Minimum GPU requirement for 3d rendering?

hello everyone!

I would like to know what choices do I have if I want to use 3d applications like the free Sketchup or 3d studio max for rendering purposes?

Would the Vostro 1500/1700's Nvidia 8600gt (256mb) be enough to get the job done with 3gb of ram and 2.2 ghz processor with a 4mb cache?

Whats the absolute minimum gpu requirement in your opinion?

What are the cheapest choices I have among the 15.4 inch laptops and the 17" laptops?

Thanks

 

It would work perfectly...the processor is good as well.

 

is there a relation between the gpu's performance and the size of the screen?

 

The resolution yes, but not the size of the screen.

 

yep, correct, a screen resolution of 1280x800 or some where around there, an 8600gt would do good at 3d rendering,

a screen resolution of 1900x1200, a card like an 8800GTX would be best.

theres no point in having a midrange card (8600GT) play at 1900x1200, it wouldn't handle it.

 

I'm not sure there are actually any 3D applications yet that make use of the GPU for rendering (a waste of good power in my opinion, not sure why they haven't started doing that years ago) - it's entirely the CPU (several cores if you have them) and RAM that are getting a heavy workout there.

Where the GPU does come into play are in the preview/work windows, as you'll probably need a relatively decent midrange card to avoid slowdowns when you've got a lot of objects and shaded texture views turned on.

 

What Miths said.

A fast CPU will get you faster rendering results from programs like 3DSMax or maya, but SketchUp is a different case. It uses OpenGL for pretty much all of it's rendering, even the final rendering, in which case a faster video card will definitely help. The 8600 mobile GT is a quite good card, though, and should work very well for most scenes. You'll only start running into issues when you have models that contain hundreds of thousands of polygons, but by that time, you should be looking at investing in a professional-level desktop machine that can really handle that.

 

so lets say if I wanted to render an object or a car or achieve a result like this I should have no problems?

Link: http://iunewind.deviantart.com/art/MAD-Scorpion-render-24121377

 

If you're talking about computer power and not artistic skill and experience with the software , then no - you should be able to model and render something like that on just about any half decent PC in applications like 3ds Max, Maya etc.
I only have very limited hobby experience with 3D work, so I won't pretend to know how long a render like that might take on eg. a 2 GHz dual-core system, but it looks like a fairly complex object (or objects) and things like reflections and refractions can add significantly to render time depending on the settings and methods you choose in the application.

I don't know if you're familiar with a landscape modellers/renderers like Vue or Terragen? But to put it in simple terms (and this applies to smaller or larger degrees to other 3D programs as well), an image that might take a couple of hours to render on "default" settings, could take 50 or a hundred hours if you boost a few demanding settings a bit farther than really needed for optimal quality.

If you're serious about 3D work (not that I would expect anyone to make up their mind about that when they are just starting out of course, as it sounds like you are), you might eventually find yourself wanting a separate PC just for rendering. In extreme cases, rendering a complex scene could tie up all your system resources for days (and often hours just with fairly simple scenes), making it near impossibe to use the computer for anything more taxing than a bit of web browsing.

 

Jeez.. so lets saw I made a model of a car and wanted to render it on a laptop running with 2.2ghz (dual core) processor and 4gb of ram and a 8600m gt card on a 17 inch screen for example, it would take me almost a few days?

thats alot sint it ? then that means those guys on deviant art must be leavin their machines to just render?

oh well, i guess it isnt my cup of tea then

 

Don't get discouraged just yet . Rendering something as simple as a car may very well take less than an hour, even with reflections from floor/walls/whatever - and it could be as little as minutes, as least for preview renders without full anti-aliasing (edge smoothing), soft shadows etc. cranked up.
The image you linked to looked pretty complex though, with what seems to be lots of small detail objects making up the entire model, and things like that obviously adds to render times. As I said, I won't even wager much of a guess on how long that render might have taken, but we're probably still talking hours here at the most and not days.

When I say days I'm talking about full complex scenes with numerous objects and millions of polygons, and the main factors that contribute to the long render times of particularly things like landscape scenes, are the natural simulation of the sky with sunlight, cloud layers etc., interacting with multifaceted and uneven ground surfaces and possibly reflections and refractions from water.

Indoor scenes can of course also still be quite demanding in terms of render times, depending on light conditions, objects etc. (not to mention render settings in the application you're using - as well as the application itself, some have notoriously slow render engines, though I doubt that applies to high end and pricy software like 3ds Max), but you don't have to fear excessive render times on relatively simple scenes (outdoor scenes done in Vue etc. excluded, doesn't take much to pile on the render hours on those).

So by all means, if you feel like 3D art is the perfect outlet for your creativity (or even just a half decent one ), give it a go.
I've bought for a few thousand dollars worth of graphics software myself (both 3D and 2D) over the last couple of years - my main problem is that I'm lacking the dedication to actually get very far with learning the software, not to mention actually getting started on creating anything remotely resembling art .