[geeks] SGI values

[Joshua D Boyd]

On Sun, May 12, 2002 at 05:08:04AM +0100, Chris Byrne wrote:

> No clue what he would use. He's a traditional video guy (he's a freelance
> cameraman) and just wants to play around with neat stuff Primarily he wants
> to work with textured 3D and do some digital effects for video. Nothing pro
> quality (hes got access to that stuff at work) just fun stuff for his
> personal use.

If it were a friend of mine looking to spend less than $10k, I'd recommend
a Mac most likely.  But, if he really wants to.
 
> > > This was the system I was thinking about for him for all around
> > > MaxIMPACT +impcom
> >
> > How is he going to do any video on that?  By copying it over the
> > network to/from a Mac?  Getting video I/O on that is going to be expensive
> > and probably won't work as well as desired anyway (ie, compressed will
> > really suck since everything will require rendering then, and uncompressed
> > will be hard because of the cost and difficulty of getting additional SCSI
> > chanels).
> >
> 
> I thought the impcom board had video input? If not he'd need to go for a
> High impact plus the impcom and I2V-FI.
 
I could be wrong, but I thought you needed both cards.  So, I checked.  I
still think you need both cards.  But, I found that the impcom card is
a dual stream card.  Yay.  That means, if the software supports it, next
to no rendering time.  But, finding software is still trouble some.

> > I've seen r12ks go for decent prices, but you want to stick with an r5k
> > or r5.2k.  The r10ks and r12ks can be problematic for video
> > handling.  Search
> > the newsgroups for what I mean.  Some software packages specifically
> > recommend or require r5ks.
> >
> 
> Didnt know that, thanks for the heads up. Is the problem severe? Because the
> r10K/r12k make a HUGE difference in 3d geomoetry performance  and if its not
> diabling then I think the higher numbers are the way to go.

You would have to look on newsgroups, etc, and decide.  I've only used r5k
machines, so I can't say.  My understanding is that work can be done, but
professional work is problematic.  I don't know exactly where the problem
is.
 
> > I fail to see why he would need an MXI or MXI.  Why wouldn't a
> > SI+Tram work?
> >
> 
> I suppose it would, I was predicating the 3d performance on the MaxIMPACT or
> fast r10/r12k O2 which I think would both be quicker than the SI+TRAM for
> textured work.

There is an interesting question.  Which is better, Max Impact, or SI+Tram.
I suspect SI+Tram is probably better than Max Impact.  But, I can't say as 
I've directly compared them.  I personally would rather an SI+Tram to a
Max Impact.
 
> > Such a machine would cost $900.  Reputable sells the personal video option
> > for $1350, other places are far less (but not a constant source).
> >  So, a little
> > more than $2k, and you can't get much software for any SGI for
> > less than $2k.
> 
> You can still get blender and gimp etc... There are a few open source
> programs out there that will run on IRIX, but yeah the professional tools
> are RIDICULOUSLY expensive.

Yeah, blender is out there.  The gimp is pretty good and available.  That
doesn't help with video editing though.

The professional tools are bad.  Bad enough to make one think that NT
might not be so bad, in days past when Macs weren't really a current 
option.  I mean, if you love graphics, and the choice is NT or nothing...

-- 
Joshua D. Boyd

Social Security - I have greater faith that Elvis is alive
and programming VAX assembler than that I will ever receive
a dime from it.  --  Patrick Giagnocavo