System spec for 3D graphic artist
Hi all! I have a friend who has asked me to help him spec up a replacement computer for his family. He enjoys using gimp to create artwork and wishes to use linux exclusively on the new box. He is keen to teach himself 3D graphics to produce artwork. His requirements: Must Haves: * Linux compatibility * 2-3 years future proofed * 3D art package * 2D art package Nice to Haves: * graphics tablet compatible (This is borderline must have) He has a fairly restricted budget for this (under $2K including monitor - prefer under $1500) Currently he has an older p4 running Gutsy and a 15" LCD. Basically there is very little in his current kit that is salvageable for a significant upgrade. What I have suggested so far is * minimum 2 GB ram (preferably 3 GB+) * Nvidia GPU (around the level of 8600GT 512 I was guessing) * 3 Gig CPU minimum (prefer 4Gig or higher dual core or better I would imagine) Ok - so there's lots of guessing in there. I've not had a lot to do with 3D graphics apart from in gaming circles so I'm not as helpful for him atm as I could be. Am I on the right track for HW? Can anyone suggest requirements I have missed or HW specs to suit the requirements? Any advice would be greatly received. Cheers J -- James Pluck PalmOS Ergo Sum "Dear IRS: I would like to cancel my subscription. Please remove my name from your mailing list..."
From what I have heard, graphics is one of the most expensive areas for gear. 2G RAM might be ok, but more is always better. The CPU is less important but I guess its fair to say that you'll get the best you can afford. Several websites have PC builders on them, like ascent.co.nz, or the dell site. They may help get an overall picture of price. If your wanting to put the parts together yourself, pricespy.co.nz is your friend.
The graphics card should probably do it, but you need to think more about what sort of graphics he wants to do, a gaming type card is not always the best solution for more advanced 3D work. The other aspect which you didn't mention is the display. Nothing like squinting at fine details on a small monitor to make your work more challenging. Also the card and monitor should make a good team... I'm not a graphics expert, but perhaps this will help give you a frame of reference. Others may be able to suggest specific gear. All in all you should be able to get a nice middle-spec machine for 2 grand. Regards, Glenn
On Thu, Feb 21, 2008 at 3:10 PM, James Pluck <papabearnz(a)gmail.com> wrote:
What I have suggested so far is * minimum 2 GB ram (preferably 3 GB+) * Nvidia GPU (around the level of 8600GT 512 I was guessing)
I would suggest ATI card at present as they have open sourced spec. If you use Nvidia you are at the whim of them to keep producing binary drivers. It might work for this version of Ubuntu but that doesn't mean it will work in 2 years time on some not yet invented distro...
Regarding the 3D graphics; if he is into doing pre-rendered 3D animation and stuff, the graphics card doesn't have to be extremely juicy: Blender (arguably the best tool for the use case you described) uses OpenGL for the interface of the program and the viewports, but the actual rendering process for the final image/animation does not use a graphics card at all. CPU and memory for that. As for 2D art, for vector drawing, Inkscape isn't bad, and if you don't have a problem with using partially proprietary software; Xara Xtreme is available for GNU/Linux (the program itself is under the GPL, but the rendering engine is under a proprietary license of some description). As for graphics tablets; most if not all the Wacom tablets are supported by X and programs like The Gimp. They have a fairly wide range of models available to suit needs/prices. Never really looked into support for other tablets, Wacom seem by far the most common. For the hardware, an Intel Core 2 Duo system is probably the best choice, probably look at the 2.66GHz clock speeds. Past that, and for quad core systems the prices go up a lot, and you honestly wouldn't see a huge performance increase except in heavy duty ray-tracing jobs (but that could be distributed to his old P4 if performance was really critical. Which it normally isn't). As Glen suggested, I went onto Ascent and with a little modification, a fairly reasonably system can be priced out to about $1800, including a 17" LCD monitor and 6" by 9" Wacom graphics tablet. -- Sam Douglas
On Thu, Feb 21, 2008 at 4:33 PM, Sam Douglas <sam.douglas32(a)gmail.com> wrote:
As Glen suggested, I went onto Ascent and with a little modification, a fairly reasonably system can be priced out to about $1800, including a 17" LCD monitor and 6" by 9" Wacom graphics tablet.
