
 OPTIMIZE 

  Once Strata is up and running, the following tips may help you optimize its
performance in terms of speed, memory usage, and the quality of the graphics.

- Setting up a RAM disk -
  Strata is designed to make use of a RAM drive.  To set this up under MS-DOS,
you will need at least 12Mb of extended memory, 7Mb of which we will used for
the RAM disk.  Follow these steps:
    1. In the CONFIG.SYS, add the line:
         DEVICE=C:\DOS\RAMDRIVE.SYS 7168 512 512 /E
    2. Reboot the computer.  The RAM drive will be the next drive after your
       fixed drives.  For example, if you just have a C: drive, then the RAM
       disk will be D:.  You can verify this by typing DIR D: from DOS.  You
       should see a message indicating that it is a RAM drive.
    3. Finally, run Strata and select the Utilities Option.  Change the Work
       subdirectory to be on the RAM disk.  In the example above, you could
       make it D:\WK.  A "Files being transferred" message will appear.

  The 7Mb RAM disk will be big enough for most jobs.  In some situations, such
as rendering a file at high resolutions (3000x2000, for example) you could
fill the RAM disk and receive an error.  No files will be lost.  Just change
the work subdirectory back to the hard disk and start the rendering again.

- Using the best Video Mode -
  The image files produced by Strata are ALWAYS in 32 bit color depth!  Even
if you are using an old VGA card which is only capable of displaying an 8-bit
image at 320x200 resolution, you can still generate a 16.8 million color
image file at any resolution.  (A 24-bit image is equivalent to 16.8 million
colors; the extra 8 bits/pixel in our rendered images are used for
transparency effects.  This allows rendered images to be merged together so
that the transparency of objects in the foreground image retain their
transparency.)

  Regardless of which graphics card you are using, you will want it to give
the best possible display of Strata images.  If you have a VGA card that is
not Super VGA, then there are no drivers to be loaded.

  If you have an SVGA card then it must be VESA compatible.  VESA is a
committee that sets standards for SVGA cards; older cards may not comply with
these standards.  Most new SVGA cards don't even require a driver to support
the VESA graphics modes.  Check to see whether your SVGA card requires you to
run a driver to support the VESA modes.  For 24-bit display, the card must be
100% VESA compatible and support the 112H VESA mode, which is 24-bit and
640x480 resolution.  Two reminders: If your graphics card requires a VESA
driver, be sure to run the one that came with the card.  If your board does
not require a VESA driver, be sure not to run one from another manufacturer.

  The environmental variable DISPLAYCFG is set automatically when you do a
Quick Installation or when you run the AUTOEXEC.BAT option from the Custom
Installation menu.  The following instructions are for setting this DISPLAYCFG
yourself.  With the VESA drivers installed (if any), you can run Diagnose to
see the Best Video Mode.  It will either be VGA, SVGA or SVGA24.  Now set the
environmental variable DISPLAYCFG to that value.  For example, if SVGA24 is
the best, then the line SET DISPLAYCFG=SVGA24 should be in your AUTOEXEC.BAT
file.

- Using a Disk Cache -
  A disk cache will speed up your computer and it is strongly recommend that
one be installed.  The caching program supplied with MS-DOS 6 is SMARTDRV.EXE.
SMARTDRV.EXE can also be used for double buffering - which may be necessary
for some hard disk controllers such as SCSI controllers.  The DOS manual
explains how to set up SMARTDRV.EXE to handle caching and double buffering.

- Making more conventional memory available -
  Strata requires approximately 555K of conventional memory to run.  If you
have TSR's and drivers that take up a considerable amount of conventional
memory, you will either have to unload them to run SV3D, or load them "high".
(See the DOS manual on LOADHIGH.) To see how much conventional memory you
have, either run the DOS program called MEM or select the Diagnose option from
the INSTALL's Main Menu.  To get the most conventional memory, run the
MS-DOS 6 program MEMMAKER.
