Oct 25

Couple of Q’s on an HP build

Posted in: Hardware & Tech Talk
Hey Everyone,

I’m starting to get into 3d and visual effects and have decided to get a new HP. I’ll mainly be using it for Blender, photoshop, after effects, the trial version of nuke, and some yet-to-be-determined video editing app. You can see the specs and price below… I just have a few questions:

1. Would it be worth it to upgrade to Windows 7 Pro or Ultimate?

2. I thought DDR3 came in batches of 3 or 6 gigs, so why has HP decided to set the standard at 8? Should I upgrade to 9 or 12 GB?

3. Should I upgrade tthe graphics card to a 1.8GB NVidia Geforce GTX 260 for $150?

4. Anything else I should be concerned about?

Thanks!!

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Oct 21

GPUs: the next frontier in film – Moore’s Law Redundant.

Posted in: Hardware & Tech Talk
Quote:

Technology and movie-making have always gone hand in hand but the latest breakthroughs are changing the very nature of the process.
Those in the industry say that thanks to the role of graphics processing units (GPUs), the director’s vision can be more fully realised.

It also means that special effects teams are involved in the making of the movie at a far earlier stage.

In the past, their creations would be done in post-production and not be seen for weeks or even months after a movie has wrapped.

All that is changing thanks to the GPU, according to leading industry players like Richard Kerris, chief technology officer of Lucasfilm, part of Industrial Light and Magic (ILM).

The GPU is a specialised graphics processor that creates lighting effects and transforms objects every time a 3D scene is redrawn. These tasks are mathematically intensive and in the past were done using the brains of a computer known as the central processing unit or CPU.

ILM was started by Star Wars director George Lucas, and is the biggest special effects studio in the business and behind blockbusters like E.T., Star Trek, Terminator, Harry Potter, Transformers and M Night Shyamalan’s soon-to-be-released fantasy The Last Airbender.

"The advent of the GPU is really the next big frontier for us. We have seen hundreds of times improvements over the last few months. This is taking Moore’s Law out the window," Mr Kerris told BBC News.

"Back in the day, the simplest of special effects rendering took a lot of computing power and a 500-square-foot room back then that really wouldn’t operate our phone systems today.

"But, the talent and the understanding of what could be done out of that was able to produce movies like Terminator. It was cutting-edge stuff and getting a computer that was the size of a small automobile to render out simulations of a twister was pretty groundbreaking then," said Mr Kerris.

Continued:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8300310.stm

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Oct 13

Animation stuck inside maya (rendering issue)

Posted in: Hardware & Tech Talk
Hi guys,

I recently made the descision to take the plunge iv always wanted to from motion gfx in to vfx and im currently working on my debut vfx reel. Unfortunately iv run in to a problem with rendering out of maya and I was wondering if anyone here could help me out.

Im fairly sure I have set up the render globals correctly for animation (using mentalray) and when i set off a batch render, the prompt in the bottom right says firstly that mentalray is rendering then a few seconds later it says that rendering is completed, and there is no output, no rendered frames.

Iv tried rendering out to different file formats with no luck. Single frames render perfectly. Iv tried importing my scene into a fresh file and rendering with no luck. Iv tried creating a new scene with very simple animation, again, no luck. Iv tried rendering my scene with maya software which does work. So i think its a mentalray problem. When I looked at the renderLog I saw a few error msgs but dont realy know what they mean or more importantly, how to put them right!

Here is the renderLog:

