Novedge Bunkspeed Pro Webinar: Q&A with David Randle

Did you miss yesterday's webinar with Brian Hillner on Bunkspeed Pro? Don't worry, you can still watch it on our YouTube Channel. All our webinars are always available online and free of charge.

The questions from the audience were so many that David Randle from the Bunkspeed team took some time to answer those we couldn't fit in our live broadcast. Here they are.

Q: What hardware is the demo being run on?

A: Brian [Hillner, the webinar presenter] is using a machine with 2 Fermi based GPU's (1x Quadro 6000 and 1x Tesla C2070) and is running at a resolution of 2560x1600px. It is a single CPU, 12GB RAM configuration.

Q: How significant is the performance between Fermi and Kepler architecture?

A: As of right now, performance on Kepler is only fractionally better than Fermi. iRay (the renderer we use) is still undergoing improvements to leverage the massive hardware performance gain of the Kepler architecture. Also, keep in mind that although Kepler is only fractionally faster than Fermi, the Kepler cards consume 30 – 40% less power so they are much more efficient.

Q: What are the options for sending Pro/E geometry to Bunkspeed?

A: We have a free plugin available here that allows you to push your geometry directly from Pro/E or Creo into our products. We have a version going live soon that also supports Creo2.

Q: Please explain the functionality of Powerboost…

A: PowerBoost is a separate product which gets installed on a dedicated “rendering” machine. When installed, it allows users within a workgroup to send their renders (via queue) to the dedicated PowerBoost machine to render. This allows users to keep working on their desktops and never have to wait for a render on their own machine. As a note, PowerBoost connectivity is only available in our Pro and Drive products

Q: Is there a limit on how many GPUs Bunkspeed can use?

A: Pro is licensed for up to 2 GPUs but it can be configured to use up to 8 in a single machine. More info about how to do this can be obtained from your Novedge sales contact who can work with us to get you what you need.

Q: How come queue doesn't work?

A: Queue should function just fine. If it isn't, I would suggest approaching support@bunkspeed.com so we can make sure it is working for you. Common issues are the result of port conflicts with Anti-Virus software or licensing when using a floating version of Pro/Drive, as Queue Service checks out a license and if that license isn't checked back in (by stopping the Queue Service), then other users can't check out Pro/Drive or Queue on another machine.

Q: Is it possible to export the object and camera?

A: It is possible to export your object as an OBJ or FBX right now via File > Export. We are currently working on also exporting the camera data via FBX. This should make it into our next release. In addition, we also support importing of animated FBX files…

Q: Did Bunkspeed intend to use a live plugin for HDR Light Studio?

A: We currently have a way to "live update" modification you make to an HDR in HDR Light Studio using our auto-update feature. HDR Light Studio has been busy working on their API to support our dev environment and we are looking to have a tighter integration with their product as soon as their work is ready.

Interested in Bunkspeed? Find out the details here.

Do you love webinars? Check the upcoming webinars in the Novedge Webinar Series here.