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3DS Max maxes out my computer – luke

luke

Member

Posts: 311
From: I use your computer as my second Linux box
Registered: 10-30-2005
Ok, so Im in a class for 3DS max and I've sorta gotten ahead of the class (rendering water w/physics etc) to things that literally take hours to render and I don't have that kindof time in class to render... So I went and downloaded the 30 day trial (since the real version costs $!3,000! ) and my computer can barely handle it, at least as far as the modeling portion goes. (I think rendering would take all night, but I've got plenty of those) So I was wondering if
A: there is a free (legal) version w/o a time limit
B: There is a way so that I can model with out the slowness.

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ArchAngel

Member

Posts: 3450
From: SV, CA, USA
Registered: 01-29-2002
steal a version of 3dsMax and steal a faster computer.


other than that, sry, can't say I can help you with that.

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Cohort X

Member

Posts: 126
From: The Great Pacific Northwest
Registered: 09-16-2006
You can get a student discounted version but I don't think you are allowed to use the results for profitable endevures. They don't allow resale of old versions so there's no luck thre. I don't know if they still have it but Gmax is there free modeller you can download. It is very very limited. If you want a free powerful modelling program blender is your best bet. Though the learning curve is even steeper than 3dsmax since alot of the actions are only linked by hotkys so you either memorized a function or you can't use it.
CPUFreak91

Member

Posts: 2337
From:
Registered: 02-01-2005
There's really no progam in the world that will speed up your rendering on your computer. Get a dual core CPU, fast ram, dual SLI video card (saaay.... $3000 worth of hardware beauty) and your rendering time will go way down.

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TwoBrothersSoftware

Member

Posts: 141
From: Janesville, Wi USA`
Registered: 08-05-2006
Memory is probably you biggest enemy -

Other tasks in the back ground may also cause problems.

Scan and Defrag your hard drive may also help

But yes these are memory hogging programs

HanClinto

Administrator

Posts: 1828
From: Indiana
Registered: 10-11-2004
I echo what Cohort X said -- Blender is likely your best bet.

quote:
Originally posted by Cohort X:
Though the learning curve is even steeper than 3dsmax since alot of the actions are only linked by hotkys so you either memorized a function or you can't use it.

Close -- though it really helps if you remember that the "w" key brings up the special menu, where a lot of those functions are accessible. If you can remember their shortcut, you can just hit the key to do that function (such as "p" to part your selection and split it into a second object, or "j" to join two objects together), but iirc that sort of stuff is all available under the "w" menu.

It also helps to keep a good reference handy -- Blender Basics has an excellent hot-key reference cheat-sheet that I keep open while I'm trying to learn Blender. It's hands-down the best intro to Blender that I've ever seen.

From what I've heard some of my modeling friends say, it doesn't sound like 3DS Max is terribly different from Blender -- the principles are all pretty much the same. I think that skills you learn in one should transfer over to the other pretty easily, and it will give you a broader range of skills to boot.

That's my take on the subject, but if you're really attached to 3DS Max, then by all means stick with it.

Cheers!

--clint

D-SIPL

Moderator

Posts: 1345
From: Maesteg, Wales
Registered: 07-21-2001
Try allocating a seperate parition as virtual memory. Make sure you don't save any of your 3ds max files in that partition. It should help.

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luke

Member

Posts: 311
From: I use your computer as my second Linux box
Registered: 10-30-2005
You know, if blender can import/export .3ds I may just use that at home for rendering and all, And I've already got a partition with nothing on it, so I think i will make it virtual.

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If you can see Chuck Norris, He can see You.
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Cohort X

Member

Posts: 126
From: The Great Pacific Northwest
Registered: 09-16-2006
you can export 3ds files with blender.I think the only issue you might run into trying to use it for class is that blender has a pretty convoluted texturing system and there are a few texturing features like normal mapping that you can't do in blnder yet.
HanClinto

Administrator

Posts: 1828
From: Indiana
Registered: 10-11-2004
To add onto what Cohort said, another thing you may run into with importing/exporting .3ds models into/out-of Blender is that the scale is quite often way-off. Blender does support a good number of normal map features, but I think what Cohort said might be right -- there may still be some quirks with it (especially on curved surfaces), but it certainly works for flat surfaces like walls. I haven't done anything with normal maps yet though, so I'm not the guy to talk to about it.

Cheers!

--clint

guategeek

Member

Posts: 107
From: Guatemala
Registered: 11-08-2005
Even with 3k of hardware beauty it will be slow. Belive me because I have personal experiance . SLI video card won't help much, rendering is a CPU intensive process not a GPU intensive process, unless of course you purchase a dedicated rendering card (which you won't be able to aford). Rendering has always been the "thorn" of 3D visualization. As far as modeling speed, that usualy has to do with the complexity of what you are working on. Even with 4GB of Ram my comp would majorly bog down in Maya when I got up in 100,000 poly range. Just be perservirent, I am amazed what I have done with low hardware. Jeff


quote:
Originally posted by CPUFreak91:
There's really no progam in the world that will speed up your rendering on your computer. Get a dual core CPU, fast ram, dual SLI video card (saaay.... $3000 worth of hardware beauty) and your rendering time will go way down.


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CPUFreak91

Member

Posts: 2337
From:
Registered: 02-01-2005
quote:
Originally posted by guategeek:
[BSLI video card won't help much, rendering is a CPU intensive process not a GPU intensive process, unless of course you purchase a dedicated rendering card (which you won't be able to aford).
[/B]

So that new NVIDIA dual SLI card that costs 3k in itself isn't as useful as a quad core 4ghz CPU? Unless the card is a dedicated card, I suppose.

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All Your Base Are Belong To Us!!! chown -r us ./base
"After three days without programming, life becomes meaningless.'' -- Tao of Programming Book 2

luke

Member

Posts: 311
From: I use your computer as my second Linux box
Registered: 10-30-2005
You know, I just tried 3ds max again, and it was perfectly fast... I don't know why it was so slow last time... but then again I did increase my virt mem...

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If you can see Chuck Norris, He can see You.
If you Can't see Chuck Norris, you may be seconds away from death.

guategeek

Member

Posts: 107
From: Guatemala
Registered: 11-08-2005
Nope Joe that card won't do you anything. Rendering for real time is a compleatly different process. When you render something on your computer you use "RayTracing" one of the best rendering systems developed, it is also the slowest. Dedicated rendering cards have no video output, and are often made up of up to 16 raytracing chips.

In the future it is posible that realtime raytracing will be acomplished and thing it will start to make its way into games. But don't hold your breath it could be a while. Jeff

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D-SIPL

Moderator

Posts: 1345
From: Maesteg, Wales
Registered: 07-21-2001
quote:
Originally posted by CPUFreak91:
So that new NVIDIA dual SLI card that costs 3k in itself isn't as useful as a quad core 4ghz CPU? Unless the card is a dedicated card, I suppose.


SLI is so unstable i wouldn't touch it

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"One World. One Web. One Program." -Microsoft promotional advertisement
"Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Fuhrer!" -Adolf Hitler
"I believe in freedom... not freedom like America, freedom like a shopping cart"