Starting "C:\Program Files\Autodesk\Maya2009\bin\mayabatch.exe"
mental ray for Maya 10.0
mental ray: version 3.7.1.27, Jan 26 2009, revision 30548
File read in 0 seconds.
Result: C:/Documents and Settings/RenderNode/Desktop/Main folder/Showreel intro/showreelIntro/scenes/showreelIntro04__156.mb
mental ray: got 8 satellite CPUs.
Prog: (Mayatomr.Scene) : optimize animation detection: done 8 animated nodes
MI 0.0 error 121002: failed to open /usr/include/mi/mayahair.mi for reading, The system cannot find the path specified.Info: (mental ray) : number of render thread(s): 4
MEM 0.0 info : heap size limit set to 2301 MB
// mental ray for Maya: using rayhosts file C:/Documents and Settings/RenderNode/My Documents/maya//maya.rayhosts
Info: (mental ray) : adding rayhosts
Info: (mental ray) : adding host: 192.168.1.72:7109
MSG 0.0 debug: mi_msg_add_host adding host 192.168.1.72:7109, socket -1
MSG 0.0 info : adding new host 1 (192.168.1.72:7109)
MSG 0.0 debug: WIN_NT: setting thread to non-overlapped socket operation
MSG 0.0 debug: WIN_NT: setting thread to default socket operation
MSG 0.0 error 011329: mi-ray/tcp: not a service (check %SystemRoot%\system32\drivers\etc\services)
MSG 0.0 warn 012219: using fallback inet service 7003
MSG 0.0 debug: WIN_NT: setting thread to non-overlapped socket operation
MSG 0.0 debug: WIN_NT: setting thread to default socket operation
MSG 0.0 debug: remote capabilities |RAY37|SUB1
MSG 0.0 debug: WIN_NT: setting thread to non-overlapped socket operation
MSG 0.0 debug: WIN_NT: setting thread to default socket operation
LINK 0.0 debug: broadcasting filename architectural.dll of module #1
LINK 0.0 debug: broadcasting filename base.dll of module #2
LINK 0.0 debug: broadcasting filename contour.dll of module #3
LINK 0.0 debug: broadcasting filename paint.dll of module #4
LINK 0.0 debug: broadcasting filename physics.dll of module #5
LINK 0.0 debug: broadcasting filename production.dll of module #6Info: (mental ray) : adding host: 192.168.1.73:7109
LINK 0.0 debug: broadcasting filename subsurface.dll of module #7
LINK 0.0 debug: broadcasting filename surfaceSampler.dll of module #8
LINK 0.0 debug: broadcasting filename architectural.so of module #9
LINK 0.0 debug: broadcasting filename paint.so of module #10
LINK 0.0 debug: broadcasting filename subsurface.so of module #11
LINK 0.0 debug: broadcasting filename mayabase.dll of module #12
LINK 0.0 debug: broadcasting filename AdskShaderSDK.dll of module #13
LINK 0.0 debug: broadcasting filename mayahair.dll of module #14
JOB 0.0 info : started threads 0,1,2,3 on 192.168.1.72:7109 now known as host 1
MSG 0.0 debug: mi_msg_add_host adding host 192.168.1.73:7109, socket -1
MSG 0.0 info : adding new host 2 (192.168.1.73:7109)
MSG 0.0 debug: WIN_NT: setting thread to non-overlapped socket operation
MSG 0.0 debug: WIN_NT: setting thread to default socket operation
MSG 0.0 debug: WIN_NT: setting thread to non-overlapped socket operation
MSG 0.0 debug: WIN_NT: setting thread to default socket operation
MSG 1.3 debug: WIN_NT: setting thread to non-overlapped socket operation
MSG 1.3 debug: thread 3 running
MSG 1.3 debug: thread padding address 020A1F50 size 57344
MSG 1.3 debug: starting thread
JOB 1.3 debug: starting new thread
MSG 0.0 debug: remote capabilities |RAY37|SUB1
MSG 0.0 debug: WIN_NT: setting thread to non-overlapped socket operation
MSG 0.0 debug: WIN_NT: setting thread to default socket operation
LINK 0.0 debug: broadcasting filename architectural.dll of module #1
LINK 0.0 debug: broadcasting filename base.dll of module #2
LINK 0.0 debug: broadcasting filename contour.dll of module #3
LINK 0.0 debug: broadcasting filename paint.dll of module #4
LINK 0.0 debug: broadcasting filename physics.dll of module #5
LINK 0.0 debug: broadcasting filename production.dll of module #6Info: (mental ray) : adding host: 192.168.1.50:7109
LINK 0.0 debug: broadcasting filename subsurface.dll of module #7
LINK 0.0 debug: broadcasting filename surfaceSampler.dll of module #8
LINK 0.0 debug: broadcasting filename architectural.so of module #9
LINK 0.0 debug: broadcasting filename paint.so of module #10
LINK 0.0 debug: broadcasting filename subsurface.so of module #11
LINK 0.0 debug: broadcasting filename mayabase.dll of module #12
LINK 0.0 debug: broadcasting filename AdskShaderSDK.dll of module #13
LINK 0.0 debug: broadcasting filename mayahair.dll of module #14
JOB 0.0 info : started threads 0,1,2,3 on 192.168.1.73:7109 now known as host 2
MSG 0.0 debug: mi_msg_add_host adding host 192.168.1.50:7109, socket -1
MSG 0.0 info : adding new host 3 (192.168.1.50:7109)
MSG 0.0 debug: WIN_NT: setting thread to non-overlapped socket operation
MSG 0.0 debug: WIN_NT: setting thread to default socket operation
MSG 0.0 debug: WIN_NT: setting thread to non-overlapped socket operation
MSG 0.0 debug: WIN_NT: setting thread to default socket operation
MSG 2.3 debug: WIN_NT: setting thread to non-overlapped socket operation
MSG 2.3 debug: thread 3 running
MSG 2.3 debug: thread padding address 020A1F50 size 57344
MSG 2.3 debug: starting thread
JOB 2.3 debug: starting new thread
MSG 0.0 debug: remote capabilities |RAY37|SUB1
MSG 0.0 debug: WIN_NT: setting thread to non-overlapped socket operation
MSG 0.0 debug: WIN_NT: setting thread to default socket operation
LINK 0.0 debug: broadcasting filename architectural.dll of module #1
LINK 0.0 debug: broadcasting filename base.dll of module #2
LINK 0.0 debug: broadcasting filename contour.dll of module #3
LINK 0.0 debug: broadcasting filename paint.dll of module #4
LINK 0.0 debug: broadcasting filename physics.dll of module #5Info: (mental ray) : network rendering slaves: 192.168.1.72:7109 192.168.1.73:7109 192.168.1.50:7109
LINK 0.0 debug: broadcasting filename production.dll of module #6
Error: (Mayatomr) : mental ray init failed, can’t start render
LINK 0.0 debug: broadcasting filename subsurface.dll of module #7Warning: (Mayatomr) : mental ray has reported severe errors, see the log
LINK 0.0 debug: broadcasting filename surfaceSampler.dll of module #8
LINK 0.0 debug: broadcasting filename architectural.so of module #9Error: Scene C:/Documents and Settings/RenderNode/Desktop/Main folder/Showreel intro/showreelIntro/scenes/showreelIntro04__156.mb failed to render.

