ArchiCAD 18 not using GPU when rendering?

[Anonymous]

I decided to monitor my components when rendering inside ArchiCAD 18 (educational version).

When using any engine, I see that all CPU cores are in use (good), but the GPU is literally idling (bad). My GTX 780 is above what's "tested and recommended" by Graphisoft for this software, but maybe there's something in configuration I am missing?

[Bricklyne Clarence]

laszlonagy wrote:
Maxon says on this page:

http://www.maxon.net/products/cinema-4d-broadcast/rendering.html

With support for multiple processors, HyperThreading and Multi-core technology, CINEMA 4D squeezes every ounce of rendering power out of your computer.

So I am supposing the CineRender in ArchiCAD uses all 8 threads. When I am rendering 7 of them are maxed out, and the 8th is at 50-60%.

I knew that Cinema 4D did utilize hyper-threading (most CPU-based render engines do).

I just wasn't sure that ArchiCAD did as well.



It's still not clear if it does, since the actual process for rendering in AC18 is completely separate (Cinerender.exe and not ArchiCAD.exe) - unlike in previous versions in which Lightworks runs as part of the ArchiCAD executable process in the Task manager.

(in fact, the same case applies with Maxwell as well, I believe; when you use FIRE - the realtime preview within ArchiCAD. it's all one process within ArchiCAD. Maybe that's the reason why the processes have to be completely separate with Cinerender in AC18 - apart from allowing the user to still be able to use ArchiCAD while a render runs in the background).

[Anonymous]

It's not so much processing power as much as memory capacity that they lack.

The latest version of OctaneRender (and the next release of the OctaneRender for ArchiCAD plugin) allows the storing of texturemaps in CPU RAM if video card VRAM is full. So for an ArchiCAD scene it is almost impossible to run out of VRAM on a 4GB graphics card (since 20millions polygons take around 3GB's). There is a small perform hit when storing texturemaps in CPU RAM.

Paul

[Bricklyne Clarence]

paulk wrote:

It's not so much processing power as much as memory capacity that they lack.

The latest version of OctaneRender (and the next release of the OctaneRender for ArchiCAD plugin) allows the storing of texturemaps in CPU RAM if video card VRAM is full. So for an ArchiCAD scene it is almost impossible to run out of VRAM on a 4GB graphics card (since 20millions polygons take around 3GB's). There is a small perform hit when storing texturemaps in CPU RAM.

Paul

That's pretty cool.

It seems almost ridiculous that most GPU renderers can't take advantage of the CPU RAM, which, in some systems you can have be as high as 64GB or more in your system.