Again, probably doesn't quite belong here, but I have a question about mechanics of graphic rendering...
I have a 350mhz G3 processor and Bryce 5. Except I'm annoyed occassionally about how slow the renders are... If I want to upgrade my computer hardware, can I get some kind of non-processor peripheral chip to increase render speed? Or would I have to buy a new processor?
-Lequis
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Computers are simply not toys, they are for those who know how to use them.
Oh no! And I don't know how Network-rendering could help me... but I don't even think the g3 tower model is compatible with an 800mhz DP g4, would it be? I dunno, I'm just sorta like 'all or nothing' as far as processors, though I highly doubt I'd actually buy a DP 800mhz g4 processor, probably insane as well as insanely expensive.
-Lequis
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Computers are simply not toys, they are for those who know how to use them.
Just buy an old iMac SE for $999. Apple still sells them and that's the price. 700 megahertz G3 ought to be enough.
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Your in the same boat I am (G3/350 B&W;, 448/100GB/CD-RW).
At current price levels, it actually could be more cost effective to put a G4/500 upgrade in and load up the memory to 1GB, rather than get a new system (G4/500 upgrade is $319 from OWC as of this writing)
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Trust me. Any type of G4 upgrade will help immensely - G4's are far superior to G3's in the area of floating point operations, which graphics relies upon almost entirely. I have a G3/400 and this G4/350 - the G4 thrashes the G3 by miles on 3D work.
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Get some software which allows distributed rendering, and put all your old macs to work.
This is one of the big differences between 'home' software such as Bryce, and Pro software such as Lightwave, Maya, StrataPro. At home you're unlikely to have four or five Macs sitting around, and if you do, at least a couple of them will be relics. In a pro-rendering studio there might be five or fifteen, all doing their bit in the project.
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I dont know about the G4 800MHz DP going in but there are definitely processor upgrades available for you.
You require a ZIF (Zero Insertion Force) processor upgrade for your computer but just phone up you retailer and explain that you want a G4 processor upgrade for a Blue and White G3. They will know what you require. I have seen a 450MHz DP upgrade but not 800MHz. That is probably the fastest upgrade you could get but it WILL cost you about $600, be warned. You can probably get a 500 MHz G4 upgrade for about $400 dollars, which would be more than adequate.
The easiest way to improve speed is to add more RAM. A 512 Mb upgrade would improve things greatly.
Another great upgrade would be a new graphics card. A 32Mb N-Videa G-Force 2 card would speed things up conciderably.
ewan
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Well, I can't really say that these replies coincide, as solutions say mostly 'Processor,' but also 'Ram' and 'Graphics Card' as well. Eh. Well, I'll have to look into the prices, nonetheless. And all the extra 256mb of Ram did for me was de-frequentize crashes and stuff and make it so I can play The Sims AND talk on aim AND read the asw boards at the same time. 
Thanks.
-Lequis
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Computers are simply not toys, they are for those who know how to use them.
RAM is a definate first upgrade option. As of this writing, 256MB is about $49.99.
Processor Upgrade is slightly tricky. There are no upgrades for G4's past 500MHz, because of a problem in motherboard design not letting chips function past that speed standard (it's the 9x multiplier, new G4's have a 14x multiplier). For the B&W;, there is no Dual Processor upgrade, unless you can get a CarrierZIF (try XLR8 for that item) card. The Sonnet G4/Duet card ($699) only works in Sawtooth/Gigabit G4's.
Video cards are very limited. Right now, there are two good choices for graphic cards as an upgrade from the Rage 128. First is a Radeon PCI 32MB DDR ($169), and second is the Radeon 7000 ($129). The difference is the Radeon 7000 is similar in performance to the Rage 128. Unless you really don't care about graphics quality and the fastest framerates, go with the Radeon PCI here.
(Note: Jules, the nVidia GeForce2MX, although a great card, is AGP only, so will only work on Sawtooth G4's or better. Same with the GeForce3's and Radeon 8500)
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The difference is the Radeon 7000 is similar in performance to the Rage 128. Unless you really don't care about graphics quality and the fastest framerates, go with the Radeon PCI here.
But for sheer render speed increase...?
-Lequis
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Computers are simply not toys, they are for those who know how to use them.
Get
Some
RAM
seriously. My Imac DV had a good ol 128 and when I put on LW7 if almost crashed when I rendered a preview - took 8 minutes to do a non-antialiased 640x480 preview. then I added 256 and its running smoothly...
GET RAM
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Originally posted by Lequis MX:
**But for sheer render speed increase...?
**
No, but it is a nice upgrade for when you play those games of Unreal Tournament in between developing EV stuff. The Rage 128 has one graphics rendering pipeline, and so does the Radeon 7000. The Radeon PCI has three, which is why framerates are greatly improved.
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Actually, a good solution would be to switch programs you use to render out. Bryce has a very nice, very realistic renderer, but it's also the absolute slowest in existence.
If you're a student, look around at educational discounts on software like Electric Image, Cinema4D or Lightwave. If you're not, DVGarage sells a great little package called the "3DToolkit" which includes an older version of Electric Image for relatively cheap. Using any renderer other than Bryce will speed up your render time by quite a bit.
Edit: Check out the free Blender software at (url="http://"http://www.blender3d.com")www.blender3d.com(/url)
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(This message has been edited by Killpoly (edited 01-22-2002).)
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Actually, a good solution would be to switch programs you use to render out. Bryce has a very nice, very realistic renderer, but it's also the absolute slowest in existence.
I assume you mean buy another graphics program altogether, and no, I don't have that kind of money. Bryce 5, being a fairly cheap(inexpensive)program, was actually given to me, and I don't really want to go too far into my own savings to spend like $400 on some program which I can't use in the first place. Essentially, although I've made things that look nice, I can only become a lot better by working in a better environment. A better environment might be another program, but I'd rather spend $350 on a processor upgrade than spend $450 on a graphics program which would go proportionately much slower.
Although I guess I can't have it both ways, as there aren't any very-easy-to-use pro-3d programs which render fast and are free or cheap. :frown:
Oh well. I suppose I can keep looking, and maybe someday. Until then, horribly slow Bryce 5...
-Lequis
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Unlike most other kinds of software, the more expensive the graphics program, the faster the render (by and large).
I think you ought to have another look at Strata3d (on download.com). The render is much faster than Bryce, and the modelling is much better. Of course, it lacks all of the atmospheric refinements and built in textures that Bryce has (these come with the pay-for-extra features) but the raytracing is the same as in the top flight versions.
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