LINK 0.0 debug: broadcasting filename paint.so of module #10
LINK 0.0 debug: broadcasting filename subsurface.so of module #11
LINK 0.0 debug: broadcasting filename mayabase.dll of module #12
LINK 0.0 debug: broadcasting filename AdskShaderSDK.dll of module #13
LINK 0.0 debug: broadcasting filename mayahair.dll of module #14
JOB 0.0 info : started threads 0,1,2,3 on 192.168.1.50:7109 now known as host 3
// Maya exited with status 210

I have a small render farm but the problem still exists even rendering without rendering over a network. The whole setup was working perfectly when i last used it, that was a few months back but nothing should have changed. Im puzzled, just like this little blue man :confused:

Any help, suggestions or pointers would be realy great cos iv just about run out of ideas.

Thanks
Adam

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Oct 09

Building a comp for 3D/Vfx/Film

Posted in: Hardware & Tech Talk
I need help trying to figure out what kind of computer rig I need to build for work. I work heavily in 3D Vfx and Film.

What I know so far.

Desktop vs Laptop
Why? SO I could change a customize parts if I need to. Plus it can hold more ram and other components. I could buy more ram and better components for much cheaper.

Also I already have a laptop. I have to disable the graphic card just so maya would work. It’s daul booted with mac but I can’t get programs like Final Cut to Work because the graphics card on it isn’t compatitble with the Mac OS X Operating system.

Mac Vs PC
First of all I want to be able to daul boot between both mac and windows operating systems.

Mac’s I hear have no problems having a windows os installed on it but I haven’t tested it out myself yet, but I don’t anything about Mac Hardware and if it’s even customizable. I read in 3D world a few months ago most 3D Artists choose Pc’s because Mac’s are very limited in graphics cards.

Pc’s I could daul boot, but I may be very limited with the hardware I could have on my computer. It doesn’t look like Nvidia Quadro Fx’s and FireGl’s graphic cards are compatible with Mac Os X.

Linux os I may want because I hear helps render times. But it would probably work either way. I’m not even really gonna look into that right now.

Processor
I need the fastest processor possible
why? sounds like most people say that. And I know it must help with render times because batch renders usaully ask for multiple processors.

Questions:
Does it basically help to work in realtime when working in heavy scenes in 3D apps like Maya?

Can multiple processors be installed into one computer?

Graphic Cards:
For graphics cards it looks like Nvidia Quadro Fx’s and FireGl’s work the best with 3D.

Question:
Is it basically for better hardware renders in 3D apps, Or is there other reasons?

Is it hard to switch between graphics cards?

Can multiple graphic card be installed into one computer?

Does it effects maya software render and mental ray renders at all?

Does it help with render times?

Does it help working in real time and working on Heavy scenes and renders?

Memory and Motherboards
I’ll probably start of with 8gb of ram. I think the ram helps with working on heavy scenes, and allows users to work in multiple apps at one time without there comp slowly down. As well as having more processes running. Is that right?

Questions:
How many ram slots can one motherboard have?

Is there a way to add more ram after the slots are full?

Does it help with render time

HardDrive
I’d get a hard draive with alot of storage but I don’t find it really necessary because I’m constantly buying external drives.

Question:
How important is the speed of the hard drive?

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Oct 07

Whic of those 2 lcd monitors guys

Posted in: Hardware & Tech Talk
Hi guys i am baying my first lcd monitor. I am spending about 300 i would like to get best for my money so i have chosen between those 2. I d some graphic design as hobby. I have read tons of articles out there what is best what to get but for this money i know i wont get close to the best. For 300 can you look at those 2 spec or recommended a lcd monitor. I was told to get a monitor that desplays 16.7 million colors and nothing below it.

Thanks guys

1 BENQ E2200HD 21.5" Full HD Widescreen LCD Monitor, 1920×1080, 2ms GTG, 10000:1 DCR, D-Sub, DVI-D and HDMI

Screen Size 21.5" Wide
Product Color Glossy Black
Resolution 1920×1080
Pixel Pitch 0.248
Brightness 300 cd/?
Contrast Ratio DCR 10000:1
Response Time 5ms/ 2 ms(GTG)
Display Area 476.64×268.11 (mm)
Display Color 16.7 million
Viewing Angle 170/160 (L/R;U/D) (CR>=10)
Input Signals D-sub / DVI-D/ HDMI1.3 / Audio in / Headphone Jack
Horizontal Frequency 30~ 83 (KHz)
Vertical Frequency 50 ~ 76 (Hz)
Video Bandwidth 25 ~ 205 (MHz)
Color Temperature Reddish / Normal/ Bluish / user mode
Power Consumption 45W(max)
Power Supply Built-in
Speakers 2 x1W
Features Senseye+Photo AMA HDCP Support OSD Language : 17 languages
Adjustments Tilt -5/20 (down/up)
Dimensions 522.8×407.8×186.8 (mm)
Weight Net Weight 4.8 kg Gross Weight 6,1 kg
Emission Standard Quick start guide User manual CD VGA, Audio cable
Vista Certification Premium
VESA Wall Mounting 100x100mm

2 Viewsonic VX2262WM, 22" super HD widescreen LCD, 1680 x 1050, 20000:1 (DCR), 2ms, SRS WOW HD sound and high quality stereo speakers

