dinga Posted March 14, 2017 Share Posted March 14, 2017 Is there any other rendering engines that can be used to speed up the Hidden Frame rendering? Since this isn't a GPU based render, I didn't know if Octane could be used to make this a GPU render? I'm trying to avoid buying a 16 core Xeon if there's a GPU rendering option available? I would think a GTX 1080 (CUDA) would render a Hidden Frame quicker than a CPU? Maybe I'm wrong? Does anyone have some experience with this? Thanks Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee PVA - Admin Posted March 14, 2017 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted March 14, 2017 Which version of Vectorworks are you using? However unfortunately regardless of the version, you can't swap out rendering engines or force Renderworks renderings to CUDA. Quote Link to comment
dinga Posted March 14, 2017 Author Share Posted March 14, 2017 I'm on 2017. I would think a full quality render would take over an hour rather than Hidden Frame.... But when using openGL the render time is very quick. Which is why I'm so baffled as to the slowness of Hidden Frame. I would think there would be less to render. Just trying to find a way to speed it up without purchasing a new CPU. Maybe there's a setting somewhere I've overlooked? Thanks for the reply Quote Link to comment
Vectorworks, Inc Employee PVA - Admin Posted March 15, 2017 Vectorworks, Inc Employee Share Posted March 15, 2017 Hidden Line has a large portion that is still single core, the geometry phase. When you render, if you watch your CPU usage is it maxing all of the available cores during the HL rendering? If not, a better CPU will not speed things up. OpenGL uses a completely different system that is much faster and more modernized to calculate geometry before displaying the final results. Quote Link to comment
jmanganelli Posted June 18, 2017 Share Posted June 18, 2017 Hi Jim and Dinga. I'm somewhat new to Vectorworks and this forum. If I've missed the answer to my question, I'll apologize in advance.......but why are there no mainstream third-party render engines for Vectorworks? For me, I use several DCC apps, and it is a convenience to standardize on a render engine across apps. Quote Link to comment
Rummelplatz Posted June 19, 2017 Share Posted June 19, 2017 Hi jmanganelli, I guess no, but you could have a look at Artlantis. Vectorworks has a export just for this program and it can create stunning images. Why..this question can only be answered by someone from the staff. @dinga if you want to speed up things, cpu + ram is the way you can go. otherwise you can start splitting up the image. If read that you can decrease the time by chopping the image up into smaller parts, so the overall process is faster than rendering the picture in one go. If you have a ServiceSelect contract, you could use the cloud for this ;-) > upload your project with everything setup, you'll get a PDF with your rendering back. OpenGL > GPU (max. 8 lights) HiddenWireFrame > CPU Have a good start ya'll! Quote Link to comment
jmanganelli Posted June 19, 2017 Share Posted June 19, 2017 Thanks, Rumelplatz. Does Vectorworks restrict 3rd-party render app development? Quote Link to comment
rDesign Posted June 19, 2017 Share Posted June 19, 2017 58 minutes ago, jmanganelli said: Thanks, Rumelplatz. Does Vectorworks restrict 3rd-party render app development? Here's a reply to a similar question from a related thread: Quote Link to comment
jmanganelli Posted June 20, 2017 Share Posted June 20, 2017 Thanks, redesign. That makes sense. It is unfortunate. Renderworks is a pleasant surprise and better than I expected, but it is not best in class. Plus, one of the nice things with many of the major render engines is that the plugins are available for multiple apps. So I can have the same renderer in sketchup, rhino, archicad , and modo. Easier to learn, master, and maintain, and therefore a value to the customer. vectorworks is very good about making user driven improvements. It is a point of pride. Hopefully enough people will speak up that they'll open up to other render engines. Quote Link to comment
barkest Posted June 21, 2017 Share Posted June 21, 2017 +1 I have started using C4D which then opens up all the possibilities listed. The pipeline VW > C4D is very good Quote Link to comment
fabrica Posted June 21, 2017 Share Posted June 21, 2017 agreed, C4D integration with vectorworks works very well, once you get a system that works for you. GPU rendering coming to C4D in next release (September I think) http://www.amd.com/en-us/innovations/software-technologies/radeon-pro-technologies/radeon-prorender Quote Link to comment
EAlexander Posted June 21, 2017 Share Posted June 21, 2017 I use the Vectorworks>Cinema4D pipeline as well. Once in C4D, I render using Octane or Corona, depending on the job. I also do all my lighting, texture and camera work in Cinema as I find it much easier to do all these things there. I appreciate the improvements to Renderworks and Open GL has redefined how I model in VW, but I still find the material system, the lights and the cameras incredibly clunky compared to Cinema. 1 Quote Link to comment
