What is hardware acceleration?
Hardware acceleration is the concept of enhancing the speed of a design by imparting software processes into hardware. Many computational algorithms that are straightforward to code and debug in software are inherently parallel in nature. Encryption algorithms, image manipulation and signal processing are just some examples. To remain as software entities, such functions place heavy demands on the processor. FPGAs themselves are parallel in nature, offering the ability to perform multiple operations simultaneously. To move computationally-intensive functions from software into hardware, and ease the burden of the processor, would therefore be considered an evolutional jump for the design.
Swift 3Ds implementation of OpenGL allows machines to take advantage of any hardware acceleration provided by your video card. This will serve to speed up the rendering that occurs while working within the Viewports. (Note: Hardware acceleration has no affect on the final rendering process that takes place in the Preview and Export Editor. Only enhanced processor speed and memory can increase final rendering.) The default setting for hardware acceleration is off in Swift 3D. To turn on hardware acceleration, go to the (Windows) Setup > User Preferences or (Mac) Swift 3D > Preferences dialog and check the Enable OpenGL Hardware Acceleration option. Since Swift 3D is relying on the OpenGL support provided by your video card, if you experience any performance or display issues while running Swift 3D with this setting enabled, try downloading the latest driver for your card from the manufacturers site to see if a fix is available. If the display and/or performance problems persist you will
It is common for recent graphics chips to support some level of the MPEG-2 decode in hardware. This offloads the CPU from performing the same decode tasks. For less CPU usage, make sure that the “Hardware acceleration” setting on the ForceWare Multimedia Video property page is enabled. When hardware acceleration is enabled, the “Decoder Format” section of the ForceWare Multimedia Video property page will indicate the DXVA mode that is currently being used. If hardware acceleration is disabled or not available on the system, the same section will indicate a software mode such as YUY2. • What is DXVA? DXVA stands for DirectX Video Acceleration, a standard defined by Microsoft to allow video decoders to access the video acceleration capabilities of the graphics hardware in the system. All display drivers that pass Microsoft’s WHQL testing support this standard. Video Mixing • What is the difference between hardware overlay and video mixing? Hardware overlay uses special, dedicated video h
