skana Posted May 27, 2004 Share Posted May 27, 2004 Gnarly: These aren't the AEC trees included with max. the EASYnat software is shipped on the partner's CD with max 6 and 4 sample models are included...you can purchase additional "seeds" from the Bionatics' site one by one or in bundles. The bundles are actually credits that you receive and you can download the trees/plants as you need them, it is much cheaper to purchase a bundle of credits than it is one by one. There are over 300 species to choose from and since the hybrid trees are low poly 3d models, they can cast shadows and can be viewed from any angle...the hybrid mode also allows you to generate hundreds of trees without compromising on rendering time. One other great feature is that EASYnat is compatible with ADT, Viz, and 3ds max so you only need one set of trees to use with all of these applications! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serpico Posted May 27, 2004 Share Posted May 27, 2004 That is very Sweet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnarly Cranium Posted May 27, 2004 Author Share Posted May 27, 2004 That IS very, very sweet-- especially since my partner just upgraded to ADT 2005, which comes with Viz and so forth... so max 6 and this will fit in so veeeery nicely!! Thank you for pointing this stuff out to me skana, I hadn't heard about it before and it's great! Still yakking with my comp guy as we speak, tentative specs for a machine will go up a bit later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serpico Posted May 27, 2004 Share Posted May 27, 2004 Bring it on, I'm curious to see what you are getting. Then I can use it as a basis for mine. I don't know what others use for example name brand or home built. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnarly Cranium Posted May 27, 2004 Author Share Posted May 27, 2004 It'd be a better idea to do a search of the hardware forum and see what kinds of machines other folks are already using-- I'm in uncharted territory here, what I pick won't necessarily end up being the best. Whatever these other folks say about my ideas though is bound to be darn educational either way, though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quizzy Posted May 27, 2004 Share Posted May 27, 2004 Well I saw some nice models in the delloutlet... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnarly Cranium Posted May 27, 2004 Author Share Posted May 27, 2004 this is what I'm hearing right now from my techbuddy... SY-K8USA DRAGON Ultra BLACK LABEL KINGSTON 1GB PC3200 x 2 AMD Athlon 64 3400+ ASUS GeForce FX5950 ULTRA V9980ULTRA 256MB Chenming aluminum case Thermaltake 560W power supply Total: $2034 Going to need a HD in the mix somewhere too, though I already have one I'd put in. Maybe a new monitor too if I can swing it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serpico Posted May 27, 2004 Share Posted May 27, 2004 That should be a good setup. If I can't swing a dual Xeon, I'm going 64bit AMD. But dual P4's sound good too. I think you'll be good with that setup for the price. Try and do the dual monitors too, seems everyone here loves it. I'm going to try it too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Hess Posted May 28, 2004 Share Posted May 28, 2004 Few notes... 1) Don't get an Alimagik or Via chipset when buying AMD's. Go for the new Nforce3 250 boards (for Athlon 64 and Opteron). Their far superior to anything else currently on the market. 2) There is no such thing as dual p4's. P4's have 478 pins, Xeon's have 604. The Xeon is the SMP variant of the P4, and is the only P4 architecture chip that can run in SMP mode. Have you looked into boxx workstations any? http://www.boxxtech.com They might be able to work within you price range for a multitude of systems if you email them directly with your requirements. (Especially if your purchasing multiple systems). As for Opteron vs Xeon....If you aren't using a 3rd party renderer (like vray/brazil) then your more likely to benefit from a P4/Xeon HT system then an AMD 64 system. However, I haven't tested or looked at any Opterons since the earlier rev's, and now their up to Opteron 250's, which is HELLA fast. The Xeon may no longer be a competitive solution (other then pricewise) vs the AMD's, but I can't say for sure until I've had a chance to work with the later cpu's. All the scores I've seen are very impressive and make me want to spend copious amounts of money on new hardware. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnarly Cranium Posted May 28, 2004 Author Share Posted May 28, 2004 Hiya Greg! Thanks for lookin in on my little circus of confusion! Think I have a much better idea of how all this stuff works and what it entails now-- looking into getting fundage for max 6 right now. Comp ideas from my techguy (who has been reading up on some stuff, and noting posts here) are as follows: System Config #1 (Athlon64, 2Gb RAM) SY-K8USA DRAGON Ultra BLACK LABEL - $179 KINGSTON 1GB PC3200 DDR DIMM - $379 x 2 AMD Athlon 64 3400+ Retail - $475 ASUS FX5950 ULTRA V9980ULTRA 256MB - $384 case - $99 (or less maybe...) power - $139 (or less maybe...) Total: $2034 System config #2 (Dual Opteron, 2Gb RAM) AMD Opteron 250 Retail - $875 x 2 Tyan Thunder K8W - $425 Pair of Corsair 512Mb REG ECC PC3200 - $349pr x 2 ASUS FX5950 ULTRA V9980ULTRA 256MB - $384 case - $99 (or less maybe...) power - $139 (or less maybe...) Total: $3476 This is my suggestion after reviewing 3DS-specific benchmarks. System config #3 (Single Opteron, 2Gb RAM) AMD Opteron 250 Retail - $875 Tyan Tiger K8WS - $210 Pair of Corsair 512Mb REG ECC PC3200 - $349pr x 2 ASUS FX5950 ULTRA V9980ULTRA 256MB - $384 case - $99 (or less maybe...) power - $139 (or less maybe...) Total: $2405 System config #4 (Single Opteron 150, 2Gb RAM) AMD Opteron 150 OEM - $675 Heatsink + fan - $17 Asus SK8N nForce3 - $179 Corsair REG ECC PC3200 1Gb x 2 - $692 (actually comes out alittle lower today) ASUS FX5950 ULTRA V9980ULTRA 256MB - $384 case - $99 (or less maybe...) power - $139 (or less maybe...) Total: $2185 Dual Opterons is looking a bit too spendy for me... single is looking good. I have indeed been ogling stuff on Boxxtech for a couple years, but if I can save some by having a buddy build it I'll definitely go for that-- most Boxx systems are out of my range. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serpico Posted May 29, 2004 Share Posted May 29, 2004 Thanks Greg for the info, didn't know about the dual P4 stuff. So dual Xeon's or Opterons is the only avenue for dual config's or is there a dual AMD 64 option? I'll check those Boxx systems too... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnarly Cranium Posted May 29, 2004 Author Share Posted May 29, 2004 the techbuddy sez:"No, there is no multi-Athlon64. There is just the Opteron instead. The last generation AMD multi was the AthlonMP, which is a multi version of the earlier AthlonXPs." *kicks post a few times till it works right* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Hess Posted May 29, 2004 Share Posted May 29, 2004 Current venues for SMP systems... AMD Opteron 2xx (Dual) Opteron 4xx (Quad) Intel Xeon (Dual) Xeon-MP (Quad) Tualatin (Last gen PIII) http://65.68.55.12/inetpub/ftproot/intel_dual_tualatin.htm Both AMD and Intel realized that they could make far more money if they completely seperated the workstation/consumer lines. No more cheap dual celerons guys ...man I miss those days, dual 300a@450's for like 100 bucks. (When a PII450 cost 600!) As for quote motherboards...you really want a nforce3 250 board. If they aren't completely available yet...then wait. Their just freaking awesome. http://www.anandtech.com/chipsets/showdoc.html?i=2004 http://www.anandtech.com/chipsets/showdoc.html?i=2009 http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.html?i=2036&p=2 Their so awesome, Iwill is making a Dual Opteron Small Form Factor System based on the chipset. http://www.iwill.net/zmax/zmaxdp_1.asp http://www.hexus.net/content/review...dmlld19JRD03NzM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnarly Cranium Posted May 30, 2004 Author Share Posted May 30, 2004 Heh, you guys have totally lost me here... Techbuddy sez: Thanks for the heads-up on the nForce3-150, Greg. I was leaning toward the K8T800 until you CG guys mentioned thet the nF3-150 was _supposed_ to be better. Guess not. There is no nForce3-250 based socket 940 board in existance yet, except for the nVidia reference board. Here's another review to look at: http://www.anandtech.com/chipsets/showdoc.html?i=2046&p=1 Again though, the K8T800Pro hasn't made it into the current socket 940 lineup. BTW, Tyan makes a quad-Opteron setup, and there are 8-series Opteron chips that are designed for an 8-way setup, although I don't know if they have boards out for that yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Thomas Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 On a side note to all the tech stuff, you and your cad guy should really check out the Visualization Insider series on this site by Brian Smith and co. at 3DAS. Back to basics tutorials that takes you through the process of preparing linework in AutoCAD, creating a site plan, adding large scale vegetation, lighting setup etc. from one of the top guys in the business. I found it absolutely invaluable on a recent project, great tips on working efficiently and keeping large projects under control. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kippu Posted February 2, 2007 Share Posted February 2, 2007 err stephen, i dont think this person would still be working on it 2.5 years later.... not that yours was a bad tip...just a little late i guess Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Thomas Posted February 2, 2007 Share Posted February 2, 2007 err stephen, i dont think this person would still be working on it 2.5 years later.... not that yours was a bad tip...just a little late i guess Didn't notice the join date, but was thinking more about the Cad guy preparing work for import to be honest. Anyway, sometimes working smarter is a better solution than more power and it never hurts to question your techniques no matter how long you've been doing something! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now