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Mathematica 6.0.0 no graphics output on Windows XP

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Adam Weyhaupt

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Feb 5, 2008, 7:51:05 PM2/5/08
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A colleague of mine has a fresh installation of Mathematica 6.0.0 on
a Windows XP machine. The kernel seems to be running fine (2+2=4),
but graphics commands generate no output (only the line " -Graphics-
" (no quotes) is printed to the output). If you switch to Version 5
graphics the graphics work fine (but of course are not rotatable,
etc.) I looked in the archive but saw nothing relevant.

I realize that 6.0.1 is available, but it will be a few days until he
can get it installed and we are curious if you have any thoughts on
this issue.

Thanks!

Adam


Bill Rowe

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Feb 6, 2008, 1:26:20 AM2/6/08
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On 2/5/08 at 7:44 PM, awe...@siue.edu (Adam Weyhaupt) wrote:

>A colleague of mine has a fresh installation of Mathematica 6.0.0 on
>a Windows XP machine. The kernel seems to be running fine (2+2=4),
>but graphics commands generate no output (only the line " -Graphics-
>" (no quotes) is printed to the output). If you switch to Version 5
>graphics the graphics work fine (but of course are not rotatable,
>etc.) I looked in the archive but saw nothing relevant.

Is it possible the command producing the graphics is terminated
with a semicolon? With version 5.x doing this would output the
graphic but suppress the output cell that didn't convey any
useful information. But in version 6, this will totally suppress
display of the graphic.
--
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Carl Woll

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Feb 6, 2008, 5:39:42 AM2/6/08
to
Adam Weyhaupt wrote:

>A colleague of mine has a fresh installation of Mathematica 6.0.0 on
>a Windows XP machine. The kernel seems to be running fine (2+2=4),
>but graphics commands generate no output (only the line " -Graphics-
>" (no quotes) is printed to the output). If you switch to Version 5
>graphics the graphics work fine (but of course are not rotatable,
>etc.) I looked in the archive but saw nothing relevant.
>

>I realize that 6.0.1 is available, but it will be a few days until he
>can get it installed and we are curious if you have any thoughts on
>this issue.
>
>Thanks!
>
>Adam
>
>
>

Looks like the default output is OutputForm. Change it (from the menu
item Edit | Preferences | Evaluation) to StandardForm or TraditionalForm.

Carl Woll
Wolfram Research

David Bailey

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Feb 7, 2008, 4:45:56 AM2/7/08
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Is it possible that he is executing Math.exe (i.e. the kernel) rather
than Mathematica.exe (the notebook frontend).

David Bailey
http://www.dbaileyconsultancy.co.uk

Bhuvanesh

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Feb 7, 2008, 4:47:58 AM2/7/08
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The default output format is probably set to OutputForm.

Go to Edit -> Preferences, click the Evaluation tab, and for "Format type of new output cells" select either StandardForm or TraditionalForm.

Bhuvanesh,
Wolfram Research

beggars...@gmail.com

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Feb 7, 2008, 4:48:58 AM2/7/08
to

I got the same problem with Mathematica 6.0.1 under XP SP2, although
it only concerns 3d plots; only an empty box when I try to render the
graphics. I found a way to avoid this problem: just add PlotStyle ->
Directive[Opacity[0.x]] to your Plot3D options and it should be fine.
Set x to 99 to avoid losing quality, as soon as you put a value of 1,
same empty box. However, this fix is not that helpful as Opacity is
supposed to slow down the rendering. But this should do until you find
something else.

John Fultz

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Feb 7, 2008, 10:37:52 PM2/7/08
to
On Tue, 5 Feb 2008 19:44:42 -0500 (EST), Adam Weyhaupt wrote:
> A colleague of mine has a fresh installation of Mathematica 6.0.0 on
> a Windows XP machine. The kernel seems to be running fine (2+2=4),
> but graphics commands generate no output (only the line " -Graphics-
> " (no quotes) is printed to the output). If you switch to Version 5
> graphics the graphics work fine (but of course are not rotatable,
> etc.) I looked in the archive but saw nothing relevant.
>
> I realize that 6.0.1 is available, but it will be a few days until he
> can get it installed and we are curious if you have any thoughts on
> this issue.
>
> Thanks!
>
> Adam

Bring up the Preferences dialog (under the Edit menu) and make sure that, in the
Evaluation tab, the format type of new output cells is set to StandardForm.

This is the default setting, but it could have been changed accidentally, and
possibly in a previous version of Mathematica (this option used to be on the
menus where it was easier to hit it by accident).

Sincerely,

John Fultz
jfu...@wolfram.com
User Interface Group
Wolfram Research, Inc.

John Fultz

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Feb 7, 2008, 10:38:52 PM2/7/08
to
On Thu, 7 Feb 2008 04:43:57 -0500 (EST), beggars...@gmail.com wrote:
> On 6 f=E9v, 05:39, Carl Woll <ca...@wolfram.com> wrote:
>
>> Adam Weyhaupt wrote:
>>> A colleague of mine has a fresh installation of Mathematica 6.0.0 on
>>> a Windows XP machine. The kernel seems to be running fine (2+2=4),
>>> but graphics commands generate no output (only the line " -Graphics-
>>> " (no quotes) is printed to the output). If you switch to Version 5
>>> graphics the graphics work fine (but of course are not rotatable,
>>> etc.) I looked in the archive but saw nothing relevant.
>>>
>>> I realize that 6.0.1 is available, but it will be a few days until he
>>> can get it installed and we are curious if you have any thoughts on
>>> this issue.
>>>
>>> Thanks!
>>>
>>> Adam
>>>
>> Looks like the default output is OutputForm. Change it (from the menu
>> item Edit | Preferences | Evaluation) to StandardForm or
>> TraditionalForm.
>>
>> Carl Woll
>> Wolfram Research
>>
> I got the same problem with Mathematica 6.0.1 under XP SP2, although
> it only concerns 3d plots; only an empty box when I try to render the
> graphics. I found a way to avoid this problem: just add PlotStyle ->
> Directive[Opacity[0.x]] to your Plot3D options and it should be fine.
> Set x to 99 to avoid losing quality, as soon as you put a value of 1,
> same empty box. However, this fix is not that helpful as Opacity is
> supposed to slow down the rendering. But this should do until you find
> something else.

This is a different issue entirely. When a 3D graphic has no transparency,
Mathematica sends the polygons to your graphics hardware to be sorted from back
to front using a method called z-buffering. This makes sure that, when polygons
overlap in the plane of the screen, you see the frontmost one. This method
simply can't be made to work with transparency, however, so a 3D graphic with
any transparency at all uses an alternative software algorithm called a BSP
tree.

It sounds to me like there's some sort of compatibility issue with your video
driver or card where z-buffering isn't performing as Mathematica would expect.
You'll probably want to look into this, since z-buffering is *much* faster than
using a BSP tree.

I would suggest the following:

* Make sure you have the most up-to-date version of the driver for your video
card.
* If you're still experiencing problems, contact Wolfram Technical Support,
describe the problem, and send them the results of evaluating
SystemInformation[] (you can click the Copy button, then paste into an email).

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