Can my PC do Lightwave rendering smoothly?
 

Hi there,

This is my first time doing 3d graphics and using Lightwave 7.5.

I admit doing some 3d 2 years ago in 3ds max, but i totally forget everything. I am just impress what Lightwave can do. :)

Back to my main question,

My computer specs are:

Intel P4 2.6C Hyper Threading Technology
256MB DDR-400 RAM (currently, no money to buy more memory)
128MB ATI Radeon 9600 Pro Ultra (Directx 9)
Motherboard support dual DDR-400, build in 6 channel sound and network card.
17" LG Flatron F700B
Windows XP Professional SP1
use latest ATI Catalyst driver

I am not sure whether it is sufficient or not. I see those 3d artist use Apple Mac machines or better machines than mine.

I pray and hope that my machine can support it. I will buy more RAM in mid of December.

Can i configure my Lightwave to use Directx9? I know 3ds max can do that.

Thanks.

Oh ya, another question (off topic), are the free tutorials easy for a newbie like me to understand. Does the creator of the video show every steps from the start to the beginning with audio?

I just started to download 1 by 1. Will take some time to download all.

Thanks again.

Regards,
Chua Wen Ching :p

well, you thoroughly spotted the weak spot of your rig; the RAM. Try to get 512 or, better yet, 1 Gig of good reliable Ram. Everything else sounds great.

And yes, I do show every single step, there's nothing skipped or "prepared". Not like the cooking shows on TV :p
And if you miss a step or simply aren't sure what to do, or run into problems, just ask here on the board; there's more than enough kind people prepared to help you out, myself included.

Hope you enjoy SLW!

cheers :D

Thanks philip.

I had 1 question. How do i pay the 5 pounds over the internet for the VIP?

Can i pay by postal? I don't have credit card with me. Can i pay by debit card?

Does it really make lots of different between a VIP and a free member?

I also quiet confuse with what is so special about points? Why should we buy point for?

Anyway, i will upgrade my memory soon. I think maybe another 512MB and make it to 768MB RAM.

Thanks.

Hi,
well you have a hell of a machine there and yes, you CAn use it and realy good too.
To make you feel better, I only have a Intel Celeron (based on P 3) with 1.2 ghz, 768 MB SDRAM PC 133, now hold tight, a Nvidia Vanta 16 MB Graphicard with Direct X7.
Now I guess my post relaxed ya some there hey? ;)

And yes I can also make 3D graphics and render, it just takes a loooooong time to render highres Pics with lots of textures, lights etc. Sometime even over 5 hours for a still.

But hey, when your low on money and only do Hobby things, ya have to deal with it lol.

Does anyone else here have a system like mine or even lower? :D

yea i have the very worst PC, i have posted this in another thread but here goes

128 MB or RAM
P3 - 933 MHz
built in graphics card

this thing sucks!!!!!!
but hey im a student,

Well, it looks like the answer to most of your questions has been answered there Chua. As Philip says, all you need is more RAM.

My current workstation is an Athlon XP1900+ w/512MB and that does me fine. I also have a spare server here running Dual P3 700 CPUs with 1Gig Ram for those really meaty scenes.

As to your question of getting LW to use DirectX - unfortunately not. It uses the OpenGL graphics drivers to drive the display. ATI cards have traditionally had pretty poor OGL support compared to nVidia, but I belive that this is no longer the case with their more recent video drivers.

Anyhow, enjoy the vids. Enjoy the site, and if there's anything you get stuck on - don't be afraid to ask.

oh and if anybody is wondering i am getting more RAM and maybe a new video card

Thanx to Nail for helping me out!

Oh, no wonder my computer fail to work with Vue 4 Professional. I borrowed from my friend and test on my machine. :(

Now i know that ATI is weak in OpenGL. Thanks for telling me.

I only had Lightwave 7.5 without the a or b or c behind that number? Is that okay? Actually the lightwave belongs to my brother who stay in my house. That is why?

I am a student also. :)

Is there any cel shading tutorial on lightwave? Hopefully a video tutorial? I really want to do some 2d cartoon in a 3d world.

Any help? A simple cel shading tutorial is enough. :)

Thanks.

www.celshader.com
i havent used the tutorials but i hear its very good at explaining how to use cel shader

Hm.. there is no tutorial in there... the learning section only tell me more about the book she created...

she had a link in there, but i need to have a password which must be extracted from a book :(

Thanks again for sharing that link to me.

yea i just checked it out too, sorry,
if you find one then tell me, okay, cuz i still need to learn how to use it

Hm.. let me play with lightwave.. i am super interested with cel shading in lightwave

Maybe one day i can create a video tutorial for cel shading.. who knows? :)

I amlearning the 3dbuzz video tutorials (more fundamentals) then i will just go to this site tutorials (i had download all already :) )

Just wonder, if i do something in lightwave to animate/model (whatever) a movie like Final Fantasy (something like that or spiderman movie), hmm, you think the rendering will take how long? I am not over ambitious, but i am curious to know. Just say, spiderman movie is fully 3D and 1 hour long.

Thanks.

R4s1n - You dont have the worst computer. H.I.O.M has the worst computer. A render that takes 2 minutes for me takes like 10 houers for him ;). i think he has a 120Mhz something with way to less ram. I so want to buy him a new computer. :)

wow its hard to imagine,

I had such a bad puta till bout 2 weeks ago... mah old specs were
P3 850mhz
256mb SDR Ram
16 Mb graphics card (nvidia alladin i think)

I just bougha new system fro $600 AU
New case,
AMD Socket motherboard supoorting 3gb ram
AMD Athlon XP 2000+
128mb Saphirre Radeaon With TV Out
and 512 MB DDR Ram

:) i am so much happier now.. i dont think ill eva go baq 2 pentium... amd is so much fatser with LW Modeler... it isnt so fast with rendering though :(

128mb Saphirre Radeaon
--> radeon 9000 and above series?

Aside from the link to the Bonus material dealing with Cel Shader, the book itself is full of great stuff and you can find it for about $12 used on amazon.

da vid card is a Sapphire ATi RADEON 9200 128MB DDR :) i luv it

I think I got you all beat for worst:

PII-366, 8MB ATI Rage Pro, 320MB RAM, Win98SE...Laptop!

I cant wait til christmas bonuses come around!

how do u use LW with that.. though i was strugghling wit mah old P3 850mhz :P

Gosh and I thought my Comp was bad :D
I think with my Comp I surly can do some things. All I need now is another 512 MB SDRAM dimm and a new Graphics Card :)

Well, it runs fine, rarely crashes too. I use it to mess around with the tutorials and such. Just now starting to notice lags as i get into volumetrics, particle emitters, and High-res UVMaps.

Most of my projects are small. I'll have a new machine by the time i am ready to take on any bigger projects. Out of curiosity, how big do your working object files get?

The noticable difference is when I render; Animations that take my office machine (also a P3 850) ~4s/frame to render take 2min+/frame on my laptop! :eek: