Topics

1

Hardware / New budget Render-node: AMD epyc?

« on: 2023-04-20, 20:49:00 »

Hello,
we're working on a short movie(unfortunately not a short short, but a very long short movie) rendering with Arnold. Some years ago I purchased 3 render nodes bases on Juraj's great e5-2670 thread(Thanks a mill!). But today the 32 threads feel outdated and I began to swap them with e5-2695 and I got a fourth render node(serverrack with e5-2695 with 128RAM for 150 bucks :) -managed to get it into a fractal design define... 4 I think?).
Nonetheless: For a CU-Shot I'm facing render times like ~1hour/frame and I need some real support for my little 4 render buddies. I am looking at items like this:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/185233306187?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160811114145%26meid%3Db9083c2c421a4e60a00c3b073676c066%26pid%3D100667%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D2%26sd%3D185233306187%26itm%3D185233306187%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2351460%26brand%3DSupermicro&_trksid=p2351460.c100667.m2042
either from ebay/china or from a refurbished server seller. What do you think? My plan would be to find a good XXL-Case for that node and go either the water-cool or the air-cooling road.
Looking forward to your thoughts. Thank you.

2

Hardware / New GPU for photogrammetry projects(high poly count)

« on: 2023-02-03, 14:07:23 »

At the moment I'm dealing with large poly counts while cleaning meshes from photogrammetry. The exact workflow isn't ironed out . I'm looking at Agisoft Metashape, Zbrush, Meshlab and Maya at the moment. I'm on a i7-5960X with sufficient RAM and a 1070 GPU. Editing ond orbiting in the viewport is quite slow. I'm wondering how much I would benefit from a new GPU- let's say a 3080. Anyone here who dares to put a number on this? How much faster I can get with new hardware...
Thank you!

3

Hardware / budget render node- refering to Juraj 32 thread guide

« on: 2022-02-25, 11:33:54 »

Hi, back in the days I build 3 nodes with the e5-2670 very similiar to Juraj's http://talcikdemovicova.com/32-thread-build-on-budget/ . Nowadays these machines feel a bit outdated. Is the e5-2697 v2 (12 cores) the most powerful update solution for the chipset? They cost a 100 bucks on ebay and I am not rendering right now, so I guess I'll wait until the prize drops.
Is there any significant prize drop on the horizon like the e5-2670 one? Or is this impossible to foresee because you don't know when the big vendors upgrade their servers?
Do you see any other budget options now or in the near future?
Thank you.

4

General CG Discussion / texturing skin - looking at texturing.xyz

« on: 2020-10-10, 15:46:31 »

Hi, I'm currently texturing skin and I'm not that happy with my micro-details. I work with Substance Painter. I prefer buying software- unfortunately I don't have access to the materials on Substance source. I don't have Zbrush at hand, so I have to rely on alphas I grabbed and bought from the web. When I switch to 4K it begins to look okish, but not the level I am aiming for.


I'm looking at texuring.xyz ( https://texturing.xyz/collections/microskin ) This looks promising, but pricey. Pricey I fear beyond my reach.
Any advice appreciated. Thank you.

5

Off-Topic / Corona Virus: Donate computing power for science

« on: 2020-03-19, 22:09:37 »

Hi guys,
I just stumbled on this: https://www.guru3d.com/news-story/foldinghome-put-your-cpu-and-gpu-in-use-against-the-corona-covid-19-virus.html
and decided to install it on my machines. (Already getting warm here.....)
If you guys have some spare render power, you might consider to donate it. https://foldingathome.org/
thanks

6

Hardware / 10bit output with Geforce Cards

« on: 2019-08-19, 22:12:42 »

I don't have a fancy 10bit Screen and don't plan to buy one in the near future, but I just read that Nvidias new driver unlocks 10bit.
https://www.nvidia.com/Download/driverResults.aspx/149125/en-us
I remember reading a few threads here dealing with the limitations to Quadro Cards only.  If they really have buried this stupid Quadro-policy, I would change my mind about fancy 10bit screens.
Have I overlooked some details? Anybody here with the necessary hardware to comfirm that this actually works?

7

General CG Discussion / Sky backgrounds- what do you use?

« on: 2018-03-16, 17:48:45 »

I am working on some vfx for a live-action short and there a some shots, in which the sky should be replaced for a more dramatic one. There is a reshoot planned, but it is doubtful that this will be successful. If the weather isn't right on this particular day it will be no good at all.
Is there a collection of sky images(preferable movies) for sale you recommend? Of course I know of this company called Google, but the problem is there a millions of hits, but there is caveat in every single item I could find. Either it's not the mood the director wants, or resolution is not good enough or it is useless timelapse and so on

Do you know of recommendable stock footage bundle with -let's say- a few hundreds of sky images or movies in high resolution(4k and above)? I am so desperate I really think of rendering those clouds....

