MAC questions (SU related)
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Guys,
I need some advise. I am moving on to a new job as a full time modeler, render, and animation specialist. I will be running a new MacPro with Vista in Parallel. I am looking for recommendations for a renderer. I would love to use Vray as I know it best of anyones I have tried but currently it is not available for MAC. I have a fairly liberal budget but I want something that will give Vray quality results. I was planning in running SU in MAC and then sending a render to Vray for PC through parallels but I have heard that is not working. Also, any headaches any of you have had going from a PC to a MAC I would love to hear to at least be ready for them.
Programs I will for sure be running:
SU (of course)
Modo 302
Photoshop CS3 Premium
Artlantis 2.0 (good for quick renders but has some limitations)Programs I am wondering about and looking for feedback on:
Cheetah
Concepts unlimited
RhinoThanks in advance,
Scott -
I'm on a mac in an office that is mostly PC (maybe 60pc, 5 macs?)
I'm using Kerkythea. Is free but can be very powerful. Outside of quality you can get from it, big thing for me outside of its integration with SketchUp was that it is both mac and PC. So if you have big job to render you can dump to PC while you keep working on the mac. It will do network rendering, but I haven't used it for that yet.
I would not recommend rendering under parallels or under vmware. If you are going to render in PC. Either use a different computer, or boot to windows using BootCamp. You don't want to render with you computer resources split running two OS's.
Lot of other rendering apps for mac, so KT is by no means only good option, but just worked well for me, and i liked the active forum and development of the product.
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Thanks Dave. I am looking into Kerky but would really like something that would also compliment Sketchup with modeling capabilities as well (sorry for not saying that earlier).
Scott
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Yeah, why don't you run Vista under BootCamp? Seems like the better approach - would leave with more apps to choose from, too.
I run Vista under BootCamp, and it kicks ass like Chuck Norris could never do!
Nevertheless: isn't there a Vray for the Mac version of C4D? Just look at the stamp on one of them Vray renders SilverShadow posted in the Gallery earlier ...
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Stinkie,
Doesn't running bootcamp make you reboot when switching from MAC to PC? This is the reason we were looking to run parallels. Yes they offer Vray for C4D under MAC but that requires me to run things through C4D and not in SU only.
Scott
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Yes, it does. But as David points out, it might be a bad idea, performance wise, to run two OS's at the same time while rendering. Now, I'm far from an expert, so I could very well be wrong. Maybe drop Podium's Bigstick a pm. He knows more about this kind of thing, I believe.
The fact remains, though, there's just more apps available for pc. That's why I'm running BootCamp. I like Leopard better than I do Vista (duh!), but waiting for Mac versions of the stuff you like to use gets kind of old after a while.
Is it absolutely necessary for you to run Mac OS?
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Hi there
I just want to point something out regarding your post. You say ..
" I am looking for recommendations for a renderer. I would love to use Vray as I know it best of anyones I have tried but currently it is not available for MAC. "
Well that is not true. Vray is available for MAC through the vraybridge for Cinema 4D.
take a look http://www.vrayforc4d.com/
I find that i can very succesfuly export models from Sketchup into Cinema 4D by using 3DS.Hope this helps
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Yes it is necessary to run MAC. That being said I will be running a fairly well built machine. I am hoping memory will not be an issue.
I may look into Lightwave since a friend told me it is fairly easy to use. Any users of lightwave currently?
Scott
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Right but that requires me to buy C4D just to get to Vray for MAC. I like and have used C4D but did not plan on it being part of the overall purchase.
Scott
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Para, are you trying to depress me with that attachment?
In any case, if you're interested in Lightwave, check out Kray. Their gallery's impressive, and they got a Mac version.
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May be worth seeing if you can change those Ati cards to Nvidia Scott, bearing in mind problems and performance hits people have come across in recent months.
Awesome machine though! -
Hi Scott.
A couple of things.
Please, for the love of God, do not buy your RAM and upgraded harddrives from MAC. MAC charges a ridiculous amount for them. Check out OWC or NEWEGG for much better prices.
You may find that you hit a point of diminishing returns with RAM, too. Most softwares can't take advantage of all of that RAM. I am running a 8 core 3.2 macpro, too. I have 10 gig of ram and very very infrequently do I ever get a page out. I regularly have safari, mail, SU, Cheetah, Photoshop, Illustrator, final cut, etc all open at the same time with little to no lag while switching. It's hard to imagine it running any faster, really so you might want to hold off on getting all the ram at once. Just my opinion, you know.
