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iMac Pro information


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2 minutes ago, zoomer said:

I have seen these.

And I am not that happy with the need of demounting the CPU und GPU coolers

to reach the RAM slots.

I started using Mac's about 15 years ago and was always pleased with their products. I'm currently hanging onto my older Macpro (which I adore, easy access, easy to clean, I can add a hard drive in minutes) and I"m not too excited about my replacement options.

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7 minutes ago, J. Wallace said:

I started using Mac's about 15 years ago and was always pleased with their products. I'm currently hanging onto my older Macpro (which I adore, easy access, easy to clean, I can add a hard drive in minutes) and I"m not too excited about my replacement options.

 

I'm in a similar pickle. My 2008 MacPro 3,1 (almost maxed out). I could take it up to 64G of RAM, but the processor is starting to be the pain point (e.g. processing video, Nuke scripts, Maya work etc). I'm looking forward to the MacPro modular announcement in 2018, but I would seriously consider one of these if I had the job that justified the price. 

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  • 1 month later...
  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

Got it in my grubby paws today! I made sure to explicitly promise to keep it free of drool.

It is amazing how much the experience of using Vectorworks can change even between machines that are BOTH above the recommended specs. I'm currently benchmarking it and throwing my favorite Unfair combo file at it to see if I can make it choke.

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

Well. I knew it would be powerful but it still wowed me. Below is a quick comparison of OpenGL performance. This is the most optimized aspect of the VGM and showcases exactly what Vectorworks can do if given access to powerful hardware.

 

 

The first segment shows the load times from no files at all to loading the stress test saved in OpenGL. The second shows me flying around the same file on both machines using a Spacenavigator. You can clearly see the iMac Pro trouncing the Macbook Pro in both tests, even more handily than I expected. I would attribute the load speed victory to not only the superior CPU clock on the iMac Pro, but also the superior GPU and the MUCH faster solid state storage.

 

Not only is there a huge difference in load times (It beat my trusty MBP handily loading one of my nastier torture files) but because the iMac Pro has so much VRAM (8GB on the Vega 54) it can hold a this deceptively complex model all in memory without having to dump out geometry and reload again like you can see it doing a few times on the MBP. There are moments in the video where it looks like im not doing anything on the MBP side, but I assure you I was mashing forward on the Spacenavigator knob and just awaiting a response.

Now all that said, there is a bug specifically related to random crashing on iMac Pros (on both GPU options) that we are currently tracking. I did not come across it in my brief testing so far, but I've mainly stuck to OpenGL and didn't do much drafting. 

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

Here it is (sorted by CPU Cinebench score) handily beating my gaming rig "Ceres" even with an overclock and only being beaten by a 24core monster machine that costs over $14,000:

Screen Shot 2018-02-06 at 1.19.29 PM.png


My current Macbook Pro for comparison:

Screen Shot 2018-02-06 at 1.26.53 PM.png

The GPU scores lower than the dedicated GTX 970 gaming graphics card of course, since gaming cards are simply better at OpenGL overall for their price, but a score of 122 on the GPU in Cinebench is no slouch at all, as you could plainly see in the video comparison.

In this quick test render for another video I'm currently recording about Lit Fog:

 

Screen_Shot_2018-02-06_at_1_24.43_PM.png

 

My Macbook Pro took 9 minutes 58 seconds. The iMac Pro took 2 minutes 38 seconds.

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On 2/6/2018 at 12:57 PM, JimW said:

Now all that said, there is a bug specifically related to random crashing on iMac Pros (on both GPU options) that we are currently tracking. I did not come across it in my brief testing so far, but I've mainly stuck to OpenGL and didn't do much drafting. 

 

My experience has been that the crashing seems to be precipitated by the combination of OpenGL and Orbit.  Sometimes VW will crash while orbiting, sometimes (maybe more often) it will crash some time later.  And while 2D drafting is exceedingly tedious, even on the iMac Pro, it doesn't seem to cause crashes.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Just got an iMac Pro with the attached configuration. Although its much faster, especially with Renderworks, I'm experiencing frequent random crashes. It doesn't seem to be tied to anything specific, just ordinary tasks such as stretching or moving an object in top/plan. Hopefully the bugs will be worked out soon.. 

iMac Pro Configuration.png

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Thanks Bob! FYI I'm comparing the iMac Pro with a two-year old iMac, configuration attached. Aside from frequent crashing with Vectorworks 2018 (which occurs on both machines actually although not as often), I'm getting used to the speed. When I use the iMac for comparison, it seems painfully slow. I've never been happy with the fusion drive setup, always seems to lag. Anything you'd like to test?

iMac Configuration.png

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  • 2 weeks later...

@willofmaine

 

I just completed drafting a timberframed barn using Vectorworks 2018 SP2.   Each post, summer beam, purlin, and subordinate dimension-lumber sticks were defined individually and then put to together into a beautiful, coherent building:  

 

Timberframe.pdf

 

This building was not quite 2D drafted, but it did not use the AEC tools and other auto-generated objects that seem to cause VW to stagger -- only a concrete stem wall and a set of stairs.   I then drafted a two-story house having (4) sets of stairs and  auto-generated objects (roof, floors, walls), plug-in windows and doors, and a few fixtures and appliances.  Both the timberframe and the house projects resulted in ~30MB .vwx files.   Yet, VW18 handles the timberframe with ease, never lagging, or hiccuping.   I can rotate it, flyover it, stand it on its head.   VW18 has never frozen or crashed interacting with the Timberframe.   But if I just click on a plug-in or attempt to the file, the house project will crash -- sometimes 5 times in 5 minutes.   Very disappointing.   Any pointers on which heavy-weight objects tend to make VW18 crash?

 

My daily driver is     AboutThisMac.thumb.png.ea60180cfe3a564ab7797bf973a6fbc5.png

AboutThisMac.png

Edited by HawaiiFarmer
error
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I haven't found any particular objects that cause Vectorworks to crash.  For me, all of the crashes seem to be precipitated by using OpenGL.  Even if I only use OpenGL briefly, Vectorworks will often eventually crash (and it does it suddenly, with absolutely no warning).  But this is only on the iMac Pro; I did not have this problem with my previous Late 2013 Mac Pro.

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Hi, the iMac Pro has a completely different chip from the iMac.  It's my understanding that the OpenGL crashing is specific to the iMac Pro (its AMD graphics card, I guess), but maybe not, if you're also crashing with OpenGL.  I can save files without any problem.  The iMac Pro came with the latest OS X, so I can't compare to other versions.

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2 minutes ago, willofmaine said:

Hi, the iMac Pro has a completely different chip from the iMac.  It's my understanding that the OpenGL crashing is specific to the iMac Pro (its AMD graphics card, I guess), but maybe not, if you're also crashing with OpenGL.  I can save files without any problem.  The iMac Pro came with the latest OS X, so I can't compare to other versions.

Many thanks!    Enjoy pristine Maine!

 

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