opengl driver code. I'm running a pair of Matrox G450s (2 monitors on each card). Now, Matrox has got to be one of the slowest OGL cards on the market (of modern cards), but their drivers are incredibly stable and Matrox's dualhead drivers are designed for scalability when additional pci G450s are installed. Also, when running high resolutions moving geometry becomes very slow especially if additional top/side/pers/etc views are maximized on additional screens.

Nvidia drivers, on the other hand, I have found to be very unstable over all and only reasonably stable on some systems. But, their cards are certainly fast

[rivard]

The problem is linked to winXP, not the card. It will work on windows 2000.
Hope this helps.

[skullnation]

Shydo is right. Remeber A/W hasn't certified Maya 4 to run on winXP. This doesn't mean it doesn't run on XP but obviously you've found a reason why it's not certified yet. Supposedly Maya 4.5 will be fully certified to run with XP.

Cheers!

[sumo-kun]

Unfortunately, I think that you may have to pay for it... I have maya running almost flawlessly with a wildcat5110, you could also use a wildcat4210, or the new 6210. Also the GVX210 and 420 support dual monitors. The only problem that I have is the popup mens that should open on the 2nd monitor appear on the primary monitor, but everything else works very well, including scene views and hypershade.
-MD

[1000101-]

the Geforce3+voodoo5 PCI wouldn't work at any point; the ti4600 should be working fine though.
Of course I don't know how well it'll work in XP.apparently it doesn't run in XP from what your saying.

[lacrimas]

Go to the OpenGL options for your card and tick the checkbox next to "enable multiple advanced monitors"...

[rlink]

Well.....Thanks to everyone on this board (and others) who provided advice on this issue. I got responses spanning the spectrum from "forget it....Windows XP can't be used with Maya...get a real operating system" to "contact the card manufacturer" and everything in between. The general consensus, however, was that getting Maya to work with two fully functioning displays in Windows XP was a no go.

Fortunately, I have been able to solve this problem and would like to share the solution. Let me say that Maya works fine with dual monitors in Windows XP using a Nvidia Geforce 4 4600.

The solution to the problem is to inactivate dualdisplay mode in Windows XP and use Nview. Simply installing Nview does not work as dualdisplay takes priority. Steps are as follows:

1. Make sure that both displays are set at the same resolution and refresh rate.

2. Inactivate monitor #2 using the windows Display control panel. (critical; turns off dualdisplay mode).

3. Activate Nview in "span Mode."

That's it. Now the operating system and video drivers think that you have a single huge display spanning both monitors. Maya windows have openGL accelleration in both monitors so render windows, hypershade, etc. will refresh normally. Windows still open in a single monitor although this is configurable using the nView desktop manager. Seems to work flawlessly.

This approach also should work with Windows 2000 although you will need to reboot after making the changes to make them effective.

I hope that is helpful to others who may have the problem I had.

Thanks again.

[gawdzilla]

I am running XP with an Elsa card. I am having a problem with my maya window opening minimized. They are not minimized where the icon on the top right of the window will expand them, they need to be dragged by the corner to expand them. Do you have this problem at all with XP. It may be the card in combo with xp or it may be the wind.

alan

[zovex]

I am running an elsa Gloria II on win2k without glitch, so I have a feeling that it would be the OS not the card, but might be something else.

[biffbangpow]

Hi i see you solved it with two monitors,
I have ordered two 19" montors at 1600x1200@85Hz
My question is does Nvidia Geforce4 handle two monitors at that reselution and refreshrate?

I allready have a geforce3-AGP and a geforce4 Mx440-PCI, but I get trouble with the opengl on the secondary monitor... so I thing I have to buy a new Geforce4 AGP

Would be nice if you could sort this for me, I'm really confused with all this trouble with dual monitors

[jtk77]

yea man , you'll be fine. Hook 'em up.
get a dual g4 AGP and you'll be happy..the other solutions suck for the most part.

[miabe]

had similar problems. this was the solution in my case:

http://www.realtimesoft.com/multimon/forum...=1324&tmpl=