Basic Animation Rig

Status
Not open for further replies.
madnav

madnav

Forerunner
A friend of mine has joined animation classes for 3ds max and maya and he wants to purchase a basic animation rig...or if possible, upgrade the current one..
current config:
E5300 + Gigabyte G31 @ 3.2GHz
2GB 800MHz
320GB HDD
19" Samsung LCD, TN panel, he also has to play with colours but currently can not spend on a better display.. but display is his next upgrade.

out of the above, the monitor will remain no matter if he buys new rig or upgrades the current one.

Im thinking of a an X4 with 4GB DDR2/3 as bare minimum.

Very confused about which gpu to buy.
Maya and 3ds max requirements suggest getting dx10, openGL card but no specific suggestions

for reference:
Autodesk - Autodesk 3ds Max Products - System Requirements
Autodesk - Autodesk Maya - System Requirements

budget: As low as it can be. basically need vfm over specific branding.
 
Beginners don't need an 'animation' rig.

Just urgrade the ram to 6gb/8gb and throw in a Sapphire HD5670 and he'll be good to go.
 
though you have not quoted the budget

amd way--

AMD Phenom II X2 555BE or AMD Athlon II X4 635 Propus (if he can bit extend)- 4.8k/5k

Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H- 4.5k

kingston 2*2 ddr3- 3.2k

500gb wd (assuming he still keeps his current hdd, else 1tb)- 1.8k

Sapphire 512MB DDR5 HD5670 -4.5k

total 18.8k (20k)
 
ronit said:
though you have not quoted the budget

amd way--

AMD Phenom II X2 555BE or AMD Athlon II X4 635 Propus (if he can bit extend)- 4.8k/5k

Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H- 4.5k

kingston 2*2 ddr3- 3.2k

500gb wd (assuming he still keeps his current hdd, else 1tb)- 1.8k

Sapphire 512MB DDR5 HD5670 -4.5k

total 18.8k (20k)
Click to expand...
+ 1 The rig you should aim for. Core2 Duo and Quads have horrible scaling as compared to the new Athlon II and Phenom II ( entry-level ) editions not the Xtreme Edition Quads + try to get a Fermi based cards they are better on the rendering front than ATi's offering but if out of budget no problems with Radeon.

Change the processor to the new AMD 645 Athlon II successor of the Athlon II 635

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/188?vs=89

Hope this helped :)
 
AMD Athlon II x4 640 @ 5.2k
MSI 785GM E51 @ 3.6k
Kingston 2 * 2GB DDR3 1333MHz @ 3.4k
WD 500GB Blue @ 1.8k
MSI Geforce GTS450 Cyclone @ 7.8k
FSP saga II 500W @ 2.1k
CM Elite 310 @ 1.5k

Total - 25.4k

Get GTS450 as CUDA will help you in rendering.
 
@Jaskanwar Singh

why should he get the old athlon core when for same price/lesser price he is getting phenom which s better than c2d & quad??
 
current config:
E5300 + Gigabyte G31 @ 3.2GHz
2GB 800MHz
320GB HDD
19" Samsung LCD
Click to expand...

There's no reason why he can't practice on his current rig. At the most, put in 2 more GB of ram and he'll be good. He'll be doing only modeling in the beginning, so a cpu upgrade is not required immediately. Later on, search for a used q6600 or q9650 in TE market.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
zhopudey said:
There's no reason why he can't practice on his current rig. At the most, put in 2 more GB of ram and he'll be good. He'll be doing only modeling in the beginning, so a cpu upgrade is not required immediately. Later on, search for a used q6600 or q9650 in TE market.
Click to expand...
I do agree with that.

But a Processor upgrade will give some boost.

Additionally a Good GFX card from nVidia like GTS450 or GTX460 will ease up lot of pressure on other components.
 
Phenom has L3 cache which athlon lacks and it does make a hug difference.

& in which world did i say here to unlock the 555be to quad? Do read before posting.

i simply said to stick@default
 
I'd suggest sticking to the current rig, until your friend feels that he's lagging behind due to lack of computing power. If he's just started learning 3d, it'll be a while before he comes to that. I'm learning 3d from scratch & atm even my p4, 1gig ram doesn't feel sluggish in any way. It'll only be once I come to heavy scenes with shadows, GI, particles etc. that the newer tech will make the difference in rendering speed. In fact, he'll probably learn to optimize scenes better, if the PC's not upto snuff.

If he's already done with modeling, texturing, rigging etc., but just starting with animating, he'll still be spending most of his time refining animation & working on basic principles such as timing, spacing, weight, appeal, etc. before he comes to the final renders with everything enabled.

In short, imo, an upgrade isn't an urgent necessity. No matter how much computing power you have, it's never enough. [People use render farms & still can't get enough - You will have to optimize/fake in a production environment]. However, if he still wants to upgrade, I agree with the x4 635 suggestion. Wrt the RAM, it depends on the size of the textures/scene, how many programs you use simultaneously etc. Best way to decide would be to go in with the minimum required by the software of choice - eg. Max vs Maya, Zbrush vs Mudbox etc... & you can always upgrade later. [In fact, the prices of DDR3 will fall]

Lastly, I feel the gfx card should be the last thing on your mind. AFAIK the card is mainly used for the viewports framerate. So if it's a heavy scene, then you'll require it. [& that's still a long way away] But again, cross the river/bridge when you come to it.

I may be entirely wrong, but this is my opinion based on having started learning 3d on a P4 with 1gig of RAM. HTH. Ciao.
 
+1 to all recommendations to not go for an upgrade.

He doesn't need a better rig till he gets to lighting. And even then, at a student level, as long as the cooling is right he wont face any issues. If the cooling gets screwed, then his comp will heat up and restart while rendering which is a pain in the ass. So for now, get the course done and over with, taking care that the comp doesn't heat up excessively. Save up on the cash and buy a killer rig when he's making his final showreel because that is something he's gonna have to finish without any hardware hiccups and plus he can freelance till he lands a job.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom