It works fine with non-matching peripherals. The Foundry & Pixar WWDC session is up called Painting the Future. The Pixar artist was using the Mac Pro connected to a Cinema Display and Wacom:
I'm already falling behind in my WWDC viewing pleasure. There is much that is interesting this year.
They got to use pre-release versions of the Mac Pro but they were apparently hidden inside large boxes and didn't get to see it until it was revealed to the public. They use it for painting multiple layers of 8k textures on 3D models in real-time. Both him and the guy who originally developed the texture software said that it runs more smoothly on this hardware than any other hardware they've used - they mentioned that typically gamers have two GPUs, not artist workstations so having this push for dual GPUs makes it an easy choice.
If that is true it likely implies that both GPUs are supported by wide and fast PCI Express connections. Unless of course Apple and AMD implemented something even faster.
The texture artist also showed how he'd taken a photo of tree bark on his iPhone and used that as a brush texture to paint wrinkles into the face of one of the Monsters U characters. Very cool presentation.
Someone says that about pretty much every revision and people buy them just the same.
Well yes because it is often the right thing to do. Lets face it not all of us live on the bleeding edge. As for people buying this machine, I can see a backlog for months if Apple hits the right price points and covers a wide range of performance needs.
It's not a high volume product and they typically don't release breakdown numbers so you'd never know if adoption is painfully slow or otherwise. The Mac Pro makes up much less than 5% of the whole Mac sales and it will likely continue to do so because of the price range it's in.
Yes it is in a limited market so I don't expect cheap however I do expect a range of models and an entry price that might surprise some. Given the right marketing effort I could see this new machine out selling the old one by a considerable margin. If a person looks at it with an open mind you can't help but to be impressed.
There was no push towards cloud storage. If you have massive amounts of data, storing it in the cloud isn't feasible. Local NAS storage maybe, you can have a personal server hooked up to gigabit ethernet and work that way or some Thunderbolt setup. Hard drives are noisy so you can get a 100ft optical Thunderbolt cable and sit a Pegasus RAID in a well ventilated cupboard somewhere.
I have to agree zero tie in with cloud computing here. Further TB means very flexible hardware arrangements. I can see a lot of infra structure growing around this machine.
The Pixar guy says that the data set for a single character is around 10GB, and as Marvin replied later, they were interacting & painting on the models at 60fps in real time. They loaded in a second character, the data set(s) jumps up to 20GB, still smooth like butter!
Impressive to me.
I would bet Apple's first really large order for the new Mac Pro would be headed to Pixar, depending on what their replacement/upgrade cycle looks like. The artists there are probably gonna be fighting for the privilege of getting one of these workstations in their cubicle…!
Interesting, but I have this image in my mind of a bunch of Linux machines at Pixar. I really don't have any idea what their IT profile looks like though.
Now the real trick is to get all of the DCC software creators out there to get their OpenGL 4.x & OpenCL coding into the apps to take proper advantage of the dual GPUs…!
This is a huge step up for Mavericks. MODERN OPEN GL!
Actually I kinda feel like this new Mac Pro is taking away interest from Mac OS which is getting a big update in Mavericks. There is a lot of good news coming out of WWDC this year.
As to DCC creators I can see Apple leading the way here. Once when run of the mill software makes your pro tools look sluggish and dated you will see the DCC authors getting onboard. That is if they aren't onboard already, I can see manufactures of pro grade hardware and software, falling all over themselves to get product out the door for this machine.
Much of that is that you're talking about an incredible piece of software, although you can't achieve those results without very powerful hardware. It's the only piece of software that can really handle all of that in 3d. Previously it would have been individual photoshop files for each 8K UV map. As I mentioned somewhere on here, 8K is the largest a lot of software can read, so beyond that they go to multiple maps.
It works fine with non-matching peripherals. The Foundry & Pixar WWDC session is up called Painting the Future. The Pixar artist was using the Mac Pro connected to a Cinema Display and Wacom:
They got to use pre-release versions of the Mac Pro but they were apparently hidden inside large boxes and didn't get to see it until it was revealed to the public. They use it for painting multiple layers of 8k textures on 3D models in real-time. Both him and the guy who originally developed the texture software said that it runs more smoothly on this hardware than any other hardware they've used - they mentioned that typically gamers have two GPUs, not artist workstations so having this push for dual GPUs makes it an easy choice. The texture artist also showed how he'd taken a photo of tree bark on his iPhone and used that as a brush texture to paint wrinkles into the face of one of the Monsters U characters. Very cool presentation.
