Hello,

Before I go any further, I know what Alias's minimum system requirements are. I do not need you to quote them or link to them. I have read the hardware it works on, etc.

My question is, though, if you all believe my hardware is sufficient and, if not, what you would recommend upgrading to (yes, I have searched the forums and found a few system requirements-related posts). I am currently using the Maya 6.0 PLE, but I am considering upgrading.

These are my current system specs:

17" LCD (1280x1024 res)
AMD Athlon XP 2500 1.83ghz (eek)
512mb DDR RAM
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128mb

These are, obviously, not the ideal system specs for an advanced 3D modeling/animation/rendering program, but I am on a budget. The LCD is brand new, it works great. I am definitly sticking with that for a while. The video card, motherboard, and processor I have had for a while now. I would really like to hold off for another year on upgrading those. The RAM I can easily upgrade if it will make a significant improvement.

Now, I ask this because I have been trying to learn Maya, and it worked fine, but suddenly when I added an image plane, it literally got to the point where I was not longer able to function properly. When I tried zooming, panning, anything -- it just took FOREVER. And then I tried to create a CV Curve, I plotted the first two points, and then all of the ones I plotted after that didn't even appear! When I clicked the select tool to end the creation process, only the first two (or three) points had been created. Normally, I can create a curve, manipulate it, do whatever no problem. All changes are instant, etc. But for some reason when I throw an image plane into the mix, it slows down dramatically.

So, my question becomes: Do you think my issue is one of hardware, and what would you recommend I do? On the current hardware, would Complete are Ultimate versions work properly as well?

Thank you for your time!


Technel