garyarnold

I am looking for a good book on 3d studio max tutorials for an architect. I am interesting in developing my portfolio with architectural renderings. there are so many books on the market that i am completely unsure which one(s) to get. can anyone advise which book is worth getting?

Thanks for the different insight. As the computer is for a home PC for learning and professional development the on site support is not critical. I would not expect the machine to go wrong during the first 3 years of covered warranty and if it did I wouldn't want the machine in the first place. It seems that the i7 over clocked is the best machine for my current purposes.

Thanks all. I will check the software out and see what works best for me. Advice much appreciated as I had never heard of most of these programs. My choice won't be dictated by 'ability to get employment' as this is not my ambition. If I can do the business then I will do it for myself. An the exclusivity appeals to me.

Thanks Mate. Both quotes are shown below. similar prices so the cost is irrelevant its just about which is the better performing machine for 3d studio max from novice to good level. OPTION 1: Case : IPW-HWE Case (Fractal Design Define R5 Black or Titanium) - Corsair® RM650 - (Gold Eff.) 650W - Modular Mainboard : ASUS® X99-A Mainboard (3x PCI-E [3.0] x16 / 8x DDR-4 / USB & SATA 3.0) Graphics Card(s) : NVIDIA® QuadroTM K4200 - 4GB GDDR5 [1x DVI / 2x DP 1.2a] - (1344 GPU Cores) Hard Drive (1) : Samsung® EVO 850 Series - 500GB - SATA3 - SSD [540MB/s (Read) / 520MB/s (Write)] - 5 Year Warranty Hard Drive (2) : Seagate "Barracuda" 3TB - 7,200rpm - SATA3 - 64MB Cache – RAID 1 Hard Drive (3) : Seagate "Barracuda" 3TB - 7,200rpm - SATA3 - 64MB Cache – RAID 1 Hard Drive (4) : None Optical Drive(s) : LiteOn® 24x DVD±R/RW/RAM - Dual Layer (S-ATA) - Black Sound Card : Intel® High Definition Audio (7.1) (Realtek Codec) Network Card(s) : Intel® PRO/1000 Gigabit LAN Operating System(s) : Microsoft Windows 8.1 Professional Edition (64-bit) OEM CPU(s) : Intel® Core i7 5820K (6x 3.30GHz - 15MB Cache) [w/ HT] - Professionally Overclocked Memory : 32GB ‘Major Branded’ DDR-4 - 2133MHz (PC3-17066) (4x 8GB) Mouse / Keyboard : Microsoft "Business" Desktop - USB Keyboard & Mouse (Black) Warranty Terms : 3 Year(s) Return to Base (RTB) (Inc. Parts and Labour) – or “Swap Out” Hardware Replacement Miscellaneous Upgrades : Intel® TS13X Water Cooler Price : £2280 OPTION 2: Dell Precision Tower 5810 685W Chassis 1 Intel Xeon Processor E5-1650 v3 (Six Core HT, 15MB Cache, 3.5GHz Turbo) 1 32GB (4x8GB) 2133MHz DDR4 RDIMM ECC 1 No Media Card Reader 1 500GB 7200 rpm Hard Drive 2 4TB 3.5inch Serial ATA (5.400 Rpm) Hard Drive 1 Integrated Intel AHCI chipset SATA controller (6 x 6.0Gb/s) - SW RAID 0/1/5/10 1 Heatsink for single CPU T5810 1 8x Slimline DVD+/-RW Drive 1 UK/Irish/MY/SG/Sri Lanka/Bangladesh/HK Power Cord 1 Chassis Intrusion Switch 1 Asset Tag - ProSupport (Website, barcode, Onboard MacAddress) 1 Order Configuration Shipbox Label (PO Number, Ship Date, Model, Processor Speed, HDD Size, RAM) 1 T5810 Regulatory Label 1 Nvidia Quadro K4200 4GB (2 DP, DL-DVI-I) (1 DP to SL-DVI adapter) 1 Internal Speaker 1 Dell USB Optical Mouse - MS111 - black 1 UK/Irish (QWERTY) Dell KB212-B QuietKey USB Keyboard Black 1 C6 SATA/SSD 2.5 Inch BOOT, plus 2x matching 3.5 Inch Hard Drives (Integrated Controller) 1 RAID 1 Price: £2,306.21