I upgraded to the Nvidea 8800GT, too, with no regrets. I think that Apple's price for this upgrade is very reasonable and is almost a no-brainer.
I think that Cheetah has a fabulous render engine. It utilizes all of the 8 cores (unlike certain other softwares, cough cough) and can really turn out some stunning images. Set up of the scenes can be a chore, especially interiors, but I think that that is just the way of rendering. Can't beat the price, either, unless you use blender. Cheetah also has a pretty extensive tool set and can accomplish quite a lot. I use OBJ or #DS files to transfer back and forth, and I am pretty sure that FBX works quite well too.
I am currently considering getting SILO for its sculpting toolsets, and Z-BRUSH when they finally release a MAC version, but I fully expect to continue doing my raytrace renderings in Cheetah.
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scott,
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i have run the windows version of vray for sketchup on my macbook pro (2.4 ghz, 4gb ram) under parallels. no problems at all. the same is true of podium.
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vray for sketchup is about to release a mac version soon. they told me it would be in july.
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bootcamp is supposed to be a better choice to run windows on the mac. i have not tried it yet but am going to. it seems to be the only one that allows you to use the full power of your mac under emulation.
good luck.
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@unknownuser said:
Please, for the love of God, do not buy your RAM and upgraded harddrives from MAC. MAC charges a ridiculous amount for them. Check out OWC or NEWEGG for much better prices.
Ah, yes, I forgot to point that out! Kannonabal is absolutely right! I bought 16 Gb of RAM a little while ago. Would've cost me little over € 2000 (according to our office's Mac supplier, anyway) if I went with Mac. Luckily, Kwisten pointed out I'd be fine buying from other manufacturers too. I eventually chose for Kingston RAM, and ended up paying € 700. Quite a difference. 2026.1039 US Dollar, to be precise! Imagine all the fun stuff you can do with that. Call girls! Cocaine!
@edson said:
vray for sketchup is about to release a mac version soon. they told me it would be in july.
So ... it'll be out in december.
@edson said:
bootcamp is supposed to be a better choice to run windows on the mac. i have not tried it yet but am going to. it seems to be the only one that allows you to use the full power of your mac under emulation.
I though BC wans't an emulator?
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Edson, i think the problem with running vray under parallels is that you get reduced processing power compared to running straight in the OS (as you would be doing with boot camp.)
I'm also not sure wether the virtual machine can use more than 2 of the host computers cores, obviously not a problem on macbook but if youve got an mac pro (aka the 8 core beast) its probably a bit disappointing.
Good news about vray for mac though. If they are running on schedule i reckon thats probably your bet bet, scott.
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And as stinkie said boot camp isnt an emulator, its just a utility that helps you install windows on your mac and then boot in to it.
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Guys,
Nice to wake up to this wealth of info, so thanks alot. As far as the RAM it is the owner who wants to just buy it all at once. He is a bit old school so it is what it is. I agree I could find it cheaper though. As far as the video cards, that is good to know. Does anyone know if I can have 2 8800's? Does MAC run SLI? I will be running the 30" apple monitor with a wacom Cintiq 20WSX. I have heard the wacom can be a bit of a card hog just sitting idle so I would like to let it run on its own card. If I can not run 2 in SLI does anyone have any other suggestions?
What has been purchased so far"
Wacom cintiq
Sketchup
Modo 302
Photoshop Master series
Vista ultimateStill looking at:
Cheetah
Rhino
Concepts unlimited
VRWorxsI am still reading about Parallels vs bootcamp vs VMware (fusion). Still have not made up my mind yet.
I need to have all this nailed down by monday. They want all purchases by then. If anyone else has any ideas on anything else I may need or want please feel free to let me know.
You guys have been great and I really appreciate all the help.
Scott
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@unknownuser said:
I though BC wans't an emulator?
i am not really sure what it is. i just know it allows one to run windows on a mac. perhaps it performs better than parallels and fusion because it is not an emulator.
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The part I do not like about Bootcamp is having to reboot to work within PC apps. I know under parallels I can switch without having to reboot. Parallels can hog some resources but I am hoping with the build I speced that will not be an issue.
Does anyone else have experience with Parallels vs Bootcamp?
Scott
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i do not like that either. that is the reason i moved to parallels in the first place. however, there seems to be a way to ease the rebooting. have a look here. that thread deals with the same topic treated here.
i used bootcamp under tiger until it expired but did not use it for rendering purposes. with parallels/win/SUp/podium i have no major problems.
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