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Keyshot2 instead of workstation GPU

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steinmini

Civil/Environmental
Apr 27, 2010
194
This is just for those who are reluctant to spend big $$$ for a dedicated workstation GPU...

My Quadro FX3400 is an old GPU and makes a lot of noise and just recently, crashed several times in RealView mode while I was working with some assemblies that were obviously too difficult to handle in RW mode. the other problem was with some sort of conflict between the MB GPU and system RAM. Couldn't make the 6G Kingston package to work with Windows. I decided to investigate and removed the Quadro, and by some miracle, my PC became much quieter and it appeared as if it became faster. I decided to try the memory sticks one more time. Once in their slots, went to BIOS and set the proper voltage and other parameters, and Voila!, it works. So, my conclusion was that the Quadro FX3400 was to blame. But what now? I certainly can work with SW even without the Quadro, but how to sort the renders? Well, I went through my bookmarks and found one the links I thought they might be useful one day:
This sounded just right... No special GPU requirements... Supports SW native files... Let's see...

Went to Keyshot site, downloaded the app, got the license key and gave it a go. Well, it works as a standalone app, also has a small "add-in" so it can be invoked through SW, and it's just as easy as it gets. And, above all, it's idiot-proof...

For those who use SW and don't have a dedicated or say, approved GPU and still need some simple and powerful rendering engine, might want to look that way... I'm more than pleased and in fact, I'm delighted with what I was able to do within about a week...
 
Can you post some sample renders?
 
Unfortunately not yet, because all I did was with files covered by confidentiality agreement. In fact, I got the job for one reason only, because the person who originally did the engineering and creating the SW files was not capable of making a render that would satisfy the photo-realistic demands... However, I'm playing with it every day, and I'll post something that's not getting me into trouble.
 
I'm making a full render but here's a screen capture of the program and object in it. The object was created in SW and simply imported. This is just a "quick and dirty" realtime appearance in the program's main window. The background is the default "studio" which is suitable for object like this one.
 
 http://files.engineering.com/getfile.aspx?folder=9ff76de3-a1f8-40f9-9c7b-af835fb2bc17&file=hblh-scr-cap.jpg
Do you have SW professional or Premium? If so you have PhotoView 360. KeyShot is a great application (it's HyperShot) but I wouldn't pay for it if I already had PhotoView 360. PhotoView works in a very similar fashion and the quality is as good or better than KeyShot.

Rob Rodriguez CSWP
Eastern Region SWUGN Representative SW 2007 SP 2.0
 
PhotoView simply didn't work for me. Call me clumsy. Did most of the work with PhotoWorks and it's fine considering that no extra money has to be invested. However, in some cases, setting the mapping of a texture is a real pain in the neck. In PhotoWorks. In Keyshot, I found that function to be as easy as it gets. There's the other thing as well, the support for several other file types without any need for conversions. Setting up a new background/scene in SW is also a pain. In Keyshot it's much easier. But I would not get too deep into it as I have no relations or connections with Luxion other than finding their program to be very useful. There is a two week trial period which allows everyone to try it. Since it's made to be easy to learn and work with, someone might find it useful. There's Bunk Shot as well, the other product coming from the same DNA - former HyperShot, so that one also might be an option for those who think or feel they need it. As far as I know, that one should be as good as Keyshot. I'd leave it at that point. I wanted to point out to the fact there are some alternatives, and some of them are very good. In case someone thinks there is a need for a different solution.
 
Have to do a correction...

Bunkspeed Shot GPU minimal requirement:
NVIDIA graphic card with 120+ CUDA Cores or more.
1.5 GB VRAM NVIDIA cards recommended

For the "Pro" version, it's even more demanding: multiple GPUs... So... Doesn't really fit into this thread...
 
No, I agree there are some good alternatives out there. KeyShot, Shot (GPU intensive I think) (I own KeyShot, Shot and HyperShot), VRED are all options. I'd also throw Modo out there. I'd say at $999 it's actually the best value because it includes animation, SDS modeling and has no limitations on rendered image output.

Rob Rodriguez CSWP
Eastern Region SWUGN Representative SW 2007 SP 2.0
 
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