I hear crickets....

valerostudio · 25 Jun 2015, 13:43

I have been using Thea for about 2 weeks now and all I can say is that it has been fantastic. I really love the ease of use, the UI, simplicity of the settings, the flexibility, and most of the all the development team has been very responsive to my questions and suggestions.

I did shell out the money for a TitanX card and that has been life altering. It's a terrific render engine and I think the integration into SketchUp along with the Presto engine is a ton of fun! I was initially worried about learning yet another render engine's parameters but it really only took a couple of days before I felt really comfortable with it.

Pixero · 25 Jun 2015, 14:30

Great to hear.

valerostudio · 25 Jun 2015, 17:56

Pixero, keep making those proxies for the SketchUcation store! They are great and the pricing cant be beat!

Pixero · 25 Jun 2015, 18:41

Thanks. I will.

dkendig · 27 Jul 2015, 22:43

sorry guys, I have nothing to report. I know there's some big stuff going on, but that's all I know.

dkendig · 27 Jul 2015, 23:07

I have alerted the powers that be!

peerman · 6 Aug 2015, 09:49

I hope you can give us Vray users some more info soon Devin! Development of Vray for Sketchup is stalled at the moment?

jiminy-billy-bob · 6 Aug 2015, 10:02

Devin is actually not working for Chaos Group anymore. So even if he had insights on what's going on, he probably can't talk about it.

peerman · 7 Aug 2015, 09:36

@jiminy-billy-bob, Ah didn't know that. I had some contact with him a while ago. And under his avatar it still says Vray Support. So who is the next victim we can throw our requests to?

Regards,

valerostudio · 10 Aug 2015, 18:10

I just this video the other day... looks like Chaos is busy porting to other programs first.

TedVitale_CG · 14 Aug 2015, 14:06

Sorry things are quite lately guys. Lots of big things happening here on a lot of different platforms. As soon as I'm able to talk about what fun stuff we are working on I will!

peerman · 24 Aug 2015, 10:24

Great to hear Sketchup is not all forgotten by Chaosgroup! Waiting anxiously!

Regards,

IRISHRAGE · 6 Sept 2015, 08:40

Hey everyone,

     I have been a "lurker" on this site for a couple years now and I am finally fed up with my slow performance in both sketchup (2015) and Vray (2.0) to the point of actually writing a post. As I was checking out Posts this one from Valerostudio caught my attention. OK so this is my deal...
      I custom ordered a decent Alienware 18 Laptop with a pretty stout (at the time)  Dual Nvidia GTX 780 m about 18 months ago (will list all vitals below) Sorry if this is too much info guys but better safe than sorry....right?  :astonished:   If I can't get past these issues it sounds like I might need to try Thea? 

So my biggest problem is that I feel I am not even coming close to harnessing the power of my Machine/Dual GPU? 32 gb ram I have tried countless settings on both Vray and Skethchup and I still have:

Stupidly long render times
Unreliable render completion - Lots of froze Building Light Cache, etc, etc,
Have never been able to Use RT function in Vray in spite of trying multiple settins on GPU, VRAY, Cuda settings, OPEN GL, SLI, etc, etc
Slow or Laggy Sketchup perfomance in spite of using Simple Style, using groups, purged unused,etc, etc

I am hoping that someone can help me with this issue please...?

I am sorry in advance if I have:

                    -  Posted this in the wrong location on the forum (I have searched this site for posts that would apply to me and 
                        nothing seemed to help me... 
                    - Left out vital info for you guys to help me with a solution

Thanks in advance for any help and have a good night!!

Computer info & specs:

OS NameMicrosoft Windows 7 Professional

Version 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1 Build 7601

System Manufacturer Alienware

System ModelAlienware 18

System Typex64-based PC

ProcessorIntel(R) Core(TM) i7-4700MQ CPU @ 2.40GHz, 2401 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical

GPU

DUAL NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M

GPU DRIVER VERSION: 350.12 (not sure exactly why I landed on this one but tried newer drivers and it was a disaster)

Adapter TypeGeForce GTX 780M, NVIDIA compatible

Adapter DescriptionNVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M

Adapter RAM(1,048,576) bytes

Installed Driversnvd3dumx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvd3dum,nvwgf2um,nvwgf2um

Driver Version 9.18.13.5012

BIOS Version/DateAlienware A10, 9/24/2014

Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 32.0 GB

Total Physical Memory 31.9 GB

Available Physical Memory 27.6 GB

Total Virtual Memory 63.9 GB

Available Virtual Memory 59.0 GB

Page File Space 31.9 GB

@valerostudio said:

I have been using Thea for about 2 weeks now and all I can say is that it has been fantastic. I really love the ease of use, the UI, simplicity of the settings, the flexibility, and most of the all the development team has been very responsive to my questions and suggestions.

I did shell out the money for a TitanX card and that has been life altering. It's a terrific render engine and I think the integration into SketchUp along with the Presto engine is a ton of fun! I was initially worried about learning yet another render engine's parameters but it really only took a couple of days before I felt really comfortable with it.

rspierenburg · 8 Sept 2015, 14:57

As far as I know, Vray SU only uses the CPU to render. With RT Render you can use the GPU but last I heard there were issues with it still.

IRISHRAGE · 8 Sept 2015, 15:44

Ok thanks for the info...Yeah have not been able to get the RT to work for quite sometime...Initially it worked but think something got messed up when I changed GPU drivers..?

Do you know if Thea uses the GPU for rendering in SU? (Regular or RT)

Any tips on how to maximize my machine to help address Sketchup Lag? I am stumped...I use groups, layers, etc but still get quite a bit of lag...my model size can range from like 30mb to 100mb. Just wondering if you or any one else has noticed a "break point" in file size where excesive lag starts in SU models. ?

Thanks again for the info about the GPU in VRAY.

valerostudio · 8 Sept 2015, 18:03

If by lag you mean the time it takes to parse, this is a huge issue we all have with SU/VR as our models get larger and larger. No tricks to solve this other than make small crappy models, who wants that?

As for RT. I think there are still bugs there so I would be as bold to say that it doesn't fully work.

Thea uses CPU AND GPU for its RT engines. Presto is very fast and parsing times are almost instant. The biggest thing for me with Thea is there are constant updates, new developments, they implement community suggestions quickly and seriously, and a good amount of transparency over there. I think Chaos needs to either send us some kind of teaser, update on development, or they are going to start losing some of us to Thea or other engines.

When/if Corona for SketchUp comes out, that might be another threat to V-Ray also.

peerman · 9 Sept 2015, 09:00

I have been trying out Thea the last couple of days and indeed it's a very neat render! I sure hope Chaosgroup shows some teasers because the low price point of thea along with support etc. could make me switch... (only hoping for Corona on Mac/Sketchup but that's another story...)

valerostudio · 10 Sept 2015, 13:35

Working on my Thea proxy library today. I haven't given up on V-Ray but I do hope that along with the a 3.0 release there is a more seriousness taken with the SketchUp community. The Thea guys are on the ball and as far as a rendering engine in SketchUp, it's a great solution.

IRISHRAGE · 12 Sept 2015, 21:15

So I pulled the Trigger and bought Thea and I must say I am liking the interface and stability....Just need to learn the UI on the Studio Part and find the best driver for my Dual GTX 780. Thea in SU is very easy to use. Thanks again for the advice...!