Rummelplatz Posted June 22, 2017 Share Posted June 22, 2017 On 20.6.2017 at 0:54 AM, jmanganelli said: Thanks, Rumelplatz. Does Vectorworks restrict 3rd-party render app development? no, but you can go with the c4d export if you own a copy of maxon's cinema4d and here you have all the options. I am going to wish for that because I think it would be a good thing for all of us. Quote Link to comment
jmanganelli Posted June 26, 2017 Share Posted June 26, 2017 Thanks for the replies. When I decided on modo, 9 years ago, c4d was my first choice but i could not justify the expense. Modo offers everything that i need and more for a reasonable price --- though it got a lot more expensive in the ensuing years --- but its price is still not anywhere near as much to buy or maintain as c4d. At this point, I am settled on modo and rhino for conceptual work with modo and maxwell as my two main render engines because they're very complementary. Though I think highly of c4d, I do not want to get into the expense or the learning curve if i can avoid it. I am experimenting with the best way to export from vectorworks to go straight into maxwell studio. The other option that I'm reviewing is exporting from vectorworks in the *.fbx and *.3dm formats, opening in rhino, and then setting up cameras, adjusting lighting and materials, and then exporting to maxwell. For some reason, so far, i've had some difficulty with the camera export from vectorworks to maxwell directly as a collada file type. fbx>rhino>maxwell seems to be the best workflow so far. Quote Link to comment
zoomer Posted June 26, 2017 Share Posted June 26, 2017 I also prefer Modo over C4D. The only reason I keep my C4D current is the VW C4D Exchange, now working since VW 2017. For me it is nearly lossless. I can do all Geometry in VW but do all Material, Cameras, Lights in C4D. Also it is a bit better holding large geometry, each part a single mesh item and grouped in null object hierarchies, than Modo. Bringing VW Geometry into any other App than C4D does not work for me. Neither FBX, DWG or DXF. Faces are flipped or missing, loss in Structure, ... Exporting from C4D doesn't help either. It is possible to Export things into Modo with some tedious clean up work. But it will not allow any real kind of lossless Exchange like from VW to C4D. Which I rely on for my clients all time changes. Modo did the in App Renderers for Microstation and Solidworks. I am really jealous. But I'ld be already happy if I got a working Export (only) solution to Modo from VW one day. Quote Link to comment
zoomer Posted July 3, 2017 Share Posted July 3, 2017 On 26.6.2017 at 4:45 AM, jmanganelli said: I am experimenting with the best way to export from vectorworks to go straight into maxwell studio. The other option that I'm reviewing is exporting from vectorworks in the *.fbx and *.3dm formats, opening in rhino, and then setting up cameras, adjusting lighting and materials, and then exporting to maxwell. For some reason, so far, i've had some difficulty with the camera export from vectorworks to maxwell directly as a collada file type. fbx>rhino>maxwell seems to be the best workflow so far. Does this means you skipped Modo completely ? Quote Link to comment
jmanganelli Posted July 26, 2017 Share Posted July 26, 2017 Ive just not gotten around to looking much into export from VA to modo, yet, zoomer. Since vectorworks exports to a *.3dm, I have explored that workflow. I've recently tried going from vectorworks to modo through fix and collada file formats. So far, I have a decent experience with geometry transfer but a poor experience with lighting and materials transfer. Quote Link to comment
zoomer Posted July 26, 2017 Share Posted July 26, 2017 For me, proper material assignments are more important than materials itself. I would use or replace by higher quality materials in Modo anyway. Same for lights. I also don't export VW lights into C4D anymore. I create these things from scratch. But it is very cool that I can change my geometry in VW and nearly lossless update my model in C4D. Quote Link to comment
jmanganelli Posted July 26, 2017 Share Posted July 26, 2017 I agree. The geometry coming in well is the primary concern. Environment and lighting set up in modo and rhino are better. Materials in each are better. Modo opens many other opportunities, too. integration like you decribe with c4d would be ideal. Hopefully c4d decides to have a massive sale or cross grade promotion at some point. Or maybe nemetschek can buy modo from foundry. Modo would be very complementary to their offerings. Quote Link to comment
zoomer Posted July 26, 2017 Share Posted July 26, 2017 Marriage of Modo and C4D would be the paradise on earth, as longs as they will choose the advantages of both and not vice versa The main problem with VW and Modo for me, beside that the quality of the Geometry is really good, the organization of it by having thousands of single Mesh Items is something that Modo can't bear. C4D also likes a DXF-like import with less groups much better, but it still works reasonably well with VW hierarchies, for my project complexity. Currently Modo is just impractical with larger projects for me. Too much manual clean up work and Mesh dumping needed. Quote Link to comment
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