CGI FT starships (was :Re: A small request.... :-))

Tim Jones wrote:

> 64Mb+ machine should be Ok, depends how efficient the renderer is,
> but a 1600+ rez image is still going to crawl. For a print cover
> 300 dpi (11.81 dpmm) should be good enough - that would be a
> resolution of
>
> 3507 x 2480 x 3 (24 bit) = 27 Mb

Think your numbers are right, but you have to realise that's just to
hold the finished 2D image in RAM. The 3D model also has a RAM
requirement which depends not on the size of the final image but on the
complexity of the scene being rendered and is therefore less
predictable. 64 MB would probably be enough, but this sort of thing is
the reason professional CGI artists, regardless of the platform they are
using, have /obscene/ amounts of RAM in their computers.

I just don't want someone to spend a lot of time & effort designing a
completely accurate Kra'Vak battlecruiser, only to find it's not
possible to actually get a completed image on their machine.

On a side note - and with Jon T's agreement - would it not be a good
thing to collect all the 'finalised' ships together on a website, in
some common format like DXF or 3DMF? Obviously Jon T would retain
copyright over the final images actually used within the books but it
would be nice if we could perhaps be able to use each others ships in
images. It could even create an ongoing catalogue of images for use on
websites etc..

			TTFN
				Jon

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"In a tribe of chimpanzees I was a monkey.."
Jonathan White, COS group, Manchester University