From: Russell Jennings To: 3dsmax@engramdigital.com <3dsmax@engramdigital.com> Subject: RE: Video rendering Date: Friday, April 21, 2000 6:22 PM All As far as the video card thing goes, I may well be wrong. But I think it's logical to assume, that in certain cases, a video card can improve rendering times to a file. There are pieces of computer hardware that improve every other aspect of it's performance, even "througput" cards, like a video card or a sound card. Also, why does a Wildcat 4110 have 4 processors and a ton of ram, if they'll never be used? Why do video gaming cards increase a video games rendering output? After all, Halflife has a rendering engine, and a good video card will give you cleaner resolutions and a faster redraw rate. No, it's not Max or Maya, but it's still a program rendering faster due to it's video card. And finally, as a Phone Tech for the workstation group, I spend 40 hours a week talking to ppl who use our systems for 3D design and art. And when one of them changes nothing but their video card (say, for example, their card fails, and Dell doesn't have the same model in stock, so we upgrade them to the next card) they report better rendering times in their apps. Granted, I haven't had someone time a scene for a reliable benchmark or anything, but their general impression (and mine as well) is that a better card can, at times, improve renderings. And the trainer for this department is as close to a 3D guru as you can come. He is familiar with the usage of over 30 3D apps. The workstation group guarantees certain programs will run well on our systems, and he's the guy who wrote the minimum specs we all refer too, for all 30 programs. So if anyone has sat down and rendered the same scene, over and over, on the same system while switching video cards, it's him. You don't have to trust me or take my word for it, but I will take his word for it. Sure, I might be wrong. in fact, I'd readily admit, due to the recent discussions, that Max will not scanline render faster with a 2 MB card compared to a 96 MB Oxygen card. But, won't you admit there that is probably at least one card out there that will render better (to a file) with at least one program? Russ ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com -- Subscribe/Unsubscribe at: http://mail.engram.net/guest/RemoteListSummary/3DSTUDIOMAX List courtesy of http://www.Engram.net