Introduction to Maya - Modeling Fundamentals Vol 2
This course will look in the fundamentals of modeling in Maya with an emphasis on creating good topology. It's aimed at people that have some modeling experience in Maya but are having trouble with complex objects.
# 1 05-03-2005 , 02:42 AM
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Best Open GL VCard

Ok everyone, I got an ATI 9800 xt videocard and am wondering what is the best card used for rendering. I recently rendered a project on Adobe Premier Pro with all the effects, color correction and transitions applied and it took 26 hours!! It was a 1 hour 20 minute video, so what card for the PC would help boost up the rendering speed. From what I've heard, Maya and Premier are both Open GL, so whats your opinion?

# 2 05-03-2005 , 03:20 AM
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Rendering times are mainly based on processor speed and amount of memory.user added image

# 3 05-03-2005 , 03:28 AM
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Well I read somewhere in a site, that when the matrox card was put into the workstation, it increased the rendering speed tremendously. So I'm sure its also based on the videocards also. I already got 1024 mb of DD2 xms rams so at dual channel. My processor is lacking, its way out dated at amd athlon 2600 xp. I'm still waiting to for prices of the amd 64 to drop in price so..............a video card would be better for me right now so...yeah

# 4 05-03-2005 , 08:48 AM
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Last edited by dragonfx; 05-03-2005 at 09:03 AM.
# 5 05-03-2005 , 09:15 AM
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Re: Best Open GL VCard

Originally posted by Anhslaught
Ok everyone, I got an ATI 9800 xt videocard and am wondering what is the best card used for rendering. I recently rendered a project on Adobe Premier Pro with all the effects, color correction and transitions applied and it took 26 hours!! It was a 1 hour 20 minute video, so what card for the PC would help boost up the rendering speed. From what I've heard, Maya and Premier are both Open GL, so whats your opinion?

Okay, so you're trying to render with lots of bells and whistles. What resolution was the render. Your video card can handle the display. Super Trooper nailed it in that the processor is what does the majority of the rendering computation. If you're determined to get video card, make it workstation card and not a gamer's card, at least if you're serious about doing this a lot. Just remember, "you can put a dress on a pig, but it's still a pig."


Other factors:
- Hard drive speed. If you're planning to do alot of video, go for a high speed drive. Standard use is around 7200 RPM, fastest run around 12,000 RPM.
- Multitasking. Disable, close, exit, etc. any unnecessary programs running in foreground or background.
- Record to a clean partioned drive... i.e. defrag thoroughly
- Effects used. Effects are processor intensive, use only those that have direct impact or bearing on the render.

Finally, establish realisitic expections. You may be able to reduce your render time, but don't expect it to be real-time... at least not yet... we'll get that technology someday.

Happy rendering.



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"If you love your job, you'll never work another day in your life."

Last edited by mhcannon; 05-03-2005 at 10:29 PM.
# 6 05-03-2005 , 05:57 PM
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As has been said its down to the processor at the end of the day. I have the use of 3 rendermachines by Boxx Tech 1gb of ram and twin zeons 2.4ghz in each. No cards. Just the Maya Batch render software and Muster despatcher software too.

My own personal machine has a 3.06ghz proc, hyperthread and does pretty good. I rendered a scene recently with GI_Joe, fog, PFX and Maximum 2048 color Spec and bump maps and the mighty beast of Ray Traced soft shads!!! 20mins for an 1800dpi Render. my card is an FX 5200 with 128mb on it, not that it got a look in mind.

Also to speed up the render process use your render layers regularly too!!!

What size was the video incidently that was rendered out?

_J

# 7 08-03-2005 , 06:47 AM
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The video itself is about 17 gigs, close to 18 gigs. W/out allt he effects and color corrections, it takes about 2 hours or so to render. With it, it took about 26 hours.

As for 3dlabs, now that's getting mugged for money. I might as well build a new computer.

I thought about getting a scsi hard drive that has an rpm of 15,000 just for the purpose. Wasn't sure if it would help or not so I put it off for awhile. The video format is DV AVI.

Oh, and what's a render layer?

# 8 08-03-2005 , 08:20 AM
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for editing and postprocessing dv a gaming or even a workstation videocard wont quite cut it if youre wanting to postprocess it in real time you should desire a "Matrox RT.X100 XTreme Pro" in addittion to the 3dlabs... user added image (or whatever main videocard what matters is having a dedicated hardware card for VIDEOEDITING and yes it has to be a dedicated subsystem as both the gaming and workstation cards DONT have those habilitys as they dont target that area specifically)

https://www.azken.com/privado/PorCate...&idcategoria=6
those guys make edition workstations that you can take as your target system for video edition and post processing

One of those wont hurt also:
Canon XL2
Sony DCR-VX2100
JVC GR-HD1
Panasonic AG-DVX100/200

If you live in or near a major city it shouldnt be hard to find a production facility that rents any of that to you... if you manage to sell the end product then think about buyng the hard... the cam+a superworkstation for both 3d and editing+manuals on filmaking and 3d+some production money and the time it will take you to master some techniques is inicidentally more or less about the price and time of the education on that area on a private school so consider it an option...

cool video demonstrating what a render layer is: https://www.cgnetworks.com/story_cust...?story_id=2538
on the right... the last one where it says "watch render layers"


Last edited by dragonfx; 08-03-2005 at 09:04 AM.
# 9 08-03-2005 , 09:28 PM
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Originally posted by SuperTrooper
Rendering times are mainly based on processor speed and amount of memory.user added image

you are 50% right.

This is the truth:

Render Times are based on Processor speed and memory SPEED. The Vid card renders the textures and colors and everything. The 9800XT is good enough!! user added image


Imagination is more important than knowledge...
--Albert Einstein
# 10 08-03-2005 , 10:55 PM
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Originally posted by stickdude
you are 50% right.

This is the truth:

Render Times are based on Processor speed and memory SPEED. The Vid card renders the textures and colors and everything. The 9800XT is good enough!! user added image

That's why I said mainly.:p But it is also based on amount of memory NOT JUST SPEED. And the video card doesn't do much as I said before, as the rendered image is going to be the same. It will just look different to the viewer on their higher end video card. Obviously I was about 95% right as I forgot to say memory speed...


Last edited by SuperTrooper; 08-03-2005 at 10:58 PM.
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