TheKitchenAbode

This may be what you are looking for. 3D 3D View Defaults Backdrop Graham

Took a peak at your website. Absolutely gorgeous renderings!!! Just out of curiosity, how long on average does it take to push through a rendering to achieve this level of quality? Graham

I can fully appreciate your particular circumstances. For the purposes of discussion I base my experiences on this type of workflow set-up. Windows 8.1 Chief - 1 plan tab, 3 elevation tabs, 3-4 camera view tabs. Raytrace - running in background MS Office - Outlook, Word, Excel, Onenote Browser - 4 or 5 tabs Photoshop at times Music always Two monitors This runs on an 8 year old Dell Workstation, Intel quad core 6600 2.4GHz (assign 3 cores for Raytrace), 4gb ram, 560TI 1gb video card. Everything certainly seems to run fine. Never an out of memory. The only time things get ugly would be if I have edge smoothing & shadows turned on during camera panning. Just don't have much need for this when working, always run a Raytrace for colour/texture confirmation and finals. This same configuration also runs fine on my Lenovo T420s ThinkPad and it only has an integrated HD3000 video chip. I know these hardware discussions will always draw in many differing opinions with each having their own merits. From what I have been able to deduce is that the most significant factor concerning performance is primarily on whether the user needs to live pan with smoothing & shadows. If this is required then there is no doubt your going to need a top of the line laptop or gaming type machine. If not then users may have a wider breadth of laptops to choose from that are less costly, significantly lower in weight and with much greater battery life. Graham

I really don't offer or promote in-home services. Fortunately, our client base is never more than 20 minutes away, pretty easy for them to drop by. Yes there is a need to visit their home for site measures and confirmations but this is only done after a consultation at the studio first. Have always found that those who are willing to make an appointment along with the effort to visit me tend to be the more serious. Obviously if you are servicing a rural area then this is not likely going to work. Graham

Jon, please help me out on this. Why does everyone feel the need for this level of performance? What specifically are users doing? Is it that they are running camera views with shading & line smoothing? I don't see any other condition other than this. Graham

Perfect!! Having read your posts in the past I was pretty sure you would have an SSD for the OS. I'm interested in this but not always up to speed on the terminology. Maybe it's time for an upgrade!

Jon, is the 512 drive you recommend a hybrid? if not then why would you not want the OS on an SSD for fast boot loading? I would have most likely suggested an SSD for the OS and program files and then a large capacity HDD for mass storage. Graham

Most likely, ill have to give it a try some time. Pdf's are not vector based files or jpg images, I think it is just a scaling issue when using these files outside of a pdf program. Graham

Have seen this before. The visibility of lines varied as I zoomed in and out. As I was just playing around I did not pursue it any further. Try printing the plan to see if the lines are really there. Also, when the pdf file was created the resolution may have been set really low to keep the file size down. My pdf converter allows this to be set from 72 dp up to 1,200 or higher for print level production publishing. Graham

Have mixed feelings on in-home presentations like that. Certainly if you do not have an office then there is no choice. All our presentations are done at the studio where everything is setup to work correctly. Undoubtedly this type of presentation leads to many questions concerning materials. In the studio I can just reach over and show them the real thing or an alternative. The other thing I have found is that most people's home screens are so far of colour calibration that they can make your design look really awful, especially if you are focused on the interior design elements. May undermine your effort. Graham

Without stepping on a hornets nest you are putting together a system that is in the top say 5% group as it relates to consumer type machines. If cost is not an issue then why not, go for it and enjoy the ride. If cost is an important consideration then a good understanding of your needs is required. I run on systems that have at best 20% of this horsepower without any problems whatsoever and no complaints. However, I do not have a need to run camera views with shading and line smoothing. Always work with vector views even during client presentations, its just easier to see the structure this way. I then have Raytrace's prepared in advance when we wish to see how things look with lighting and textures. Next step up is Xeon processors and multi-graphics card configurations. Graham

Could be on the edge in creating a new product!!! A concrete precast plank or module, prewired say 1" below the surface, foam insulation below to keep the heat on the desired surface. Install where desired, on-grade or above, Connect together and enjoy the warmth and snow melting, decks, walkways, balconies.... Not dissimilar to a prewired gypsumboard (drywall) panel for radiant heat ceiling applications in electrically heated homes (if they are still around). Graham

