Hi,
reaching the end of the project and need to start running some compositing and vfx work. we are hiring a new compositor who needs to work in Combustion & Premiere.
any recommendations on what the PC specs should be to work very comfortably handling HD data?
Well,
1. A 64Bit CPU: http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/desktop-cpu-charts-q3-2008/Premiere-Pro-CS3-HDTV,833.html for your (32 / 64 bit Operating System: xp64 / Vista64 / Win7 64 / Linux 64 / Snow-Leopard)
2. At least 4gb of memory (note, only 64bit Operating system will make full use of it) DDR2 (Better to get DDR3)
3. A strong GFX card capable of HD: http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/gaming-graphics-charts-2009/3DMark06-v1.1.0-3DMark-Score,1195.html (like the ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2)
4. A reliable/fast (both in read/write) with minimum 1T HDD: http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2009-3.5-desktop-hard-drive-charts/h2benchw-3.12-Write-Access-Time,1008.html will do the job (Samsung / Kingstone)
5. A powerful Power Supply, don't go with the cheap stuff, at least 450w-500w of a good brand (buy separately to the atx pc box)
6. PC box should have front+back USB connectors + firewire (for downloading ur camera movies for editing/post)
Not very needed but should have:
- Dual Burner / 16gb USB Flash drive
- Dual Screen
- Good Sound Card (creative x-fi or something)
those were the key stuff needed, other stuff like network cards, wifi card should come with the package anyhow
hope I helpped a bit :)
Visit my site http://www.animdesk.com
On the GFX card, should he wait to see what the next one is going to look like? If he gets the best card out there now he would be stuck with it for a long while. I am not sure what kind of a deadline he is facing for his production start up.
Shany,
thanks for the input. mate. the composting will be on going for the next couple of projects (2009-2011) so i want this PC to be as souped as possible and then upgradable.
i checked out one from Dell yesterday with a i7-920 Processor 4GB of RAM, 24 Flat panel 512 ATI RADEON, 500 GB HDD.
i dont intend to keep a optical drive and im not too concerned with HDD space as we have a centralized storage system and will work with a NAS specially for the Composting unit.
i get the above one for about 2200$
The problem with most GFX cards are that they are suited mainly for games and DirectX 10+.
For editing u don't need top notch gfx card that is the best in the market, mainly because softwares like After Effects/Premiere..etc uses OpenGL anyhow or the standard Direct Draw APIs, so having the best gfx card whos capable of running the latest game isn't going to chage anything.
Some cards are better used for gaming (Nvidia) and some cards are for GFX (ATI) as seen from various benchmarking results.
sure u can buy a very strong PC for 3d computing..etc (for Maya/XSI/3DS Max) like the ones used on production/3d companies (pixar, ILM..etc) but that's just too much to begin with anyhow.
* Note: make sure that the computer you buy has a very good cooling system (either water cooled / air cooled <- strong big fans!) since 3d/post production requires strong computation from the gfx card and the cpu.
there are custom cooling system - i'd better look out for one of them.
** Note: never buy a pre-packaged computer. always buy in different parts than have your trusted store to build it for you. That way u have full controll of your computer parts that need upgrading in the future.
*** Note: make sure that the motherboard you buy supports your cpu socket and model (and might as well support a faster GHZ version of your CPU so you could upgrade it)
**** Note: some of the latest CPUs (like the i7) uses DDR3 memory better than the DDR2 and also in chunks of 2gb per memory card (or even 3gb per card) - this is due to latency of the memory cards as read/write back and forth when the CPU demands. - consult with your store/forums
Visit my site http://www.animdesk.com
I can vouch for that. I saved a bundle by purchasing the parts myself and assembling it myself. You'd be surprised what good deals you can find online and on ebay.
Software: TVPaint Pro, Harmony Standalone, Storyboard Pro, Maya, Modo, Arnold, V-Ray, Maxwell, NukeX, Hiero, Mari, RealFlow, Avid, Adobe CS6
Hardware: (2) HP Z820 Workstations + 144-core Linux Render Farm + Cintiq 24HD Touch
A Core i7 is more than enough.
Which version of Combustion and Premiere are you going to be using?
Software: TVPaint Pro, Harmony Standalone, Storyboard Pro, Maya, Modo, Arnold, V-Ray, Maxwell, NukeX, Hiero, Mari, RealFlow, Avid, Adobe CS6
Hardware: (2) HP Z820 Workstations + 144-core Linux Render Farm + Cintiq 24HD Touch
i am going to pick up combustion or AE towards the end of the month, i saw a deal for Combustion 2008 at for 925$ on Amazon, was also told i could pick it up from their site for $1000 as well for the latest version.
any recommendations on that?
Shany, thanks for all the input. However i think ill have to stick to Dell as after sales service here is a bit like the wild west if you buy or assemble yourself. Dell is pretty good and the downtime would be relatively lower.
Still looking around and will make a call by the end of the week. Will update you guys as to what i get.
I don't use Combustion, So I can't give you tips on that. On AE I can, since I use it:
- AE (CS3/CS4) tends to crash - a lot
- AE (CS3/CS4) doesn't support 64Bit (but can be hacked to use upto 3gb memory in XP) Only Photoshop CS4 Has a 64bit engine
- It does support wide range of file formats
- Has Javascript engine which can do really nice stuff, i,e here is a physic car engine done by me in AE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBfsGwY9Nq4
Over all AE is nice, and u can do nice stuff with it, if you wish to learn more in depth about AE, check this site: www.videocopilot.net
enjoy!
Visit my site http://www.animdesk.com
I'd say go with AfterEffects. Its the industry standard and plays well with Photoshop and Premiere Pro. Adobe upgrade prices are very reasonable and you don't have to upgrade with every new release( I upgraded to AE CS4 from AE 6.5 Pro ). Combustion is Autodesk's forgotten compositor, it has a smaller installment base than AfterEffects and doesn't get the same attention as Autodesk's other highend compositors like Flame.
Software: TVPaint Pro, Harmony Standalone, Storyboard Pro, Maya, Modo, Arnold, V-Ray, Maxwell, NukeX, Hiero, Mari, RealFlow, Avid, Adobe CS6
Hardware: (2) HP Z820 Workstations + 144-core Linux Render Farm + Cintiq 24HD Touch
Adobe CS4 products do play well together, I'd agree! ;)
Cheers!
Splatman:D
SPLAT digital