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Apple at Siggraph 2004
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I would like to see Apple buy Mirai and resurrect it 
,that would really rock.
There are still also a number of plugins that would need ported yet for studios to totally jump ship.
,that would really rock.There are still also a number of plugins that would need ported yet for studios to totally jump ship.
That would be nice
Does anyone know if one of the new improvments for the update is an over hauled Open GL?,man I hope it is...
Does anyone know if one of the new improvments for the update is an over hauled Open GL?,man I hope it is...
Its not that the site is lame, its that there is nothing to really talk about right now. Apple is unusually quiet these days, probably because something big is around the corner.
Besides, talking about Pixar and Apple, and them making a huge presence at Siggraph (only the biggest CG expo in the world) isnt lame.
So anyway, I found the pic I was talking about from last year. Credit goes to the guy from cgtalk who snapped it. (whoever he was)
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Originally posted by Mac Kiwi
I would like to see Apple buy Mirai and resurrect it
mmmmh, interesting thought, VERY interesting. Haven't heard much about Izware lately...could they be up to something ?
This might be a bit of a stretch, but you know: Shake has been used extensively on 'Lord of the Rings', and they also used Mirai for some modeling, I think ? I am sure some Apple reps must have been in the studios at some point, maybe some business cards were exchanged...
I am probably just dreaming
They do need a very good 3dcard for this market, currently the AGP pro cards either dont work in the G5 (wildcat with AGP50) or dont fit (WILDCAT AGP110) or they could get away with somin like an Nvidia Quadro FX3000 but then again theres still no drivers for the quadro boards.
Ohh please, this is the kind of people who make me laugh. Advantages ohhh over xeon/opteron, what are you talking about? your making out like these are crap machines? The major 3d tools major platform is still x86. They have moved from unix to linux and windows. 3D Studio Max is still windows and also Softimage is still linux/windows. I should also mention that Mental Ray also scales better than render man, Until these major tools come to OSX the "serious users" will still use the current platform.
I thought the G5 was a great machine and still is however the performance is exagarated when you see an Opteron running 64-bit linux ripping through an Hspice simulation with a power 4 sitting beside it id think hard about what your saying.
As for renderfarms i havent been keeping up to date with the subject but from personal experience id stick with the SUN systems.
Maybe they do maybe they dont, ive not seen any 30" panals suitable for monitors. If they do release it I can prety much guess they will have a rediculous response time and lousy brightness due to the panel size. This is assuming that the bleedin edge technology of the 23" panels has 16ms response time the 30" will have will be anywhere from 30-80ms.
The G5 has far from reached its maturity in terms of a Pro machine....its a good start, but there are some things that we're all waiting for.
Now whether Apple will get us these things sooner or later is anybodies guess
As for Render Farms, all I have to say is look at Virginia Tech's Big Mac (1100 Dual G5 cluster super computer) that cost in the neighborhood of 5 million. It gets over 10 Teraflops - extrapolating to a render farm of say 110 machines ( 1/10th the size) and you get a system for about 500k that does over 1 Teraflop - that's damn fast, cheap and impressive.
D
Now whether Apple will get us these things sooner or later is anybodies guess
As for Render Farms, all I have to say is look at Virginia Tech's Big Mac (1100 Dual G5 cluster super computer) that cost in the neighborhood of 5 million. It gets over 10 Teraflops - extrapolating to a render farm of say 110 machines ( 1/10th the size) and you get a system for about 500k that does over 1 Teraflop - that's damn fast, cheap and impressive.
D
3DS Max has existed only on Windows. It's not moved from or to anywhere. (Wait, I take that back... The developers came from AtartST and Amiga backgrounds) I'm currently using Lightwave... That came from the Amiga. I'm still waiting for Crystal Topaz to make the big leap from DOS to Linux.
Once we start seeing properly optimized code on the G5, I think any disparities you have seen will shrink or evaporate. I saw Pixar's demo of Rendering on the G5 as a good example of it's potential.
Originally posted by etoiles
mmmmh, interesting thought, VERY interesting. Haven't heard much about Izware lately...could they be up to something ?
This might be a bit of a stretch, but you know: Shake has been used extensively on 'Lord of the Rings', and they also used Mirai for some modeling, I think ? I am sure some Apple reps must have been in the studios at some point, maybe some business cards were exchanged...
I am probably just dreaming
I am pretty sure Bay Raitt used Mirai for those wonderful Gollum edge loops
,and Z brush I think for the normal mapping.Apple must be getting tons of feedback from studios now,so they know what improvments are needed.
I bought a dual 2ghz which because of the backload of orders took ages to get to me here in NZ,but now I am going to upgrade for sure if I can get a dual 2.6,thats a lot of extra frames rendered as opposed to dual 2ghz.I was lucky because I was waiting on my monitors to arrive,I did not actually take my new machine out of the box,so that will save me some money I hope.I know it could be an expensive upgrade though,hopefully not but if it is so be it.
You need a high end graphics card for interactive OpenGL display when actually modeling or setting up your animations. You have to be able to move around in a scene that may have millions of polygons without waiting 30 seconds for the screen to refresh. And actually in Maya5.0, there is a short list of graphics cards that support hardware rendering as opposed to software rendering or mental ray.
G5-3000Mhz. Demo prototypes at the show. Take orders. Deliveries late September.
X-grid compatible.
G6-980 X-serve (workstation class "iron"). Optimized for rendering farms. Announced. Demoed. Orders taken for Christmas delivery.
High premium price.
Rocketman
I doubt apple can hold off that long w/out releasing anything significantly new in the hardware department.
i think that they'll release something before march. they need to do more to the iMac other than just speed bumps and monitor increments. By this time (after release of orginal iMac) we had an array of colorful iMac DVs. The PowerBook in my mind has lost its appeal and also needs some sort of special makeover.
The TiBooks were sexy, these have lit-up keyboards? the G3s had that pretty, smooth, intresting rubber casing. these current AlBooks are no more intresting than an iBook (which is boring).
It's not this site that has become boring, it's Apple's lineup of hardware.
Although we are offered some kick-ass new user-line software and proffesional grade state-of-the-art stuff from Apple, the hardware is lame (and the G5 is aging as a new high-end machine from Apple at dual 2Ghz, this next speed bump better be good. Remember when the G4/500 stayed at the top of the line for what seemed like ever until the dual G4/500 came? *laugh* Then followed by the wimpy, but still very needed G4/733 "G4e" or 7450 w/ a superdrive. It's sort of like that now, but not quiet, we don't need a revolution like an entire overhaul on the processor and a superdrive-like upgrade to the optical, but we need something: just a good speed bump).
i think that they'll release something before march. they need to do more to the iMac other than just speed bumps and monitor increments. By this time (after release of orginal iMac) we had an array of colorful iMac DVs. The PowerBook in my mind has lost its appeal and also needs some sort of special makeover.
The TiBooks were sexy, these have lit-up keyboards? the G3s had that pretty, smooth, intresting rubber casing. these current AlBooks are no more intresting than an iBook (which is boring).
It's not this site that has become boring, it's Apple's lineup of hardware.
Although we are offered some kick-ass new user-line software and proffesional grade state-of-the-art stuff from Apple, the hardware is lame (and the G5 is aging as a new high-end machine from Apple at dual 2Ghz, this next speed bump better be good. Remember when the G4/500 stayed at the top of the line for what seemed like ever until the dual G4/500 came? *laugh* Then followed by the wimpy, but still very needed G4/733 "G4e" or 7450 w/ a superdrive. It's sort of like that now, but not quiet, we don't need a revolution like an entire overhaul on the processor and a superdrive-like upgrade to the optical, but we need something: just a good speed bump).
Heres hoping. I hope Apple have something in hand now for the iMacs etc and are just making sure they get it right before releasing - like making sure stock is up for immediate release or is being delayed for full intergration with new software releases...
Who is using 3D Studio for feature film?? Umm, nobody. And I use Mental Ray all the time on my Mac....via Maya5.0. Thats a pretty major tool...but to say that Mental Ray is better than Renderman is just foolish.
Personally, I use macs and PC's for my 3D work, and a lot of studios are starting to switch more and more. (like I said already) They are taking Pixars lead. If you'd like to know who they are, just shoot me an email because I dont think posting other companies business on a public forum is so smart. Especially when you are working with said company...but anyway.
But "serious" film companies use maya and renderman, and other various linux tools, NOT 3DS or Softimage (tho they are growing). Its easy to switch from Linux to OSX, especially when you see the renderman benchmarks like the ones posted in my last post. It'll only get better from there. NO, x86 arent crap machines, but a native Unix environment, coupled with dependable, stable hardware that is getting faster and faster (thanks to IBM and the new compilers, and new chips around the corner), it looks like a good time to switch.
Originally posted by hokka
It's 56% to be precise
"Our Chief Executive Officer, Steve Jobs, beneficially owns approximately 56% of our outstanding Common Stock as of March 4, 2003.
It's why it's approximately 56%
exactly, a 3d card is a requirment with large designs, but also display accuracy where it matters like MCAD, this is where the wildcat cards come in abit expensive but well worth it in the long run. Pity the 7210 doesnt fit (as well as the power requirments) awell the G5 vs the dremel
then again if you want a real monster 3d card then is should do the trick.
http://www.sun.com/desktop/products/graphics/xvr4000/
i never said mental ray was better, i said it scale better with multiple machines. As for the IBM stuff being dependable, stable and getting faster, I would disagree the last power 4 machine (out of 3) which i dealt with a few weeks back was far from those. I couldnt load my tools, simulations were slowing down all over the place and it screwed up the license server, whether it was the hardware or IBM's version of UNIX who knows.
Which is exactly why there is the move towards the G5 (IBM's PPC 970) and OSX (Apple's version of Unix). It has already proven to be fast and dependable.
Hey, if its good enough for Pixar...
gotta luv the gcc complier.....
Originally posted by agreenster
Which is exactly why there is the move towards the G5 (IBM's PPC 970) and OSX (Apple's version of Unix). It has already proven to be fast and dependable.
Hey, if its good enough for Pixar...
gotta luv the gcc complier.....
Its amazing how the entire movie "Finding Nemo" was all done on a G5 - thats pretty kool in my book.