8

[Max] I need help! / [solved] renewing license doesn't work for me

« on: 2018-02-27, 13:11:55 »

From time to time I have to revisit some older projects and have to renew my license. Last time I did this I ran into a licensing issue. Support was able to help me out- apparently I gave a different email when purchasing so the combination email:pw wouldn't match.

I carefully watched what email I would type in now. But it's the same thing. I can't get a license
I apologize for opening this thread, because I also submitted a ticket to the support. The reason why I am so impatient is that the deadline is approaching. Maybe other users went through the same thing and can point me in the right direction.

thanks a million

9

Hardware / recommendation for XL case

« on: 2017-12-19, 10:49:30 »

A call to the hardware gurus:
I would have loved to order the fractal design define XL R2, but it is currently not available(til mid/end January)
Any alternative worth the money?
thank you

10

Hardware / alternative for asus z9pa-D8

« on: 2017-11-11, 15:57:25 »

I built two identical e5-2670 nodes(following more or less Juraj's model) with the asus-z9pa-D8 mb, which comes without any neat features, but I bought them for ~280€, which is a good price for a dual cpu mb I think.
I still have a pair of this xeons left and I'm up to build the third node. Unfortunately these asus boards are gone. I can't find them anymore.
Can you recommend a cheap mb as an alternative? Thank you.

11

Off-Topic / crypto mining

« on: 2017-10-14, 15:42:18 »

Anybody with experience in Crypto-Mining? My hardware capacity utilisation is far from being good. In fact I had done more onsite jobs than remote jobs in the last years. This means that my 3 render nodes(dual e5-2670) and the geforce1070 of my WS are doing nothing most of the time. I am in germany and electricity is quite expensive, so it is probably not the best idea to get ridiculous rich. It's more like a bet. That ethereum and monero will evolve like the bitcoin.
The idea would be: Mining monero on the xeons. And ethereum on 1070.
Any thoughts, insights on this? Greatly appreciated, thank you

12

Hardware / keyboard suggestions

« on: 2017-01-24, 12:37:49 »

I'm very fond of a nice keyboard with a proper keystroke. Soft, but solid and not noisy. Hope this makes sense to you.
I used a Logitech K740. I like working with a illuminated keyboard( you can control the brightness level on this one) The keys feel ok on this one, but they are not great.

I'm suffering from a kind of tendovaginitis and I decided to change my working Layout.
Before: Keyboard in front of me and wacom on the right side.
Now. Wacom in front of me. Keyboard behind it.

Works better for me, but of course I would like to have the keyboard as close as possible. Unfortunately both Keyboard and Wacom have 'border areas'(see attachment)

I'm trying now to get a keyboard with a  more narrow layout(but I have to keep numpad, arrowkeys, page up and down.)
I'm trying now a rapoo X8100, but this is plain awful for a dozen things and is really hard to find a good model on the internet, because there are a bazillion models out there.

Do you have any suggestions for me?

13

Work in Progress/Tests / vr-displacement test

« on: 2017-01-16, 15:08:00 »

feature=youtu.be

I uploaded this to youtube, but I only got a OculusDk2 here and I'm not sure if Youtube plays this alright.
Can you give me feedback if this looks ok to you?

I would love to have some in depth feedback upon the shaders, but since I cancelled my corona subscription it would be no help.
One I renew the subscription I will repost it with screenshots of the shadertree.
thank you.

14

[Max] I need help! / VR video- is there a standard?

« on: 2016-12-18, 16:42:26 »

I rendered a 360 over/under sequence with Corona. I converted this to a mov(h264)/mp4.  I use a player called MaxVr and it plays fine on the Rift DK2.
I'm trying to view it on the phone too, but I experience some problems with that. Maybe it's the phone(Acer liquid E79 or something like this- I know this isn't the right device) maybe it's the codec?
I installed a dozen of vr apps. It's either only showing first frame, black or screwed color bars all over place.

Anyway, what would be the best way to share a vr video?(I'm not on facebook- so the fb vr is not an option)

forgive me this stupid question- any advice greatly appreciated...

15

Hardware / heating with renderings

« on: 2016-12-17, 17:14:29 »

I always thought of it as a real cool thing- instead of heating your rooms, just rendering some cool stuff.
Recently my power meter was swapped with a new digital one and I started to be curious how much electricity I actually burn with my render-test.
I got:
I-7-5960X running at 4.0Ghz-PSU corsair rm650i
I-7-3770k running at 3,8(?)Ghz- PSU bequiet  BQT L7 350W
2 nodes double E5-2670(more or less the Juraj-buil) with seasonic g series 650 W

eyeballed 5-6 days 24/7 rendering burnt 175kWh- yes, it was cozy and warm.... :)

Do you guys consider this as 'normal'-numbers?
I read something about the PSU being most efficient at 50% load. My PSUs are obviously too weak, how much impact would a better efficiency have?
I'm really concerned because this 6 days rendering wasn't paid- just tests...