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Need vs WANT - Time vs Money

Continuing on about meh tech talks.... What you really need to think about is what you NEED vs what you WANT... Now the needs and wants kinda relate to time and money... The computer+tech you have now is probably all you NEED to do what you want... do animation whatever BUT it might be so slow that it will take a lot of TIME... its like that good, fast, cheap triangle thanG... what screws up most new cg filmmakers is that they try to emulate big studios and they think they NEED the kind of heavy iron those companies use which costs a lot of MONEY... Now I'm going to say as of right now May 2010... the average PC around $1000 will be all you NEED to make a 3d film on your own... with $1000 today in the US you should get a quad core CPU with 8gb ram a nice gfx card and a 1-2tb hard drive... this $1099 PC on sale at Frys right now is actually better than the workstation I'm using right now... also you really WANT a 64 bit OS... I'm going to show whats possible with a consumer PC and a 64bit OS with HSM ^ ^ Its pretty CRAZY.... the amount of detail and the richness of it all you can manage to pull of with a decent rig and a 64 bit OS today... so again it will come back to peoples ideas....

But you might say... BUT M Dizzle you have that little render slave farm?! Yeh thats because I'm concerned with time so I spent more money so it will take less time... if you don't really care about time you can save the money and not buy any render slaves.... BUT if you built them yourself and were smart about it  OR found some crazy sale you could get decent render slaves for $300-$700 apiece depending on if you chose AMD or Intel... for a render slave today May 2010 I'm gonna say you want again a quad core CPU with 8gb ram... smallest HD possible as all you need is the 64 bit OS and your client software... NO gfx card... the onboard gfx is fine or NO gfx at all if you plan to use VNC er whatever...

So MINUS monitors... extra hard drives... you could replicate the setup I'm making HSM with right now for about $3800 usd.... IF you wanna get fancier and have a dedicated render server+slave like I do add another $2000 cause I got an 8 core box for that.... but you don't NEED it...it was my old workstation whose mainboard couldn't give me the OGL performance I wanted so it became a server/slave... so that was an error on my part... there were some factors at that point I was unaware of but now I know so I'll do it cheaper next time...

I looked at my old setup compared to this one and the new one is like 8x faster and it was half the price of the old one....

So yeh its pretty exciting how fast/cheap stuff is now to make your own 3d animated films... I think almost EVERY gamer has the POWER to do it... so why aren't more people doing it? Waiting for Avatar like motion capture suits and pre-vix rigs? ^ ^

I think a lot of peeps have they NEEDS and WANTS mixed up.

Comments

  1. Or you could something like this renderer:

    http://www.refractivesoftware.com/

    It's called Octane Render, and it's cheap. It's still a work in progress, but it should be interesting to see how it turns out.

    Theoretically you could build a computer with two or three nvidia cards, and you have a render farm in one box!

    Seriously, check out the WIP forum.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yeh I saw that render engine a few weeks ago... Looks like a neat thing... but if it needs multiple GPU's like Fermi's... those cards cost about the same as a standalone render PC as of today... it will be interesting to see where this all goes in the future... definitely a promising developing as GPU's are so powerful now.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Well..people are getting good results with just one GFX card,
    apparently, but to really say
    one computer can replace a
    render farm, a person would probably want 2 or three.

    The minimum they suggest is an
    Nvidia GTX 260. Most people are using just one card and still getting good render times.

    But yeah, it'll take time for this thing to really develop.

    ReplyDelete
  4. You can get by with cheapo computers. You don't need top of the line. My 'main' computer that I do all my animating and compositing on is a p4 2.6, I have two render nodes, p4 2.3 and an older p4 1.4 I can easily animate shots and send them to the render queue, while the other computers render away I work on the next shot. Get all 3 going when I rack out, and in the "morning" all the renders are done (without crashes or screwups hopefully ;)

    Best place to get computers are off lease computer stores, (for example http://www.factorydirect.ca/catalog/category_list.php?cat=1110 ) older single core p4's are dirt cheap, and dual cores are cheap as well (it's almost time for me to replace my old p3 500 that I dont use anymore...)

    basically, you don't need the newest and shiniest kit to make films, it's just handy that lots of *other* people think that way, leaving lots of tasty scraps on the floor to scavange ;)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I wouldn't trust GPUs for long-term rendering, I have a feeling they would burn out after too much time spent rendering. Honestly, all you need is to learn to build your own computers, find a place that sells parts OEM and you can build a very powerful farm for "cheap".

    Whatever you do, do not buy rack servers to render on. I got one a while back for cheap and while it was amazingly fast at the time (only now is my PC faster after several years) - it's loud as fuck.

    ReplyDelete
  6. This render engine looks kinda interesting as it uses CPU+GPU

    http://www.randomcontrol.com/arion

    But it seems these are geared for producing stills and flythroughs right now.... will probably be useful for the ArchViz crowd right now...

    Its not "realtime" but I'm very happy with Cinema 4d's render engine for animation... especially since I went linear.... and my daily output of 4-8 shots a day are usually finished within 1-3 days... So I think for animation... software rendering will be around for awhile... if it was ALL realtime where would the fun and suspense in waiting to see a final render go? ^ ^

    ReplyDelete
  7. 60

    97

    I want to have 100 Chinese-guys, they are cheaper!
    and they dont waste the time
    but they are too big for box

    ReplyDelete
  8. How I wish I already knew more about computer stuff, but the futures for learning!

