how does hardware affect rendering?

[grant_PD]

I've seen in previous posts that high processng speeds and lots of RAM are reccomended for better render outputs. I'd like a little more specific info.

Does Renderworks take advantage of more than two processors...fully? I've had tech people tell me that most software won't.

Does RAM affect rendering time? How much is acceptable. I've heard that two gigs are reccomended. What can I expect as far as increases in rendering performance if I double my RAM?

[Fredrik]

Those who can answer this question can also answer mine, so I join this one. My concern is very specific. When I try rendering my project, nothing but the old types of showing 3D like "Hidden Line" to "Final Shaded Polygon" gives any result. If I choose Radiosity, Open GL or RenderWorks, nothing happens!

I suspect my hardware to be underpowered, and VW decline this operation. To get this 12MB project with a two-story residence rendered, what hardware is needed?

As Grant question, is RAM critical, and how much is needed to get rendering up and going?

Graphics Card, is the rendering done here or in the main processor? I need not to know all this. What I need to know is, what sort of Mac hardware do I need to get my project rendered? I guess the new MacBook wont do.

---

PowerBook 12", 1 GHz, 768 MB ram, 23" CinmaDisplay

Vector Works 12.01, Designer, RenderWorks.

Edited May 17, 2006 by Fredrik

[Dave Donley]

Hello grant_PD:

You need enough RAM to keep the rendering from having to use virtual memory (the hard drive), and no more than that, speed-wise. This depends on the model, the textures, lighting, etc. 2GB should be fine for rendering almost all VW models I have seen. The only time I have seen the need for more than 2GB for rendering was for radiosity, which uses much more than the other rendering modes. Hidden line, etc. have different requirements than RW, so I can't say how much would be enough but I would expect it to be lower than RW. If you are using multiple apps at the same time you would need more, I'm saying that 2GB should be enough for VW's uses.

RW uses multiple processors only when raytracing and at no other time. VW and non-raytraced renderings will only use one processor. The benefit to you from dual processors when not rendering is that application switching is faster with two.

[Dave Donley]

Hello Fredrik:

Do you get an out of memory message? If not, then it could be something else besided memory-related.

Is the model far from the document origin (0,0)? Is the rendered image far from the page origin? I have seen a lot of files lately where the problem was these two things.

[Kevin]

Thanks Dave. I hope that you and the other NNA staff will put together a FAQ to address how VW and RW are affected by the various components of a computer.

(Katie said that you might) :-).

[jnr]

Dual Core rocks. Its cut my rendering time by 3/4 at least.

[Jim_Allen]

Dave,

I too have found added speed with my dual core. I thought I saw an earlier thread that VW & RW used dual, but not hyperthreading when processing renderings?? If not will VW begin to use the duals to increase rendering speeds??

Also doesn't the graphics card have an impact on regenation speed of renderings??

Did you get my emailed plot?

Jim

[Fredrik]

Tank You Dave.

The model _is_ far from origin. I started building the drawing with coordinates from the map. This went out troublesome when looking at the drawing in 3D, so I put it to origin(0,0), but looking at the drawing from the side, I got a z value I could not set to zero(0,-1841). In the info palett the z value was i zero. So I rebuild the drawing, in a new file in its origin. Now it renders.

But it takes all day for one elevation in Radiosity! It seems I should put more raw power on my bench.

I did search for an answere on this about origin. I put this in general VW.

[Dave Donley]

But it takes all day for one elevation in Radiosity!

If you can send me the file I can tweak the settings and see if it will render quicker, then let you know how/why the settings were changed.

[LaVoieArch]

well, I thought the problem was hardware so got a G5 quad processor with 8GB ram, and a fast graphics card.... and... OS 10.4.1 and Designer 12.0.1, and well... It is faster,

BUT it doesn't always work, rendering freezing up...

and it doesn't like to put stuff away - having to rebuild the directory every other day.

Drawing with a pencil is looking good at this time in the morning.

Bill