Medical Device KS7 test bed (+ new closeup)

[Speedster]

Hi all;

Win7x64, BOXX 8920 computer running all 32 cores and 128 GB of RAM.  Build .354.

Well, after a few false starts with the new UI (the shock of the new), much long distance hand holding by Dries, and even more yowling on my part, I'm finally getting down-and-dirty in the KS7 beta testing.  I'm not trying for the WGR (World's Greatest Rendering), but to test a really large model.

Since our job is to beat up 7 beta as much as possible, I chose this Automatic Tissue Biopsy Processing Machine as my primary test bed.  I designed it about six years ago, as Lead Designer with two mechanical engineers and an automation specialist, on a team of about twenty guys and gals, mainly scientists, biophysicists, chemists, firmware guys and app designers.  It was my largest and most complex project in my 44 year career, taking almost 1 1/2 years to testing and hand-off.

I was never able to render it in KeyShot 4 or 5 (too sluggish) and I never tried it in 6.

The SolidWorks Assembly has 1741 parts, not counting the ungodly PCB's and SM components.  The raw UV mapped assembly imported in about ten minutes.  Over 101,000,000 polys, and the raw import resulted in a 1.66 GB .bip file.  With some materials it's now at 1.72 GB.

I've only started adding and adjusting materials, with MANY TBD!

So- some thoughts and observations so far...

After much yowling and pleading on my part, the dev team brought back the "Save Viewset" command, located on the Camera tab as it should be.  It's absolutely mandatory for my workflow, and I know many would agree.  But all the new toys are still there for those who hate Viewsets!  Best of both worlds!

KS7 seems to run a lot faster and snappier than 6 IMO.  I think they really nailed the resource management issues!

No crashes yet, but there is one oddity, likely due to file size.  After setting up a backplate, it often (not always) reverts to the Environment without the backplate upon rendering.  A number of toggles between scenes brings everything back again.

Not sure this will make sense, but 7 seems to have better and stronger color density and a greater range of blacks than 6.  Note I felt the same way with 6 over 5.  Understand that I use a high-end EIZO color calibrated monitor, considered the best in the business, with a range of over  five billion blacks!  I've also done thousands of KS renderings in nine years, so I have a good eye for color.  But for grins I just did a quick print of a similar 6 and 7 rendering (of a simple part) on my Epson 4880 eight-color printer, using my favorite MOAB Luster media.  The difference is remarkable!  Again, not sure here, just my perception.

Anyway, I'm quite pleased so far!

Bill G

[Will Gibbons]

Sounds like quite the project! I hear you on the reactions to changes. It can be tough when anyone spends as much time as some of us do in the program. However, after forcing myself to create new muscle memory, I'm finding that I'm happy with the changes overall. This sounds like quite the project!

[Speedster]

Win 7 x 64.  Build .374

So I decided to do a close-up, with a ton of tweaked materials, labels with texture, custom HDR (in Editor) and DOF.

The materials really impacted render time, with this 1500 wide image rendering in about 14 minutes on 32 cores.  BUT- it was almost four hours on build .364!  So something's happened!

FYI- the client required that all stainless and aluminum parts be glass beaded with a clear anodize, so there's none of the traditional "brushed" SS finishes.

I'll comment more on the technical side and issues on the Discussion page...

Bill G