Ascent are really good. Locally PBTech are very reasonably priced and I have never had problems with them. -- Web: http://wand.net.nz/~iam4/ Blog: http://iansblog.jandi.co.nz
On Thu, Feb 21, 2008 at 4:49 PM, Ian McDonald <ian.mcdonald(a)jandi.co.nz> wrote:
On Thu, Feb 21, 2008 at 4:33 PM, Sam Douglas <sam.douglas32(a)gmail.com> wrote:
As Glen suggested, I went onto Ascent and with a little modification, a fairly reasonably system can be priced out to about $1800, including a 17" LCD monitor and 6" by 9" Wacom graphics tablet.
Ascent are really good. Locally PBTech are very reasonably priced and I have never had problems with them.
Indeed. I have always had very good service from Jann in at PBTech. He also gives quite well informed advice. -- James Pluck PalmOS Ergo Sum "Dear IRS: I would like to cancel my subscription. Please remove my name from your mailing list..."
On Thu, Feb 21, 2008 at 4:33 PM, Sam Douglas <sam.douglas32(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Regarding the 3D graphics; if he is into doing pre-rendered 3D animation and stuff, the graphics card doesn't have to be extremely juicy: Blender (arguably the best tool for the use case you described) uses OpenGL for the interface of the program and the viewports, but the actual rendering process for the final image/animation does not use a graphics card at all. CPU and memory for that.
At this stage he is looking at 3d stills rather than animations. Thanks for the tip about Blender
As for 2D art, for vector drawing, Inkscape isn't bad, and if you don't have a problem with using partially proprietary software; Xara Xtreme is available for GNU/Linux (the program itself is under the GPL, but the rendering engine is under a proprietary license of some description).
As for graphics tablets; most if not all the Wacom tablets are supported by X and programs like The Gimp. They have a fairly wide range of models available to suit needs/prices. Never really looked into support for other tablets, Wacom seem by far the most common.
Following your comment I've looked into the Wacom tablets and they seem to be very reasonably priced and pretty much exactly what he's looking for. The Ubuntu site also has a very good howto for Wacom tablets as well. The later "bamboo" range of tablets apparently need some development drivers that need a manual install but the howto seems pretty comprehensive and I'm sure we can manage to get the drivers working.
For the hardware, an Intel Core 2 Duo system is probably the best choice, probably look at the 2.66GHz clock speeds. Past that, and for quad core systems the prices go up a lot, and you honestly wouldn't see a huge performance increase except in heavy duty ray-tracing jobs (but that could be distributed to his old P4 if performance was really critical. Which it normally isn't).
Personally I'm an AMD fanboi but the core duos are better performance overall according to what I've read on Toms and Ars. He is planning on "recycling" the p4 when they've upgraded by reinstalling it and donating to one of the schemes that give computers to underprivileged kids.
As Glen suggested, I went onto Ascent and with a little modification, a fairly reasonably system can be priced out to about $1800, including a 17" LCD monitor and 6" by 9" Wacom graphics tablet.
I guessed he would need about $1500-$2K so it seems I was pretty much in the ballpark. Thank you! J -- James Pluck PalmOS Ergo Sum "Dear IRS: I would like to cancel my subscription. Please remove my name from your mailing list..."
On Thu, Feb 21, 2008 at 4:08 PM, Ian McDonald <ian.mcdonald(a)jandi.co.nz> wrote:
On Thu, Feb 21, 2008 at 3:10 PM, James Pluck <papabearnz(a)gmail.com> wrote:
What I have suggested so far is * minimum 2 GB ram (preferably 3 GB+) * Nvidia GPU (around the level of 8600GT 512 I was guessing)
I would suggest ATI card at present as they have open sourced spec. If you use Nvidia you are at the whim of them to keep producing binary drivers. It might work for this version of Ubuntu but that doesn't mean it will work in 2 years time on some not yet invented distro...
Ahh - I forgot about that. It's a good point. If I go with ATI for the video would I be well advised to match with an ATI chipset mainboard? Will it cause a "noticeable" conflict (subjective - The technology increase will be a very major jump for my friend from what he has) if I specify an Nvidia based mainboard? Along with that - slightly tangental - would it be worthwhile at this stage to install a 64 bit distro over a 32 bit distro (Most probably we'll be installing Ubuntu as he is familiar with that distro having run it on his p4 for the last year.)? J -- James Pluck PalmOS Ergo Sum "Dear IRS: I would like to cancel my subscription. Please remove my name from your mailing list..."
participants (4)
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Glenn Enright -
Ian McDonald -
James Pluck -
Sam Douglas