VIZ Maximums/Limitations?

[aeaton]

Hi all,

I am trying to track down any hardware limitations that exist in VIZ. We are using VIZ 2005 and want to create two machines dedicated to network rendering.

In searching around, I've been reading and hearing that VIZ cannot use more than 2 GB of RAM. If this is true, I want to know before I buy an 8GB server to do renderings.

If anyone has information on VIZ 2005's ability to use RAM, Dual-Core processors, or Dual-Processor systems, it would be a great help.

Thanks,

-A.E.

[Wanderer]

Hi all,

I am trying to track down any hardware limitations that exist in VIZ. We are using VIZ 2005 and want to create two machines dedicated to network rendering.

In searching around, I've been reading and hearing that VIZ cannot use more than 2 GB of RAM. If this is true, I want to know before I buy an 8GB server to do renderings.

If anyone has information on VIZ 2005's ability to use RAM, Dual-Core processors, or Dual-Processor systems, it would be a great help.

Thanks,

-A.E.

AE, for recommended specs you can find that here... don't know if that fully answers your question or not...

Hardware Requirements

• Graphics card supporting 1024x768x16-bit color with 64 MB RAM. (OpenGL® and Direct3D® hardware acceleration supported; 3D graphics accelerator 1280x1024 32-bit color with 256MB RAM recommended.)
• Microsoft® Windows®–compliant pointing device (specific optimization for Microsoft IntelliMouse®). Wacom Intuos or similar pressure-sensitive tablet recommended for vertex paint.
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.
• DirectX 9.0c (DirectX 9 recommended), OpenGL.
• CD-ROM drive.
• Optional: sound card and speakers, cabling for TCP/IP–compliant network, 3D hardware graphics acceleration, video input and output devices, joystick, MIDI instruments, three-button mouse.

System Requirements

• Intel® Pentium® III or later or AMD® based processor, 500 MHz or higher (dual Intel® Xeon™, dual AMD Athlon™, or Opetron™ 32-bit system recommended)
• Microsoft Windows XP Professional (SP2) or Windows 2000 Professional
• 512 MB RAM (1 GB recommended)
• 500 MB swap space (2 GB recommended)

The preceding requirements are recommended for effective use of Autodesk VIZ 2006 software.

[de-co1]

You're correct in saying that VIZ (or MAX) doesn't really benefit from more than 2GB RAM. In effect, it only uses around 1.5 GB. However, from what I hear, once the 64 bit systems are in place, and Autodesk / Discreet catch up with that, then you might find it will.

Rendering speed is also determined by your CPU. In a previous set-up, I had two machines running with 1 GB each. The one was an AMD 2.4Ghz, and the other an AMD 800mHz, and i had them set up to network render with VIZ 3, and MAX 4. All the other specs were similar between the two machines.

The 2.4 managed to render 5 frames to every one for simple animations (few reflections, little raytracing), but when it came to the more complex lighting, geometry and raytracing, it would render as many as 10 times more - which to me, proves the CPU is the most important in this situation.

I wouldn't know how much VIZ has changed in it's more recent versions to incorporate more RAM, but this is my two cents worth of experience.

HTH