3Ds Max and the new Mac Pro

[Barendby]

Hi, guys

Am I the only one who is planning to use the 2013 Mac Pro for 3D modeling in 3Ds Max? Because there aren't that may benchmarks and overviews of the software's зуащкьфтсу шт either bootcamp or parallels environment.
Can anyone share their experience?
In your opinion, could the Mac Pro's dual 6Gb GPU's be used in their full capacity under bootcamp or parallels?

Thank you all,
would appreciate feedback on the problem from all 3D artists in the industry)

I am working almost 95% of my time in bootcamp with 3ds Max. I am busy learning Modo and will leave max and windows as soon as possible... till that day, still bootcamp. All my personal time I spend on Mac OS.

To answer your question, it is agreat machine. I love the nmp, it works well and is very fast in max. I do however get issues when my scenes get more than 50/ 60 mil polly's. Then my screen driver keeps bombing out, windows recover it but max is gone, without the option to safe the files I am working on. This is VERY disturbing. I have the 6core, D500 machine with 12G RAM.

To my knowledge max does not support SLi or dual screen cards, so it will only benefit from one screen card. I tried with and without the crossfire option under the drivers settings but it performed the same!

Another thing, I used a datacolor Spyder to calibrate the colors on my screen. It just gave me endless issues, at the end I read somewhere on the net it competes with my AMD screen driver, so I uninstalled it. Apart from that, I think it is all working well! My personal opinion, if you work only Windows and don't plan on moving over to Mac, it might be a better option to get a pc. Otherwise, go for the mac, but use it what it was built for!

 

[beaker7]

Holy cow they still make 3DS Max?

 

[thekev]

I am working almost 95% of my time in bootcamp with 3ds Max. I am busy learning Modo and will leave max and windows as soon as possible... till that day, still bootcamp. All my personal time I spend on Mac OS.

To answer your question, it is agreat machine. I love the nmp, it works well and is very fast in max. I do however get issues when my scenes get more than 50/ 60 mil polly's. Then my screen driver keeps bombing out, windows recover it but max is gone, without the option to safe the files I am working on. This is VERY disturbing. I have the 6core, D500 machine with 12G RAM.

It's a matter of what is being loaded up. Depending on what you have turned for viewing, it takes up both a lot of ram and a lot of video memory.

Another thing, I used a datacolor Spyder to calibrate the colors on my screen. It just gave me endless issues, at the end I read somewhere on the net it competes with my AMD screen driver, so I uninstalled it. Apart from that, I think it is all working well! My personal opinion, if you work only Windows and don't plan on moving over to Mac, it might be a better option to get a pc. Otherwise, go for the mac, but use it what it was built for!

That makes absolutely no sense. Assuming it has no background process, it shouldn't create any issues. Spyder does not necessarily calibrate anything. It creates a display profile. Without it you're still loading a display profile, just not the same one. I don't care for Datacolor, but I still find this to be weird.

 

[Barendby]

It's a matter of what is being loaded up. Depending on what you have turned for viewing, it takes up both a lot of ram and a lot of video memory.




That makes absolutely no sense. Assuming it has no background process, it shouldn't create any issues. Spyder does not necessarily calibrate anything. It creates a display profile. Without it you're still loading a display profile, just not the same one. I don't care for Datacolor, but I still find this to be weird.

I agree, sorry, i didnt explain in to much detail. I could not create the color
profile. It kept throwing errors and then it saved a completely wrong profile.
If it does load properly the spyder measure your ambient light in the room and constantly monitor the dispaly. It does have background processes as it warns me from time to time my room is lighter than when i first did the calibration.

 

[thekev]

I agree, sorry, i didnt explain in to much detail. I could not create the color
profile. It kept throwing errors and then it saved a completely wrong profile.
If it does load properly the spyder measure your ambient light in the room and constantly monitor the dispaly. It does have background processes as it warns me from time to time my room is lighter than when i first did the calibration.

Oh yeah that. I hate the things that try to match ambient light, because it's not a great method. The best possible consistency is always to work in a darkened room to basically eliminate the issue of monitor reflections and meaningful variations in ambient lighting. For obvious reasons most people don't like that.

 

[Nudist]

I am working almost 95% of my time in bootcamp with 3ds Max. I am busy learning Modo and will leave max and windows as soon as possible... till that day, still bootcamp. All my personal time I spend on Mac OS.

To answer your question, it is agreat machine. I love the nmp, it works well and is very fast in max. I do however get issues when my scenes get more than 50/ 60 mil polly's. Then my screen driver keeps bombing out, windows recover it but max is gone, without the option to safe the files I am working on. This is VERY disturbing. I have the 6core, D500 machine with 12G RAM.

To my knowledge max does not support SLi or dual screen cards, so it will only benefit from one screen card. I tried with and without the crossfire option under the drivers settings but it performed the same!

Another thing, I used a datacolor Spyder to calibrate the colors on my screen. It just gave me endless issues, at the end I read somewhere on the net it competes with my AMD screen driver, so I uninstalled it. Apart from that, I think it is all working well! My personal opinion, if you work only Windows and don't plan on moving over to Mac, it might be a better option to get a pc. Otherwise, go for the mac, but use it what it was built for!

Hi I just came across this thread yesterday. I have been using 3d Max 2011 with Bootcamp for the past month and have noticed a few niggling issues. One if the UI freezes in full screen during rendering if you task switch to another app in Windows 8. Has anyone come across this?

 

[Barendby]

Hi I just came across this thread yesterday. I have been using 3d Max 2011 with Bootcamp for the past month and have noticed a few niggling issues. One if the UI freezes in full screen during rendering if you task switch to another app in Windows 8. Has anyone come across this?

Yes, I am also getting it, I think we get the same thing . Every now and then everything will just frieze and then "recover" itself.
In the beginning win was running smooth, but lately..... I even formatted and reinstalled everything but still the same.
I often get blue screens, especially if I say shutdown in windows. Weird thing is, my pc will at random just suddenly boot up, no idea why.

 

[Tutor]

I do too. It's just that apparently for people who may have to reconstruct interiors in a 3d modeling app, some of their tools may be a little faster than the quirky spline extrusions in modo or maya. I am making the assumption that the OP uses them and has used them for some time. Other than that yeah it's like a trip back to the 1990s in some ways.

I'm surprised that Autodesk has continued to allow its later adopted children (Max and Softimage) to eat at the table as long as has already been allowed. I recently read, however, that Softimage has been put on a starvation diet. Too, Max looks to be getting a bit overweight. Could it be that what many thought that Autodesk would have done much sooner, is finally coming around the corner?

 

[thekev]

I'm surprised that Autodesk has continued to allow its later adopted children (Max and Softimage) to eat at the table as long as has already been allowed. I recently read, however, that Softimage has been put on a starvation diet. Too, Max looks to be getting a bit overweight. Could it be that what many thought that Autodesk would have done much sooner, is finally coming around the corner?

I don't know about that. They have put significant work into Max in recent years. They built the nitrous viewport, which must have taken an incredible amount of work. Other things have involved sloppier implementations, like when they bought out the graphite modeling tools developer. I don't know whether they'll fold Softimage. I haven't paid any attention to it. The problem with Max is that they just jam in new stuff over the old stuff (turbosmooth vs meshsmooth, ribbon just placed above the older stuff and modifier stack, etc.). It becomes rather convoluted.

 

[beaker7]

I don't know whether they'll fold Softimage. .

They already did.