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Thank you all for the replies. The 10GbE option I had in mind at first was supposed to work like this - the server and switches would support 10GbE speeds, while each client could stay on its 1GbE integrated NIC, which would still yield the theoretical maximum of 125MB/s per PC. However, I didn't find any reasonably priced switch with 10GbE ports in my vicinity, so I won't be pursuing this option further. I have heard about FreeNAS and deploying it on a self-built server; however I don't know how important the CPU/RAM are for the server itself, as it should only work as an 'offline dropbox' for working file, and I don't know how much babysitting a FreeNAS server requires once it's built and turned on. I've used a few linux distros before, so yes, once they're configured they are set; but when something goes awry it can be a pain to fix. So my latest thoughts are on a 4-bay Synology DS416play, which has 2 GLAN ports and with proper switches that too support link aggregation (like TP-LINK TL-SG2008) this could be a good balance between price, setup ease & servicing.

Hi everyone, I recently became responsible for the network of computers in a small architectural firm (6-8 computers). Currently the workflow uses AutoCAD for drafting with all the drawings being on one 'master' computer, with the 3D and Archviz jobs being produced on each PC locally and only the end results are uploaded to the 'master,' which then functions both as an archive and as a workstation. So I want to move the archive onto a NAS box. The question is, which one? I assume that a box with 8TB storage space (effectively 4TB because of RAID mirroring) should be enough. I also think that a box with 10GbE connection is a better choice - even if all the users were to open files at the same time, the server would not be the bottleneck. (I welcome any disputes to this estimate, since I'm not a network guy by nature and am surprised why the servers have 2 or more Gbit ports.) I have however questions whether anyone has any experience with a NAS in their own practice, whether there's something I forgot to consider (how much do CPU/RAM speeds matter?) and whether anyone would have a concrete recommendation they could give. So far I've found this guy, but no reseller. I'll be thankful for any tips from you ~Adam

hi all I'm currently working on an interior that I need rendered. I was trying to follow the tutorial found on James Shaw's blog - http://www.jamesshaw.co.nz/blog/?p=542 - to get the best results possible, but I'm still getting light splotches near fine edges on the door frames. I've put all the steps into an imgur album - http://imgur.com/a/AMbC1#0 - together with final settings used and the result I'm getting, however, to catch your attention, I'm also embedding the final image here for convenience. If you guys had any idea what the cause of the splotches might be, I'd appreciate any feedback Thanks.

hi everyone, i just have a quick question - would anyone happen to know where I could find a texture of a steel cable net? - for reference, this is what I'm talking about - or if you could suggest some keywords that would lead me to these nets in a 2D, front-facing form, I would be very thankful thanks for reading, adam

actually this one http://accessories.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&sku=225-4201 still seems more attractive to me. has anyone given it a try?

thanks, i tried that nothing came up. so maybe they have an in-house CG artist. i was just hoping to pair the image with a username here

hi all, i was just browsing the internet when i found some rendered images here, such as this one my question is which one of you did this? i especially like the color balance here. while analysing i found that it's just a relatively simple 3d model with detailed door & window frames and a toon shader for edge enhancement; i suspect the background, foreground and people are all photoshop (and their shadows too). the interior seems to be hollow. overall i applaud the texture sharpness here, must've been a good camera that took these pics.

Juraj: Yes, I reset the multiplier to 1.0. The reason for the override was that I didn't know where exactly should the VrayHDRi be, so I put it in every slot that seemed to have something in common with the environment or the background Morne: Yes, that's what I was aiming for, trying to use 'typical' exposure values. For the exposure I took an 'educated guess' from Chart B in this article and the one above it - I went with EV 5 scenario, chose ISO 400 and that yielded shutter speed 1/4s at f 5.6. After that I adjusted the VrayHDRi Render multiplier and interior light intensity so that the image wouldn't get overexposed. So as far as the workflow goes, I'm quite happy with what I discovered and will be using similar process for my future night renders. And as the result I ended up with the attached image. It took about 1h20min at 5400x3000 and another 5 minutes to do _very_ basic photoshopping...

I apologize, I found out that i had Hidden Lights turned on in Global switches, and that was causing the strange lighting... But not to rob you from the screenshots, here they are. I still have to put lights into the rooms, of course, but I wanted to test the exposure at this stage. Also, I'm using #10 from the VizPeople HDRi pack. - all HDRi multipliers at 1.0, exposure not corresponding to real world situation - all HDRi multipliers at 1.0, exposure adjusted to real values - real exposure, modified HDRi Render multiplier

Hi all, I'm currently trying to make a night render using 3dsmax & V-Ray. During the daylight scene i got used to using the Sunny 16 rule to set my exposures (f 16, ISO 200, shutter 1/200). However when I want to render a night scene, I can't use 'real' exposure values (like f 5.6, ISO 400, shutter 1/25) because the building interiors get overexposed, however low i set the vrayHDRI multipliers. For lighting i'm using a vrayHDRI mapped onto vray dome light and have it mapped in GI and Environment slots. How do you do night/dusk scenes using vray and 3dsmax? Is it possible to use real photoexposure values, or do you just fake it as long as it looks good?

Hi everyone, Whether it's archviz or studio projects in school, my usual workflow is to use SketchUp for massing studies and final renders (coupled with VRay) and AutoCAD for 2D project documentation. While for simple archviz this has sufficed so far, I have quite a hard time keeping the 2D and 3D work in sync when I come up with a revision to the building mass during the design process at school. Therefore I was thinking of switching to Revit. Since it has included the Vasari tools, I assume it should be possible to do informed massing studies quite quickly, and keep the documentation always in sync; with the final rendering done in 3DSMax, for example. What are your thoughts on this? Has anyone done a similar workflow switch, or the other way round? What was it like? What tutorials/books did you use? Thanks for any answer.

http://www.gobotree.com/ is also a good resource, if not people-wise, then in every other way.

Thanks, I'll take a deeper look into it btw since you're here, would you have any recommendations for a card

Juraj: I was looking for the first/cheapest thing to have 4GB GDDR and was struck by the price difference. I didn't look for any benchmarks, since searching for GPGPU ones would be pointless and I didn't think of gaming benchmarks...

well, that's a shame, especially when a supposedly similar radeon is about 60% price of an nvidia (at least what i found, R9 270X DUAL-X OC BOOST for 204€ versus N770 TF 4GD5/OC for 350€)