I was thinking the same thing just after I pressed "Post". In slab heating would be ideal, deck could be used all year round, especially when there's a hot tub. Graham

Interesting application. Did you have to do anything special with the construction or concrete mix to address potential expansion/contraction issues or upheaving through freeze/thaw cycles? Could be a bit cool on the feet in the morning but the mass could be a nice heat retainer in the evening. Graham

Agree Doug, I may have been a bit liberal with that term. It was intended to describe in general the process of taking the primary data such as vectors, textures, etc., (all those 1's & 0's) and performing whatever computations are necessary to build the image we see on our monitors. I have in my mind viewed this as the rendering process regardless of whether or not the rendered image is present in 2D or a 3D simulation. I guess one could argue that as we see the 3D image on a monitor that it is in reality a 2D image, there really is no depth (3rd dimension) capability in the monitors we use. This probably won't resolve the terminology issue but hopefully it will help in interpreting my thoughts. Many Thanks, Graham

A method for users that do "Not" require framing details. Change framing material definition to "Glass", "100% Transparency". Float any object into place. Use "Material Regions" to reconstruct finish around object. Graham

Hi Joe. Saw that last night in your posting, will definitely give it a try. Thanks for sharing. Graham

We are all in complete agreement on this. Unfortunately there appears to be no global way to handle this. One must first create an opening using say the pass-through tool, place the object into the opening and then go to the other side of the wall and patch it with something. I usually just float in a partition set to the same material and thickness of the finish. You would need to test this as it may have a negative effect on material lists or some other function you require. There are some other work around methods described in recent posts on wall niches. But they also have limitations and some negative impact on other automated functions. I was hoping that there was a setting in Material Regions tool that would allow you to toggle on/off the wrap around an opening function, but apparently this is not available. Looks like it's up to the programmers. Graham

Have the same issue. Integrated HD4000. A6 fine, A7 freeze (Assertion Failure). Have 8GB ram. Even tried reducing resolution to lowest setting & 256 colors. Still freezes. Updated all drivers, played with core settings, nothing worked. Pretty sure as Tech has reported that there is some software glitch. Will wait for their fix before spending $$$. Fortunately affected computer is a backup. Graham

That's what I thought from playing around with it. It seems to disengage if you move the region away from the wall but it must be an inch or two away. Otherwise it snaps back and recognizes the opening. Graham

Apologies for being such a "Pest". Is there a way to toggle the Material Regions tool so one can either have it recognize an opening or disregard it? Thanks, Graham

You are absolutely correct Doug. There is a lot going on as to how objects & elements are being treated, rendering is only one of many considerations. My comments were not intended to imply there was anything wrong with the software. It was just to provide some possible insight as to how the rendering is being dealt with. I believe that this may be useful in cases where rendering is the primary objective. As with any of these manipulations one must always check thoroughly to ensure that any negative side effects are acceptable. As you indicate, forcing or using elements outside of their intended use will most likely result in unforeseen consequences. The most significant are likely the framing computations and the material lists as an example. I strongly recommend that users utilize the appropriate built-in tools wherever possible to ensure plans & designs are of highest degree of consistency and integrity. These manipulative techniques should only be used as a last resort. This is purely conjecture on my part but I suspect that when one uses a predefined element such as a pass-through, door, window, etc. placed into a standard wall type that for rendering purpose the algorithms (software) see these as special items in order to adjust things so the wall surface does not extend into them. Possibly my use of the term Rendering Algorithm may be to blame for any misconceptions. Somehow out of all of the detail within a plan something has to determine what is to be rendered and what will not be rendered. To compute everything in its entirety, visible or not, would not appear to be the most efficient way to do it. Graham

Thanks Joe, it's all in good fun!

I did suggest in another post that you use "(Almost)" in your heading. Graham

For followers you may wish to jump over to the two new threads "Walls - A New Way of Building a Plan" & "Rendering Algorithms - They Define What You See". I think you will find many of the answers you are looking for. Graham