Product Description ViewSonic VX2262WM – flat panel display – TFT – 22"
Device Type Flat panel display / TFT active matrix
Dimensions (WxDxH) 20 in x 8 in x 14.1 in
Weight 12.3 lbs
Diagonal Size 22" – widescreen
Viewable Size 22"
Dot Pitch / Pixel Pitch 0.282 mm
Max Resolution 1680 x 1050
Display Positions Adjustments Tilt
Color Support Up to 16.2 million colors
Response Time 2 ms
Typical Response Time 5 ms (typical); 2 ms (gray-to-gray)
Image Brightness 300 cd/m2
Image Contrast Ratio 1000:1 / 20000:1 (dynamic)
Digital Video Standard Digital Visual Interface (DVI)
Audio Output Speaker(s) – stereo – integrated
Signal Input DVI-D, VGA
Compliant Standards FCC Class B certified, CE, MPR II, UL, TUV GS, VCCI, C-Tick, BSMI, GOST, cUL, ISO 13406-2, NOM, SASO, TUV S, CB, CCC, TUV Ergo, PSB, MIC, RoHS, WEEE
Power AC 120/230 V ( 50/60 Hz )
Power Consumption Operational 45 Watt
Environmental Standards EPA Energy Star
Manufacturer Warranty 3 years warranty

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Sep 16

Hi Everybody…

Posted in: Hardware & Tech Talk
Hi Everybody…

We’re unloading our older Xserves and MacPro’s and having no fun with ebay. I’m curious how everyone unloads their older gear, what do you think is the most efficient way to exfoliate while still getting some cash for the systems.

We’re looking for good boards, server centric sales places. Does anyone know of a rental house that buys this type of gear?

We’re averaging a big unload every 3 years or so, but we’re finding that the used market for this type of gear is not what it used to be. Not sure if it’s the general state of affairs, or a shift in company’s technology needs.

We’re unloading Dual-Dual Core Mac Pros, gotta make room for new Dual-Quads.

Ebay has been a disappointment.

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Sep 15

RED Scarlet… if….

Posted in: Hardware & Tech Talk
I am trying to keep away from all the RED Crack but i am still somewhat curious about some things regarding the upcoming Scarlet model.

Now if one would assume that RED Scarlet would keep its current price point for the base model at around $3750. What kind of money should one be prepared to spend additionally to get a camera ready for a simple solo project? (simple recording, with no audio and no artificial light sources)

I mean for stuff stuff like a LCD, extra storage, batteries, chargers etc, etc?

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Sep 15

next gen mac pro: when?

Posted in: Hardware & Tech Talk
Hey Apple freaks,

Im considering buying a new computer and wanted to see if anybody knows any rumors about wen the next generation of mac pro’s will see the day of light. I think the current gen came out in january.

I was hoping for intel i7 cpus and better gfx card options.

any word?

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Aug 28

Need help on completing my new computer build (rendering/video editing/compositing)

Posted in: Hardware & Tech Talk
Hi i need some help on completing my new computer build, everything marked with "?" can be replaced, the maximum budget for the part is in the brackets.

mainboard – ? i currently have "asus p6t deluxe v2" on my list ( 500$ )

hard drive 1- ? something with fast read speed, though i dont know if it affects 3D rendering/video rendering speed ( 400$ )

hard drive 2- ? Western Digital Raid Edition Caviar 1TB 32MB SATA x2 MIRROR
does anyone know if it is worth the price? (400$)

intel core i7 920

Graphics Card (or cards) – ? for 3dmax rendering/video compositing ( 900$, 1400$ if the performance is worth it )

RAM – ? 12 GB ( 800$ )

I found this one, is it good for my build?:

Corsair DDR3 12GB (6x2GB) 1600MHz CL9 Core I7 (HX3X12G1600C9) ?

Cooler master silent pro M700

Cooler Master Dominator 690 black

Thermalright Ultra-120eXtreme

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Aug 27

Recommended Linux version for 3d animation professionals?

Posted in: Hardware & Tech Talk
Hi..
i want to know which Linux version is recommended for 3d animation professionals?
softwares like maya 2010, blender3d, cinema 4d, etc is recommended in which linux?
anybody plz?
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