GPU vs CPU Rendering?

Started by masonspappy, November 19, 2021, 05:12:45 PM

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masonspappy

In the past there were a few discussions of Terragen being able to use GPU rendering in addition to CPU rendering. Does anyone know if GPU rendering for TG will ever be implemented?

WAS

I thought something was being worked on for accelerating renders via the GPU (off-loading certain tasks) but I don't think TG will become fully GPU driven. GPU driver compatibility/etc for a full render engine, I imagine would be a helluva lot to maintain as one person. I mean Blender is just now getting AMD support decades later, and only for latest series of RDNA2 cards.

Matt

Just because milk is white doesn't mean that clouds are made of milk.

Dune

:) :) :)  if indeed. That would be great news!

masonspappy


WAS

I sure hope atmospherics is the first thing to benefit. That would make stuff sooooo much faster.

Dune

If Matt can pull off something like NDunes does - even with less quality - it would be an amazing new feature, and open doors for much faster animations. I'd sacrifice sharpness/detail for good lighting (like PT), as frames usually blur into eachother anyway. If you look at the enormous speed of GPU rendering in NDunes; just a few seconds for a screensize frame, well......

WAS

Yeah, and it even runs pretty darn well even on my RX 580 even though it's below spec (though wasn't for beta, but I guess they want to ensure quality and review)

paulcurtis

Not that it needs any more encouragement but GPU rendering could be perfect for something which is basically all procedural. 

I've used VRay GPU extensively for volumetric rendering and we're talking an order of magnitude faster. 2K and 4K frames of volumes can be rendered across a bunch of 30xx nvidia cards in a production environment - something that cpu based needed external render farms.

So i am all for GPU - even if it only supported nvidia/RTX cards to start with

Cheers
Paul

beataprieto

I understand. Thank you for your answer.

Jeremy

#10
I wonder if GPU rendering for clouds will be available when new powerful rtx4000 released in autumn. Would be very nice to have almost real time rendering  :)  Also which GPU to use for more speed, when you have 2+ GPU.

WAS

Hopefully. It would be nice. I just hope it's general use, not like Blender and stuff, written for specific cards.

Jeremy

Quote from: WAS on April 30, 2022, 12:30:57 PMHopefully. It would be nice. I just hope it's general use, not like Blender and stuff, written for specific cards.
Just curious about progress of GPU rendering. Theoretically, when will the update can be released? I know this is a lot of work. Maybe in this year, two or 5. This info would help me plan future hardware purchase.

zaxxon

I think everyone here is curious as well.  Except for the cryptic 'yes' from Matt 17 months ago there hasn't been any further word from Planetside regarding any progress (that I know of).  Personally, while I have a true affection for Terragen and respect Matt's genius; the availability of so many world building software options with GPU support and the recent price drops in graphics cards make this a good time to purchase hardware. Given the World situation who knows what's up the road. To wait on purchasing hardware for Terragen to update,  may not be the best way to go.  :(