Someone says that about pretty much every revision and people buy them just the same.
It's not a high volume product and they typically don't release breakdown numbers so you'd never know if adoption is painfully slow or otherwise. The Mac Pro makes up much less than 5% of the whole Mac sales and it will likely continue to do so because of the price range it's in.
There was no push towards cloud storage. If you have massive amounts of data, storing it in the cloud isn't feasible. Local NAS storage maybe, you can have a personal server hooked up to gigabit ethernet and work that way or some Thunderbolt setup. Hard drives are noisy so you can get a 100ft optical Thunderbolt cable and sit a Pegasus RAID in a well ventilated cupboard somewhere.
Thanks for your post.
I wish I could have seen this presentation.
I can't believe how small the MMac Pro is. (the extra M is for Mini)
As far as waiting for Rev 2 or 3... that's just smart. The last 20 years of history has proven that over and over and over again. But yah, people will still buy them... and we need those people to buy them or there would be no rev 2 or 3.
Still... those people will be laughed at when trying to sell the rev 1's on Criagslist that were all the new rage, but rendered completely obsolete by rev 2+.
Early adoption in paradigm shifts only favors the inventors. The more radical the design - the more rev 1 gets burned. First iPad anyone? First iPhone anyone?
Apple supported those devices for all of 14 months before declaring end of life pretty much with software that only worked with the rev2.
I'll wait. Watch. Let the early droolz work out the bugs... same as 20 years ago.
This is the entry model for all "dinosaur professional":
You can put inside all your gpu,hdd,ssd,sata controller, audio card, ram and all the expensive component you buy in this years...and yes, of course, you can expand it internal as you want !
I have this image in my mind of a bunch of Linux machines at Pixar. I really don't have any idea what their IT profile looks like though.
I don't think they'll be throwing out their render farm for this because the farms are all blades and that's what makes up the bulk of their machines. This is for the real-time workstation side of things so the few hundred artists or so can have it as an option. They can use Linux on it if they wanted but with modern OpenGL and this new software support, they are probably covered quite well under OS X.
As far as waiting for Rev 2 or 3... that's just smart. The last 20 years of history has proven that over and over and over again.
First iPad anyone? First iPhone anyone?
Apple supported those devices for all of 14 months before declaring end of life pretty much with software that only worked with the rev2.
They tend to stop software support for all devices every few years. The iPhone 3GS for example is dropped from iOS 7. Some people see it as getting burned by eventually being pushed into buying a new device but when you weigh up what you paid and the use you get from them, they're not that bad value for money. All companies have to do this to stay in business. The best strategy for a consumer is to keep upgrading where possible so they don't reach a point where the resale value drops too much but with Apple products, you can generally get something back even after a long time.
There have been a few revision 1 products that were ok. The Mini for example is one of the most reliable Macs even from the first model - people buy them as media centers. Nothing wrong with the original iPod, same with the iPad 1. They actually almost made the iPad 1 too good because if it's for basic usage like reading and browsing, it does the job just fine. The original Mac Pro had the issue of having parts stuck at 32-bit but the problems have only started to show up 6 years later at which point the use has been had out of it.
There may well be issues with this new design that don't come to light until later on but in the Pixar/Mari demo, they had a piece of software that was ported in just 6 weeks running on a pre-release OS and preview hardware and it ran a production demo without a hitch. The GPU drivers could have crashed, the interface could have glitched out, the app could have crashed, anything could have gone wrong.
Comments
I have to agree zero tie in with cloud computing here. Further TB means very flexible hardware arrangements. I can see a lot of infra structure growing around this machine.
This is a huge step up for Mavericks. MODERN OPEN GL!
Actually I kinda feel like this new Mac Pro is taking away interest from Mac OS which is getting a big update in Mavericks. There is a lot of good news coming out of WWDC this year.
As to DCC creators I can see Apple leading the way here. Once when run of the mill software makes your pro tools look sluggish and dated you will see the DCC authors getting onboard. That is if they aren't onboard already, I can see manufactures of pro grade hardware and software, falling all over themselves to get product out the door for this machine.
Quote:
Originally Posted by wizard69
Impressive to me.
Much of that is that you're talking about an incredible piece of software, although you can't achieve those results without very powerful hardware. It's the only piece of software that can really handle all of that in 3d. Previously it would have been individual photoshop files for each 8K UV map. As I mentioned somewhere on here, 8K is the largest a lot of software can read, so beyond that they go to multiple maps.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marvin
It works fine with non-matching peripherals. The Foundry & Pixar WWDC session is up called Painting the Future. The Pixar artist was using the Mac Pro connected to a Cinema Display and Wacom:
They got to use pre-release versions of the Mac Pro but they were apparently hidden inside large boxes and didn't get to see it until it was revealed to the public. They use it for painting multiple layers of 8k textures on 3D models in real-time. Both him and the guy who originally developed the texture software said that it runs more smoothly on this hardware than any other hardware they've used - they mentioned that typically gamers have two GPUs, not artist workstations so having this push for dual GPUs makes it an easy choice. The texture artist also showed how he'd taken a photo of tree bark on his iPhone and used that as a brush texture to paint wrinkles into the face of one of the Monsters U characters. Very cool presentation.
Someone says that about pretty much every revision and people buy them just the same.
It's not a high volume product and they typically don't release breakdown numbers so you'd never know if adoption is painfully slow or otherwise. The Mac Pro makes up much less than 5% of the whole Mac sales and it will likely continue to do so because of the price range it's in.
There was no push towards cloud storage. If you have massive amounts of data, storing it in the cloud isn't feasible. Local NAS storage maybe, you can have a personal server hooked up to gigabit ethernet and work that way or some Thunderbolt setup. Hard drives are noisy so you can get a 100ft optical Thunderbolt cable and sit a Pegasus RAID in a well ventilated cupboard somewhere.
Thanks for your post.
I wish I could have seen this presentation.
I can't believe how small the MMac Pro is. (the extra M is for Mini)
As far as waiting for Rev 2 or 3... that's just smart. The last 20 years of history has proven that over and over and over again. But yah, people will still buy them... and we need those people to buy them or there would be no rev 2 or 3.
Still... those people will be laughed at when trying to sell the rev 1's on Criagslist that were all the new rage, but rendered completely obsolete by rev 2+.
Early adoption in paradigm shifts only favors the inventors. The more radical the design - the more rev 1 gets burned. First iPad anyone? First iPhone anyone?
Apple supported those devices for all of 14 months before declaring end of life pretty much with software that only worked with the rev2.
I'll wait. Watch. Let the early droolz work out the bugs... same as 20 years ago.
This is the entry model for all "dinosaur professional":
You can put inside all your gpu,hdd,ssd,sata controller, audio card, ram and all the expensive component you buy in this years...and yes, of course, you can expand it internal as you want !
? Trash different ?
I don't think they'll be throwing out their render farm for this because the farms are all blades and that's what makes up the bulk of their machines. This is for the real-time workstation side of things so the few hundred artists or so can have it as an option. They can use Linux on it if they wanted but with modern OpenGL and this new software support, they are probably covered quite well under OS X.
If you go here:
https://developer.apple.com/wwdc/labs/
then click on videos, try using your iTunes ID or whatever ID you use to buy from the Apple Store. It's a free registration to see all the sessions.
They tend to stop software support for all devices every few years. The iPhone 3GS for example is dropped from iOS 7. Some people see it as getting burned by eventually being pushed into buying a new device but when you weigh up what you paid and the use you get from them, they're not that bad value for money. All companies have to do this to stay in business. The best strategy for a consumer is to keep upgrading where possible so they don't reach a point where the resale value drops too much but with Apple products, you can generally get something back even after a long time.
There have been a few revision 1 products that were ok. The Mini for example is one of the most reliable Macs even from the first model - people buy them as media centers. Nothing wrong with the original iPod, same with the iPad 1. They actually almost made the iPad 1 too good because if it's for basic usage like reading and browsing, it does the job just fine. The original Mac Pro had the issue of having parts stuck at 32-bit but the problems have only started to show up 6 years later at which point the use has been had out of it.
There may well be issues with this new design that don't come to light until later on but in the Pixar/Mari demo, they had a piece of software that was ported in just 6 weeks running on a pre-release OS and preview hardware and it ran a production demo without a hitch. The GPU drivers could have crashed, the interface could have glitched out, the app could have crashed, anything could have gone wrong.
I tried registering for the WWDC videos.
But Safari keeps timing out with 'too many redirects.'
:?
Lemon Bon Bon.
It's ok. I caught it on youtube from the other thread, Marv'.
Great stuff.
Lemon Bon Bon.
Quote:
Originally Posted by PhilBoogie
Safari? Why don't you use the iOS app? Even runs on the AppleTV so you can watch all videos on the big screen.
Cheers, Phil.
Lemon Bon Bon.