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nMP its December! Finally!
- Thread starter Skywalker5
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December 31st - release date (speculation)
Just in time to meet the December estimate.
29 days to go!
Actually that would be funny considering it's a Tuesday, so it's a possibility
I bought the top of the line iMac end of 2012 with 768 ssd and all. But this last year I´ve started doing a lot of work in After Effects (Photoshop was what I used 90% before). So, now I notice that 2gb Vram isn´t enough. I have to reboot before starting a heavy raytrace project in After effects.
So, since I had a good financial year, Im probably going to replace my iMac with a new Mac Pro after just 1 year. There wasn´t a decent pro option before this new Mac Pro, unless you were willing to pay out of your nose for centuries old hardware...Anyway, if Apple doesnt release a 4K monitor at the same time as the Mpro, I´m gonna wait till they do that.
So, my wishlist for Apple (I wish apple would read this )
-Release a freeking 4K apple monitor with the Mac Pro release. I don´t want a dell or any other 4K monitor standing beside that beautiful shiny black trashbin....and it should be 27" minimum.
-It would be great if apple would release a thunderbolt2 external HDD. A fusion HDD that would run ultra silent and with the same finish as the Mac Pro.
Problem is that you have to have a secondary storage, and I have tried searching but its impossible to find a large and silent HDD for thunderbolt. Everyone have small crappy fans - and then the whole fan tech of the Mac Pro is useless, because the HDD standing beside noise anyway.
So, since I had a good financial year, Im probably going to replace my iMac with a new Mac Pro after just 1 year. There wasn´t a decent pro option before this new Mac Pro, unless you were willing to pay out of your nose for centuries old hardware...Anyway, if Apple doesnt release a 4K monitor at the same time as the Mpro, I´m gonna wait till they do that.
So, my wishlist for Apple (I wish apple would read this
)-Release a freeking 4K apple monitor with the Mac Pro release. I don´t want a dell or any other 4K monitor standing beside that beautiful shiny black trashbin....and it should be 27" minimum.
-It would be great if apple would release a thunderbolt2 external HDD. A fusion HDD that would run ultra silent and with the same finish as the Mac Pro.
Problem is that you have to have a secondary storage, and I have tried searching but its impossible to find a large and silent HDD for thunderbolt. Everyone have small crappy fans - and then the whole fan tech of the Mac Pro is useless, because the HDD standing beside noise anyway.
I've not found AE's Raytracing to be particularly usable with any hardware. I had one big project this year where I used it in a really stripped-down way that was nimble enough, but it's just so clunky most of the time. Much better luck with Cineware. YMMV.
Cheers.
Thanks for the tip, you´re probably right. I find it rather amazing that the raytracer with the extreme limitations it has (pretty much just beveled text and shapes with 1 material) it still is unable to run with 2gb of VRAM if I´ve done anything else than opening after effects since I rebooted the machine. So, I guess you are right, thats´s just crap code and will probably work badly no matter how much juice you have. Apart from that, my iMac is working smooth in Photoshop and after effects on HUGE projects, so I assume it´s a bad investment buying the nMP just for the raytracer
Ill check out Cineware, I haven´t tried it out yet....lazy me.Thanks for the tip, you´re probably right. I find it rather amazing that the raytracer with the extreme limitations it has (pretty much just beveled text and shapes with 1 material) it still is unable to run with 2gb of VRAM if I´ve done anything else than opening after effects since I rebooted the machine. So, I guess you are right, thats´s just crap code and will probably work badly no matter how much juice you have. Apart from that, my iMac is working smooth in Photoshop and after effects on HUGE projects, so I assume it´s a bad investment buying the nMP just for the raytracer
Cineware is included with After Effects CC and is a realtime conduit to Cinema 4D. I'm pretty happy with the integration so far. The nMP would be a big step up for heavy AE and 3D use but for day to day After Effects work, your iMac should do pretty well.
Ho hum... Gosh I could use a nMP very soon, but I think they'll open the "pre-order" button in December but my gut says a 2014 delivery date. Holding out hope that there is some magical 4k display option that gets announced. I'd be shocked if they announced this new 4k capable machine without a branded Apple display option.
Even if Apple release a 4K monitor the majority Mac Pro users aren't going to buy it. Apple has about 100% LCD panel wins across the entire laptop line up and iMacs. What is left over on Mini's and Mac Pros isn't all that large.
They aren't even particularly in the display business. Of the broad spectrum of monitor needs for Mac uses Apple provides one and only one Display. They aren't even trying to cover a spectrum.
It isn't like there won't be buckets of 4K monitors announced by the end if CES 2014 in about a month. It isn't like anyone is going to not have one if they need one and can afford it.
Apple has a far more pressing need for another more affordable docking station/monitor than for a 4K one.
When 4K monitor prices stabilize then Apple can jump in. The need for DisplayPort v1.2 MST and workarounds to weave two video streams into one monitor isn't particularly Apple like solution. If there is better monitor making infrastructure later in 2014 that allows for a more straightforward solution they'll probably wait for it and the stabilized prices.
I would kind of agree with you there. Some of the higher end displays have a considerable dropoff in price 12-18 months after their initial release. Typically a given display generation holds out at least 3 years with minor tweaks to the same generation of hardware. Most of the top ones today came out in 2009-2010.
I bought the top of the line iMac end of 2012 with 768 ssd and all. But this last year I´ve started doing a lot of work in After Effects (Photoshop was what I used 90% before). So, now I notice that 2gb Vram isn´t enough. I have to reboot before starting a heavy raytrace project in After effects.
So, since I had a good financial year, Im probably going to replace my iMac with a new Mac Pro after just 1 year. There wasn´t a decent pro option before this new Mac Pro, unless you were willing to pay out of your nose for centuries old hardware...Anyway, if Apple doesnt release a 4K monitor at the same time as the Mpro, I´m gonna wait till they do that.
So, my wishlist for Apple (I wish apple would read this
I haven't spent too much time with the raytracer in AE, so keep in mind this has more to do with raytracing in general. Many of the gpu based raytracers have to load your entire scene into memory, so even 4GB isn't much. What will really change that would be something like the ability to store system memory pointers in the framebuffer or something like that rather than load one frame at a time or gpus with 16GB or higher along with smart use of mipmapped texture data. The allure of gpu raytracing is really their propensity for parallel calculations. It has the potential to simplify the software somewhat, as such a boost in power can at times allow for uninterpolated sample data. Most renderers interpolate samples quite a bit, as otherwise they just return background color, and you see that as noise. They would have caught on far more if memory wasn't such a big issue. Depending on the size of your scene and texture data being loaded up, even the D700s may not do exactly what you want. They're a lot closer though, so it might be a case of where if you're as efficient as possible and run it on a slave gpu (one without a display) you'll be fine.
I'd say most of the top ones today came around 2005. The best 30" displays on sale today are using more or less the same tech as the 2005 ones. The improvements are minor.
I haven't checked out the 30" ones so much. 27" ones came in around 2009. I wasn't considering the 30" ones so much, as I saw many more in smaller sizes. They are pretty for viewing. I never found them to be as productive due to the issue of quickly navigating such a large display. I use a 24" 16:10 type. Prior to that it was a 21" in 3:4 aspect ratio. They're roughly the same height. One is just wider than the other.