Rob Moore

Redshift render engine natively supports multiple Nvidia GPUs (in Windows) when you use it in other 3D render software like Blender, Cinema 4D etc. However, it does not seem to be supported in Vectorworks. Why? Intentionally limited to a single GPU or something that will come later?

So vectorworks is just really badly optimised then? From a users perspective vectorworks pauses a long time in a heavy model in between view movements. Making it quite jaring compared to other 3d modeling programs. There must be an inneficientcy in the software. (3d panning itself is smooth its the waiting between movements and actions). What is going to be done about this issue to improve the experience for the end user except to be told we need a faster single core performing cpu? Using a top of the line processor with very high single core performance still has a 3-4 second pause before you can do anything. Its ok just frustrating.

Ok thanks for clarifying this. From my perspective its very rarely crashing now as opposed to an almost a daily occurrence. I was simply pointing out that, even if I am technically not correct about the HBM2 memory, that it is a very good card for stability and a large amount of VRAM without having to spend the money on a professional card, if you can still get hold of one that is. Performance wise it sits between a 1080 and a 1080ti. Not amazing, but absolutely fine for Vectorworks Open GL use. I have ended up settling on a setup after messing about with various setups including a second hand 2970wx, which although has been great for Renderworks it's not so good for day to day work in Vectorworks as its single core performance is weak. A DIY build I am using now and I would recommend for a do it all machine for a start up firm: AMD 3950x with 16 cores on the X570 platform, (this is best of both high core count for Renderworks and market leading single core performance). Could equally use X470 MB as well. 64gb of 3200mhz C16 Ram (the AMD 3000 multiple chiplet design works best with fast ram upto 3600 for high performance), Radeon Vii with 16gb of Vram. Storage Corsair M.2 NVME SSD MP510 2TB.

I'd argue the AMD 3950x 16 core is the best price to performance CPU for vectorworks at the moment at £750 if you 3d model and use renderworks a lot but dont want to spend the cash on Threadripper or Xeon, its cheaper sibling the 3900x 12 core is also fantastic. The 3950x renders as well as a 2970wx 24 core, and is equal to a i9 9900k in single core. Smooth Open GL performance is let down by the single core geometry calculations made after each time you move the camera. Very frustrating, the larger the model the longer you wait between camera movements it absolutely kills flow. I think it puts a lot of people off vectorworks over something like sketchup for 3d which is smooth as silk by comparison and what people expect when they work in 3d. In my experience graphics card VRAM is also one of the most important and overlooked aspects of vectorworks. Especially if you open millions of chrome tabs doing product research and open many vectorworks files at the same time it just fills. Yes consumer gpus are ok, but they can be unstable with large models due to the lack of ECC memory. I've recently switched from a 1080ti to a Amd Radeon vii with 16gb of HBM2 which benefits from being ECC specification memory even though the card isnt officially ECC. It solved many of the instability problems i was having when you fill the memory. I think multicore geometry calculatuons has to happen somehow if vectorworks wants to move forwards with BIM modeling, it is a massive bottleneck in this sort of workflow. This year we have seen an industry shift with cpus going for many many cores. Its only going to multiply from here. Single core IPC improvements are not going to improve much and software relying on single core will be left behind. There needs to be a solution somehow. There is now a 64 core AMD 'desktop' cpu! A £4k chip that outperforms 2x £10k Xeon chips. Absolutely bonkers but this is where we are heading.