Video Cards help in rendering

[aligrafix]

hey everyone

i use 3dsmax, adobe after effects, adobe premier and other softwares. i wana know that whether 3d Video cards help in rendeirng? i mean they reduce the rendering time or they just help us to improve the viewport navigation. i m actually looking for a card which should help me with these above softwares. i found the "matrox parhelia" which give its unique "WYSIWYG" technology. also i want dual display + tvout. this vcard "matrox parhelia APVe" is pci xpress with Dual head + tv out and single head+ tv in " support. i want suggession who used this card already . you can read more about it at "http://www.matrox.com" .

i have

Intel p4 3.0 GHz (2MB, L2 cache)

1 GB DDR Ram (400 Bus)

Intel 915 GAV Mother board

SATA 80 GB, 200 GB

etc etc etc.

 

thanks in advance.

[lambros]

Video cards just help with viewport navigation. The only software up to date that uses GPU power to render is the Gelato renderer (NVIDIA). Gelato works only with Quadros, was developed for maya and I think that there must be a max plug in. The parhelia is ok, but is not intended for 3d work. You should go for a high end gaming card like Gforce 7800 or something, or try the Fire GL series. All of them support dual displays and will be much faster for 3dsmax work

[AJLynn]

The only software I've seen that uses the video card for rendering without using specialized plugins is Maya's Hardware Rendering. I you look at this: http://film.nvidia.com/page/gelato.html you can see that Gelato can be made to work with Max using another plugin, and it requires a QuadroFX card - I don't have that so I haven't tried it. This stuff is fast, but to be honest I'm not that impressed with the renders I've seen, compared to the good software renderers. Most of the stuff I'm doing now is in finalRender2 on a dual-core, and I'm getting results in minutes instead of hours, so I'm sticking with what I know.

[tecton3d]

The only software I've seen that uses the video card for rendering without using specialized plugins is Maya's Hardware Rendering. I you look at this: http://film.nvidia.com/page/gelato.html you can see that Gelato can be made to work with Max using another plugin, and it requires a QuadroFX card - I don't have that so I haven't tried it. This stuff is fast, but to be honest I'm not that impressed with the renders I've seen, compared to the good software renderers. Most of the stuff I'm doing now is in finalRender2 on a dual-core, and I'm getting results in minutes instead of hours, so I'm sticking with what I know.

since it's already been mentioned another ref:

 

http://www.vfxworld.com/?atype=articles&id=2718

 

Super fast, but - like AJLynn's already mentioned... quality is still debateable. You'd be better off to invest in a couple of rendernodes and know your renderer inside and out.

another "true" hardware renderer:

http://artvps.com/page/15/pure.htm

 

. . . acts like a PCI card in your mobo, but handles the render all by itself freeing the rest of your system for whatever you choose - texturing, modeling, ... etc. ~ also prohibitively expensive - one card is more than the cost of my entire boxx dual opteron workstation, which rules it out as a viable option for most of us : (

 

FWIW: Like AJLynn, I'm also using finalRender2 and can't expect any more quality than what this software can provide.

[aligrafix]

Well thanks for your replies and advices. Actually i visited the link for "pure" this is very expensive and i cant afford it. i was discussing about matrox parhelia because i have used other matrox cards like "RTX, Digisuite" but they are really editing cards not graphics cards.

Well one thing is clear here that graphics card dont help in rendering with 3dsmax. it depends on cpu and ram as well as other hardware too.

I was going for parhelia bcoz it gives me real time play back with adobe premier and after effects as well as "rendered image display on TV" including dual monitor support. i actually work for television production there fore i m not limited with 3dsmax only. While i have used GeForce and ATI cards but they dont give realtime playbacks as well.

also my budget is "400$" so this card come within.

whever i shall require any other, i will defeniately go for high end graphics card

[AJLynn]

If you're not afraid of Ebay, you can get a Quadro 1400 or FireGL V5100 for under $400 - I got the FireGL for $225 shipped and am very happy with it.

[tecton3d]

Buy it now is just a hair over your budget . . . definitely worth an extra $25

http://cgi.ebay.com/HP-Nvidia-Quadro-FX-3400-PCI-e-FX3400-365891-001_W0QQitemZ8791962274QQcategoryZ40161QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

or:

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/NVIDIA-Quadro-FX-3450-FX3450-not-FX3400-394754-001_W0QQitemZ8793674961QQcategoryZ40161QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[aligrafix]

does this video card works also with adobe after effects and adobe premier for realtime play back?or i just purchase it for max only. did anyone tested it with these applications too. i know that this video card is great for max but i dont know about other applications. i want versatile video card

[tecton3d]

does this video card works also with adobe after effects and adobe premier for realtime play back?or i just purchase it for max only. did anyone tested it with these applications too. i know that this video card is great for max but i dont know about other applications. i want versatile video card

It looks like you'd have to go for the Quadro FX4500SDI or FX4000SDI for realtime HD. I mistakingly assumed the other quadro's, being top of the heap, had the same capability that's available on these cards : (

 

http://www.nvidia.com/page/qfx_4000sdi.html

 

The quadros will definitely give you the best Max performance! Although, if you're on a budget, you can get a GeForce 6800 and softmod to the equivalent quadro . . . still no realtime video features though : (

 

for starters:

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=267305&highlight=geforce+softmod

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=267208&highlight=geforce+softmod+6800

[aligrafix]

i was wondering actually for 1 video card which works better with 3D graphics applications and give me real time video

 

feature too. i found matrox parhelia which gives me this ability. what do u guys think about it?

[AJLynn]

Are you talking about the Parhelia APVe? The plugins for video programs look like a great feature, and nVidia and ATI don't have that, but Matrox makes no claims at all about 3D performance for this card so I suggest doing more research on that end. I doubt any of the regulars here have used it.

[aligrafix]

yes yes now you got it. i was talking about parhelia Apve. the great advantage of that card is that it has good qualities about video editing, compositing and DCC. support open GL and direct x. it also gives the rendered frame of max or maya on the video monitor (TV). it saves a lot of time. also it has another feature of Dual head+ tvout and single + tv in composite.

thats why i was asking info about this card because it fullfills all of requirements i need. Also there is a good goodwill or reputation of matrox in my country (Pakistan) and i have used their even very expensive cards like matrox xio, digisuite lx. RTX Extreme pro. but they are non-linear editing cards not 3D accelerator Cards. i have also heard much about parhelia from people around me. but before purchasing this card, i wanted to get information from here because you guys have great knowledge about 3D specially.

Well thank you, i have continued my research on that.

Thanks to everyone. When i will purchase this video card, i shall post here my working conditions and other features too becuase i will experience this card and i wana share my experience with you too

Best regards

[AJLynn]

If you know people who have it, try to get them to run the usual benchmarks - Cinebench, Specviewperf, SpecAPC for 3DSMax - these aren't perfect measures of everyday performance, but if you compare them to scores for the usual workstation cards, like midrange QuadroFX and FireGL, you can get a decent idea of how well it will perform in 3D. Factor in things like how complex the scenes you work with are, and how important the 3D performance is relative to the video editing features - it might turn out that the 3D performance is unspectacular, but the video features make up for it.

[aligrafix]

Really thankful to you. Well i shall post benchmarks here for you guys.

Best regards again and hope to find solutions to my problems here again.

Thanks