    I was wondering, what do you do to set up a render farm? Like I have two laptops, the one I use now and an older xp. Could I set up the older xp laptop as a render slave or does it not work that way?

    ReplyDelete
  9. motion capture suits hmmm.. oh I want some
    DIY ^ ^ I know- I know..

    we still are always limited ...
    Sky-Watcher SK P2001EQ5
    or MEADE DS-2080 AT with autostar
    17.000$ and my observatory
    or I have a way to buy lenses to put them with electricity turning gears and connect to comp..
    to see another Galaxy I must be not worse than real physicist-scientist..
    but there are always things that i cant make myself..aperture filter..or Night Vision optics..to my eyes wont be in flame
    anyway I have books an eyes..tnx God that the Moon is near

    and the sky is not so clear
    M. you re right but there are limitS
    Im not free
    so as it become to things with massive scenes of landing
    where I need more than 100 units for extras..
    exciting plot..
    and oops..scene soft sail into to the kitchen where
    boy and a girl with stupid faces are baking a cake...uhhh..
    sorry budget..
    live-action films leave for Hollywood..yeh? so I think yeh!
    In this way I think The User was right, where is he actually?
    He is a clever boy
    yeh "short film.. about subtle nuanced emotions"
    this is my way..the way for the fanS.. of live-action short films..
    so the script is leading me but not I "him"..and things are wrong..
    so we can make only some thingS about interesting little human's nature..that's all..
    little..little..warm world
    about loser 25years old guy magican with big dream or 40 years old genius with a bears on T-shirt that still lives with his mom..


    I know with animation situation is better
    but depends on goals that u have..

    ReplyDelete
  10. i found the cheapest render solution!
    draw each frame by hand
    there you go no more rendering ^_^

    ReplyDelete
  11. @Reyori....^_^
    Time vs. ur Cheapest render solution^ ^
    Reyori vs. Reyori^ ^
    100 chinese-guys vs. CPU+ GPU
    Me vs. 100 chinese-guys
    Me vs. my hands
    fucking mortal combat
    Round 1
    Fight!
    but Reyori..but sometimes I did it0_0..how u knew that?o_0
    you see I said the Moon is near
    0_0 sometimes in the NIGHTS..in the DEEP-DEEP nights..I went every night to make those things^ ^
    Aint I an artist-werewolf?
    "Spielberg-Dont make me Laugh" cant make that..he is not a werewolf..those things can make only 100 chinese-guys or I CAN ^ ^

    Ok a long before "Indigo Prophecy" I had an idea about such GAME.. but I havent motion capture suits
    so that guys made that before me.. they stole my idea^ ^
    I see 100 peeps on the street with open mouthes watching in the sky doing nothing
    why arent they in my movie?
    Money vs. Wants
    No Money- No Wants
    Only NEEDS
    why fuckin' Spielberg have Money Needs and Wants..cuz he is fuckin'

    ReplyDelete
  12. -Eat what u Need..
    -But please Daddy its not tasty..
    woooW its the last station.. hello childs:)..
    GET OUT OF HERE!..
    -Pleeeaassse..dont make such with me..ok..ok..I will eat.. I m eating..pleeeaaasse..dooonttt
    -Nikki ya know what.. YA KNOW.. I love u.. ur my daughter.. BUT close ur jaws... and chew!
    if I be back through 5 min and I'll see that u havent swallow it yet..
    ya know what..ya know what ll be with u..do u want to see that?^ ^

    but
    I know what u can say M.:"U'll see HSM...U 'll see it..U'll see that I can make Muhahaha..and u'll DIE"
    ..I never doubted you^_^ Im ready

    @Drainage64
    u've seen that?
    I guess I've seen that too0_0
    great yeh? its great!
    but ok Spielberg...do u hear me..?
    Do u?
    ..awww..I think he doesnt..HE DOESNT eVEN HEAR ME..! ^ ^
    He doesnt hear me ok..FUCK ur Tin-Tin.. u're worse than little God- Reyori

    Gamers have their Game
    if gamers ll make games who ll play0_0
    someone must play0_0^ ^
    45 tutorials^ ^
    LAZYness .. PLEASURE? there is no way for excuses!..haha sorry..its the end..
    but I understand Drainage 64, I understand THE User..I understand those guys
    Hey.. Spielberg do u understand us?..aww I think u dont again..u're seems like stupid^ ^

    ..but anyway in 30min live-action film I cant make many things..even if I close my jaws^ ^
    I can have "teddy-bear" actors..but I dont want them..they are out of casting..lol
    but teddy bear is cheaper than Michael Pitt..sooo ok u can call the teddy-bear..
    and forest even if it doesnt look as outer space..aint there TREES..to hang on the letter plate "THE OUTER SPACE"
    teddy-bear..u'll be an alien

    aww..after that sometimes I undesrstand why gamers play games
    ^ ^

    and I dont want to hear about my film as I heard about Duna:"we knew technologies were made NOT by you David..but
    how do u think what could save the Duna?"0_00000<---U see what are they talking about? what are they abouto_0
    I think Duna has amazing plot..and what..
    Noo Reyori ^ ^we are not Jelly Gods..we are just Jelly haha

    ReplyDelete
  13. @16bit
    No I do not think Spielberg can hear us, he may have lost his hearing with his age. Do not fret though because it is time for the new to replace the old, Anyone of us can be the new. It just takes some doing!

    ReplyDelete

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