Just great Kwist. Whats the music from your latest render, the nature scene?

Thanks very much Majid. Great little pack of materials

Hi igor

Wow, you seem to eat, live and breath SU & Podium. Do you ever do anything else but model and render?

You got some really good stuff on here. You obviously enjoy it. Are you hoping to get into the 3D biz after your studies?

Hope you have lots of fun with your new computer. My new one arrives next week and I can't wait!!

Its about time you started using bumpmaps. No excuse now with all your new technology on your desk. And it will really improve your renders.

If you haven't already then you ought to post some of your work over on the Podium forum http://www.websitetoolbox.com/tool/mb/supodiumforum

Kev

Does Podium support displacement?

Thanks Biebel. They don't have it on itunes but I found it on YouTube so I can at least listen to it.

@unknownuser said:

that graphics solution requires a bit of power and could be replaced with something like a nVidia GTX 280 or even a GTX 260 (less expensive than the GTX 280) that will give you similar (if not better) performance for roughly the same energy usage.

I've compared the GTX 280 and the GTX 260 against the 9800GX2 on the nvidia website and the 9800 seems to outperform the other 2 quite a bit. For example, graphics performance for 9800 is 45x and for the other two its 35x. Texture fill rate for 8900 is 76.8billion and for the other two its 36.9 billion. Max memory bandwidth for 9800 is 128GB and for the other two its 111.9GB. Standard memory config for 8900 is 1GB and for the other two its 896MB.

So isn't the 9800GX2 a better graphics card to get than the GTX280 & 260?

@unknownuser said:

The music is a song on Roisin Murphys latest CD.

Which song in particular is it Biebel? I had a look on itunes but couldn't find it

I've been looking at the pcspecialist website and I've come up with the following spec for £1300. Is this good value for money? Will it give me a really fast computer capable of dealing with several intense programmes and the internet all running at the same time without any noticeable slowdown?

Processor (CPU) - Intel Core2 Quad Q9550 (4 X 2.83GHz) 1333MHz/12MB (Special Offer)

Memory (RAM) - 8GB CORSAIR DOMINATOR 1066MHz - LIFETIME WARRANTY (4x2GB)

Motherboard - ASUS P5K SE: DDR2, SATAII, PCI-e x16, 2 PCI, 3 x PCI-e x1

Operating System - Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit Edition + SP1, CD (£59)

USB Options - 8 x USB 2.0 PORTS (6 REAR + 2 FRONT) AS STANDARD

Memory - 1st Hard Disk - 1000GB SERIAL ATA II HARD DRIVE WITH 32MB CACHE (7,200rpm)

1st CD/DVD Drive - 20x Dual Layer LightScribe DVD Writer ±R/±RW/RAM

2nd CD/DVD Drive - 16x DVD-ROM & 52x CD-ROM Drive

Graphics Card - 1024MB GEFORCE 9800GX2 PCI Express + DVI (Special Offer)

Sound Card - ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

Network Facilities - ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT

Memory Card Reader - INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (READS XD, MS, CF, SD, etc)

Case - Stylish Black Aluminium Trigon Case + 2 Front/Side USB

Power Supply & Case Cooling - 700W Quiet Quad Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£79)

Processor Cooling - ASUS SILENT KNIGHT II PURE COPPER ULTRA COOLER (£36)

I'm just so clueless about all this stuff.

Biebel, whats the music in your clip? I like

Great stuff, Daniel. Many thanks

I agree, nice style and presentation.

Which programme did you use to render them?

Not bad at all. What is the wall paneling made of? Looks like marble.

The comments I would make are that the floor looks way too shiny.
I would also change the desk so that it is the same texture as the filing cabinets.
The silver drawers don't look quite right. Are they metal? Maybe they need some reflectivity.
The plants outside spoil it a bit too. Clipmaps would work better than the 3D models.

Sorry, hope you don't think I'm being too critical. It is a good render.

Fantastic Stinkie. Look forward to seeing more.

So you are doing these in your spare time in order to sell them on then?

@unknownuser said:

BTW all! Profiles? Does anyone ever use profiles? I think I turned them on a few years ago and didn't like them at all!

I've never used profiles either. I have no idea what their purpose is and I think they make the model look ugly.

Hi Julius

Getting the lighting right was a real pain in the a*** and took me forever to get it looking okay. Basically this is how I set it up:

Shadows off
Sun off
Background set to white
Sky and ground off
I used easy_settings.xml which I got off the Podium forum
I used several small omnis to give extra light where needed

I've attached an image showing the position of the omnis. They are all approx 500mm above the ceiling height except for the two omnis in the middle of each bathroom which are set approx 500mm off floor level.

@unknownuser said:

PCSPECIALIST - Top Spec Custom PCs & Laptops Built to Order

Manufacturer of performance custom computers and laptops. Customise your ideal gaming PC or laptop using our advanced configurator.

(www.pcspecialist.co.uk)

Check these guys out. I got a lappy from them. Very good Cumstom PC makers with nice interface.

I have looked at that site in the past but as I know very little about graphics cards, CPUs, motherboards etc I don't know what the best spec for my money would be.

@unknownuser said:

Just out of interest, what were the problems mentioned in the alienware reviews?

It's probably easier to read some of them than it is for me to describe the main problems they had. http://www.ciao.co.uk/alienware_co_uk__5329936

And this was a particularly damning one. http://www.musicface.co.uk/alienware.htm

But for all these negative reviews there will be a lot more positive ones I'm sure. I've just not found them yet.

Hmm.. I've just read some very negative reviews online about Alienware computers. I guess though that every company out there will have its share of negative reviews to some extent.

Whats the most reliable computer company? Dell? HP? Mesh?

Ah, well I think I may have reversed the faces, applied the material to that side too then reversed them back again. That could very possibly be the explanation, Biebel.