#IPAS and SGI Render?
16 messages in this thread
Two questions:
1. Can you render IPAS routines with the 3DS SGI renderer?
2. Has anyone been using the SGI rendering engine, any comments?
We are adding an SGI workstation to our studio and I would love to be able to
use it to help with our 3DS work as well.
Andrew McClary
Graphic Alchemy Interactive, Inc.
Andrew,
>> 1. Can you render IPAS routines with the 3DS SGI renderer? <<
currently, only the plug-ins that are included with 3ds anyway have been
ported.
>> 2. Has anyone been using the SGI rendering engine, any comments? <<
we are considering it, since we have about 30 SGI boxes which may be free
occasionally.
Martin:
>> since we have about 30 SGI boxes which may be free occasionally.
When they are, I'll take one! They are pretty expensive most of the time! <bg>
We missed you at NAB!
Greg Pyros
Greg,
>> [free SGI boxes] … when they are, I'll take one! They are pretty
expensive most of the time! <bg> We missed you at NAB! <<
I should have said "free cpu cycles" <g>. The heroic side of the company is
working on so many movies right now there would be no chance if getting any SGI
cpu cycles.
I really wanted to got to NAB, too. Unfortunately, we are still too busy for me
to leave the building. Probably get a break next week when I plan to go to
Cozumel or Tahitti or similar before the next project starts.
Martin
This situation had better rectify itself before SIGGraph <g>
Andrew,
>>Has anyone been using the SGI rendering engine, any comments?
I've been using it for quite some time and am very pleased! It is tremendously
fast. (I have an Indigo 2 Extreme). If you have any specific questions, let me
know.
Brent
Andrew,
<< Can you render IPAS routines with the 3DS SGI renderer? >>
Yes, but the ipas routines need to be ported over first.
<< Has anyone been using the SGI rendering engine >>
I belive Greg Pyros 73027,3632 has been using it. And Kevin Krell 76077,2774
uses and sells it.
Mark
Andrew,
As mentioned by others, the plug-ins normally supplied with 3D Studio on
the PC are provided by Autodesk for the SGI Renderer, *except* ccube.sxp,
stucco.sxp and dots.axp. Third-party plug-ins would require porting to the
SGI. Don't forget, though, that many IPAS routines affect the mesh or
keyframes, and the results can still be rendered on the SGI. Certain .IXPs and
such can still be used in a separate pass through Video Post (on the PC) after
the SGI rendered images are complete.
Kevin Krell – Computer Support Associates
Are most of the IPAS routines being ported to SGI? We use the Lens Flare,Glow,
and fire routines a lot, and they take way to long to render on the PC. I was
hoping to speed up things by using an SGI box. (Though that is not the only
reason for getting the SGI.)
Andrew
Andrew,
Plug-in developers have expressed interest in porting to the SGI, but
I'm not aware of anyone who has done it, or even announced pricing or delivery
dates. It's more likely for animation shops to port their own custom plug-ins
and keep them in-house and proprietary.
Kevin Krell – Computer Support Associates
Kevin:
>> Plug-in developers have expressed interest in porting to the SGI, but I'm
>> not aware of anyone who has done it…
You can't say that anymore! <bg>
We have ported a few of our routines over to the SGI (in case anyone is
curious, they have a "_m" for MIPS, as in YUV_M.BXP) to test out the system,
and they work fine.
We decided to do them more as an "as needed" basis instead of porting them all
over at once, but haven't seen much demand yet.
Greg Pyros
Kevin,
Has anyone done the 3DS benchmark on an SGI yet?
– Steve Ormonde
Steve,
The only semi-official stats I saw were twice the speed of a Pentium-90,
when run on a 150 MHz R4000-series. Given the variety of processors, with
speeds up to 200 MHz, multiple processor setups, multiple workspaces (even on a
single processor), differences in primary & secondary caches, there doesn't
seem to be any rule of thumb.
Kevin Krell – Computer Support Associates
Kevin,
>> The only semi-official stats I saw were twice the speed of a Pentium-90 <<
It sounds like the SGI version of 3DS would be useful only to those who
already invested in the SGI's, as far as performance is concerned. Thanks for
the info…
– Steve Ormonde
Steve,
<< Has anyone done the 3DS benchmark on an SGI yet? >>
This is all that has been said:
"Initial tests indicate that a Silicon Graphics system based on the MIPS(R)
4400(TM) processor running at 150MHZ can render at double the speed of a
Pentium(R) 90-equipped PC."
Mark
got it!
– Steve Ormonde