OpenGL 2.1 vs. 3.1 in SU?

[brodie]

That explanation certainly makes it more clear for me. So updating wouldn't do anything in itself, but it may allow you add some more bells and whistles (or maybe not depending on what features they added and if they're applicable to SU - I'm far to lazy and dumb to find out what those features are).

John, if you haven't seen this, you may be interested in this graphics card comparison which uses SU as one of the test softwares http://www.cgarchitect.com/news/Reviews/Review076_1.asp

The only thing I learned from that website, when I looked at it awhile back is that the graphics cards are really erratic in terms of quality in viewports. In many cases a less expensive card did better than a more expensive one, or a card that was MUCH more expensive would only be slightly better than a cheapo one.

So I'm probably just going to try out the 310 and see how it goes. If I don't like it, I'll just replace it with the Quadro FX 3700 that I currently use and which has worked just fine for me for the last year or two.

-Brodie

[jason_maranto]

After all these hardware discussions I've come to the conclusion that the only major upgrade possible for a Sketchup user that will have any impact is themselves... meaning re-training themselves to work smarter within the limitations of the current system.

I will say that it is not a particularly compelling POV to pro users who can move onto "greener pastures" with multi-core, 64-bit, etc. type programs out there... I have the sense that alot of that is marketing hype, but the problem with marketing hype is it tends to work.

For what it's worth I can use Sketchup well at very high poly-counts without any real issues -- but I also dedicate alot of my time to "upgrading" myself.

Best,
Jason.

[jbacus]

@jason_maranto said:

After all these hardware discussions I've come to the conclusion that the only major upgrade possible for a Sketchup user that will have any impact is themselves... meaning re-training themselves to work smarter within the limitations of the current system.

I will say that it is not a particularly compelling POV to pro users who can move onto "greener pastures" with multi-core, 64-bit, etc. type programs out there... I have the sense that alot of that is marketing hype, but the problem with marketing hype is it tends to work.

For what it's worth I can use Sketchup well at very high poly-counts without any real issues -- but I also dedicate alot of my time to "upgrading" myself.

Best,
Jason.

I'm still not aware of any programs on the market today that do exactly what SketchUp does faster by leveraging multiprocessing or 64-bit technologies, though there are certainly other kinds of tools (specifically rendering apps) that can use those technologies to improve performance.

I think you make a really important point, though. Learning how to use a tool properly and effectively is the key to using it well. And ultimately, to being able to push its boundaries.

john
.

[brodie]

@unknownuser said:

I'm still not aware of any programs on the market today that do exactly what SketchUp does faster by leveraging multiprocessing or 64-bit technologies, though there are certainly other kinds of tools (specifically rendering apps) that can use those technologies to improve performance.

I think you make a really important point, though. Learning how to use a tool properly and effectively is the key to using it well. And ultimately, to being able to push its boundaries.

john
.

haha, John, you must be a masochist.

If SketchUp is only competing with companies who do "exactly what SketchUp does" then I don't think you have any competition at all, depending on how you define "what SketchUp does." And I'm not sure that he was necessarily talking about "faster," there are other aspects to performance and workflow.

But instead of drudging up the old argument, let me see if I've learned anything. Moving SU 64 bit would allow it to hold more polygons (presumably this is why 3ds Max has both 32 and 64 bit versions) and may help in a SU to Rendering workflow. However it takes a lot of polygons to reach the 3+ gig limit of 32 bit and long before you hit that, you'll run into other bottlenecks (am I on the right track here?).

As for Multiprocessing support, it just doesn't work with OpenGL so someone will need to invent a new OpenGLmulticore before it does anything at all for SU. How's that?

Just to derail things a bit, realtime rendering is all the rage right now. What if the SU viewport was seen as a VERY simply realtime rendering which used the CPU to actually render the scene as you moved around? Meh, probably a dumb idea. Maybe every time you moved around there would be a bit of lag as it had to rerender, I don't know.

-Brodie