Support on o2c files (Objects 2 See) and o2c Interactive!
#29667 by Mark F. Madura
Fri Oct 26, 2007 1:24 pm
<b>o2c Q&A</b>

The following questions and answers are applicable to the o2c file format, the o2c Player, and o2c Interactive

<b>General Questions</b>

<b>Q. What is o2c?</b>
A. o2c is an acronym for Objects to See, a highly compressed 3D file format that is optimized for Internet-based communication.

You and your clients can use the freely-distributable o2c Player or o2c_2Go to view o2c objects.

<b>Q. How can I create o2c objects of my own projects?</b>
A. With DataCAD 9.06.00 and later versions, you can save 3D models in o2c format and distribute them to your clients as e-mail attachments or embed them into Word, PowerPoint, or HTML documents.

<b>Q. Is it possible to create o2c objects without using DataCAD?</b>
A. At the moment, you can purchase either DataCAD or DataCAD LT. If
you already own another CADD program, you can use either of these programs to convert DXF and DWG files to o2c format.

<b>Q. Are there any plans to develop a Macintosh-compatible version of the o2c Player?</b>
A. Not at this time. However, we will consider it in the future if demand is high enough.

<b>Q. What is the maximum resolution image I can produce with the o2c Player?</b>
A. The width is limited to a maximum resolution of 2048 pixels. However, the vertical resolution is proportional to the size of the player window and is not limited to 2048 pixels.

<b>Q. Can I control the direction of a light source?</b>
A. All lights in o2c are omnidirectional. However, you can influence the direction a light shines by placing it in a hemisphere or cone-shaped object.

<b>Q. Is it possible to change the location of the built-in sunlight source?</b>
A. No. The built-in sunlight and ambient light sources are not customizable. However, it is possible to add custom light sources to an o2c object at the time it is created.

<b>Q. What is the effective range of influence for a custom lamp added to an o2c object.</b>
A. The effective range is around 20 feet or 6 meters.

<b>Q. Is there a limit to the number of polygons per o2c object?</b>
A. The maximum number of polygons per o2c material is limited to 32,768. However, since you can use multiple o2c materials within one o2c file, there is no effective limit to the total number of polygons.

<b>Q. Each time I launch the o2c Player I have to uncheck the Filter option in the Display Mode menu. Is there any way to get this setting to stick?</b>
A. Not in the stand-alone version of the player. However, in DataCAD 10.04.00 and later versions, o2c Interactive, and o2c2Go, this setting is stored in an INI file.

<b>Q. What is the hotkey Pos 1? The pop-up menu indicates that this is the shortcut for Show All.</b>
A. Pos 1 is the [HOME] key.

<b>Q. How can I render an elevation or floor plan to a specific scale?</b>
A. Bitmaps are based on pixels vs. vectors and have no relative scale. However, you can insert the rendered image into a DataCAD drawing and use the new calibrate options found in the Enlarge menu to scale the bitmap to real-world size.


<b>Trouble Shooting</b>

<b>Q. I've lost the ability to Raytrace. How can I restore this ability?</b>
A. Version 2 of the o2c Player uses DirectX and does not include Raytracing capability.

You can restore the prior version ( 1.9.9.149 ) by running the DataCAD installation using the "Custom" option and selecting the o2c Player.

<b>Q. The o2c display is blurry or "fuzzy". How can I fix this?</b>
A. You may have inadvertently pressed the [F8] key.

Try pressing the [F8] key again to reset the display.

<b>Q. I am using the latest version of Netscape but I cannot get the o2c plug-in to work. Is the o2c Player compatible with Netscape?</b>
A. Currently, the o2c Player is only compatible with Netscape 4.x.

<b>Q. I recently upgraded to the latest version of the o2c plug-in and noticed that navigation seems sluggish now. Is there a setting I can change to fix this?</b>
A. Yes. In version 1.9.9.135 a Filter option was added to the Display Mode menu. Its purpose is to improve the quality of the display by smoothing the edges of polygons. However, it can greatly degrade the performance depending on the display adapter. Go to the Display Mode menu and uncheck the Filter option.

<b>Q. My machine locks up when I try to launch the o2c Player.</b>
A. This problem is likely related to the type of display adapter you have and/or your Hardware acceleration setting. If the o2c Player hangs when you try to launch it from DataCAD, but not when you launch it as a stand-alone program, you can try the following steps to correct the problem.

<b>Option 1</b>

01. Double-click on an existing o2c object from the Windows Explorer.

02. Right-click in the o2c Player window to bring up the context-sensitive menu. If there is a checkmark next to an option, Use 3D-Hardware, uncheck it by selecting it.

<b>Option 2</b>

01. Right-click on My Computer and select Properties.

02. Select the Performance tab, then choose the Graphics... option.

03. Reduce the performance slider from Full toward None. You will need to restart your computer in order for the change to take effect.

<b>Q. I receive an error message "ACO2C.DLL Konnte nicht geladen werden." when I try to launch the o2c Player.</b>
A. You'll need to delete and re-install the o2c Player ActiveX control. You can try the following steps to correct the problem.

01. Manually delete the O2CPlayer.OCX file from your Windows system directory using the Windows explorer. You can also perform a search using the keyword o2c*.ocx and delete any occurrence that is found.

02. Re-install the latest version of the o2c Player.

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