thanks again mate. i have 2 quotes both of which have 32GB and the cost is very similar as you can see below: OPTION 1: Case : IPW-HWE Case (Fractal Design Define R5 Black or Titanium) - Corsair® RM650 - (Gold Eff.) 650W - Modular Mainboard : ASUS® X99-A Mainboard (3x PCI-E [3.0] x16 / 8x DDR-4 / USB & SATA 3.0) Graphics Card(s) : NVIDIA® QuadroTM K4200 - 4GB GDDR5 [1x DVI / 2x DP 1.2a] - (1344 GPU Cores) Hard Drive (1) : Samsung® EVO 850 Series - 500GB - SATA3 - SSD [540MB/s (Read) / 520MB/s (Write)] - 5 Year Warranty Hard Drive (2) : Seagate "Barracuda" 3TB - 7,200rpm - SATA3 - 64MB Cache – RAID 1 Hard Drive (3) : Seagate "Barracuda" 3TB - 7,200rpm - SATA3 - 64MB Cache – RAID 1 Hard Drive (4) : None Optical Drive(s) : LiteOn® 24x DVD±R/RW/RAM - Dual Layer (S-ATA) - Black Sound Card : Intel® High Definition Audio (7.1) (Realtek Codec) Network Card(s) : Intel® PRO/1000 Gigabit LAN Operating System(s) : Microsoft Windows 8.1 Professional Edition (64-bit) OEM CPU(s) : Intel® Core i7 5820K (6x 3.30GHz - 15MB Cache) [w/ HT] - Professionally Overclocked Memory : 32GB ‘Major Branded’ DDR-4 - 2133MHz (PC3-17066) (4x 8GB) Mouse / Keyboard : Microsoft "Business" Desktop - USB Keyboard & Mouse (Black) Warranty Terms : 3 Year(s) Return to Base (RTB) (Inc. Parts and Labour) – or “Swap Out” Hardware Replacement Miscellaneous Upgrades : Intel® TS13X Water Cooler Price : £2280 OPTION 2: Dell Precision Tower 5810 685W Chassis 1 Intel Xeon Processor E5-1650 v3 (Six Core HT, 15MB Cache, 3.5GHz Turbo) 1 32GB (4x8GB) 2133MHz DDR4 RDIMM ECC 1 No Media Card Reader 1 500GB 7200 rpm Hard Drive 2 4TB 3.5inch Serial ATA (5.400 Rpm) Hard Drive 1 Integrated Intel AHCI chipset SATA controller (6 x 6.0Gb/s) - SW RAID 0/1/5/10 1 Heatsink for single CPU T5810 1 8x Slimline DVD+/-RW Drive 1 UK/Irish/MY/SG/Sri Lanka/Bangladesh/HK Power Cord 1 Chassis Intrusion Switch 1 Asset Tag - ProSupport (Website, barcode, Onboard MacAddress) 1 Order Configuration Shipbox Label (PO Number, Ship Date, Model, Processor Speed, HDD Size, RAM) 1 T5810 Regulatory Label 1 Nvidia Quadro K4200 4GB (2 DP, DL-DVI-I) (1 DP to SL-DVI adapter) 1 Internal Speaker 1 Dell USB Optical Mouse - MS111 - black 1 UK/Irish (QWERTY) Dell KB212-B QuietKey USB Keyboard Black 1 C6 SATA/SSD 2.5 Inch BOOT, plus 2x matching 3.5 Inch Hard Drives (Integrated Controller) 1 RAID 1 Price: £2,306.21

Thank you mate. I will quickly learn to render complex models as I am an architect and require photo realistic and contextual renders with reflections of photographs of the site in the glass etc. As such I think I should go for the CPU that is less likely to inhibit my development. Many thanks for confirming the i7 is better because on the face of it and given the dell salesmans adamant conviction that the Xeon is better than the i7 I was really doubting it. And it isn't easy to get impartial and honest advice when dealing with salespeople.

Intel i7 5820k (6x3.30GHz-15MB cache)(w/HT)-0verclocked. Or Intel Xeon E5-1650 v3 (6 core HT) 15MB cache, 3.5GHz Turbo (in a dell Precision tower). I'm currently a novice user of 3dstudio. Which processor should I go for?

Thanks a lot guys.much appreciated. I think I will choose the path to play with the biggest and baddest.

Which processor is best for rendering? Dell are telling me everyone uses Xeon for rendering and filmakimg etc but another specialist custom PC builder company tell me i7(professionally over clocked) is quicker and more cost effective for a PC(ie not a server or network workstation). My budget is £3k.

Thanks for your reply. What I meant by saying I have a lack of time is that I want the experienced experts to advise me what will achieve the result at the least cost. I definitely cannot afford the £3100 3d studio license as I only want to learn it for now and won't be making any money from then usage. And I am not a student and the trial version isn't long enough to learn enough. A graph showing the performance along with the cost of the individual software products would be very helpful. I have time to spend learning the software and seeking help when needed. I am seeking help right now at the very beginning so as not to waste time going down the wrong path. Thanks form listing all those rendering packages. Can you describe their pro's and con's with a guide to cost. The problem is most people are biased to the problem they use. I need some unbiased impartial advice.

I am an architect who wants to develop my portfolio with some nice renderings. I am not sure which software to get. I use a PC and AutoCAD. I used 3d studio many years ago at uni but its so expensive. I know there are lots of different options but my problem is that having not used any of them I don't know where to start and in don't have alot of time to investigate each and every one of them. Google sketch up is quite cheap but as far as i know its rendering is limited. I want to produce some photographic 'realistic' resolution Images. Would appreciate some firm guidance. Thanks.