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Hello,
The last log was mostly about S1 & Ch2. This log now includes some new Season 2 stuff.
How so?
Well, I got an upgrade.
If you don't care about hardware and behind-the-scenes stuff. Scroll down until the previews start.
I was running into a wall with a scene in SG. I couldn't render it as it featured the big classroom & 11+ visible characters.
Sure, I could've used fewer characters but that's not the solution to the issue.
Especially in the college, I want to show crowded scenes with lots of students and professors running around.
I value immersion more than the actual image quality by now.
At first, I tried to render the scene in two images. (Hide half the people -> Render it -> Show/Hide the other half -> Render it -> Put together in Photoshop.
It didn't work. The scene is so crowded and everyone so close to one another that the shadows were fucked and seams started to form.
I also tried to remove some characters, but I couldn't even render the 7 characters. (From 12 to 7.)
Then I wanted to move that scene over to the WiAB PC to render it with the A6000. Yeaaah, the WiAB PC was lacking 50-100 assets that I would've had to hunt down.
And the new Cloud library is still uploading (It's been weeks.).
So I reached out to a B2B business in Germany that sells hardware and asked them for an offer for two A6000 Ada's.
These fuckers come in at 10k€ in Germany. Each.
So, I talked to them over the phone and told them what I would need... and that I'm looking for a reliable hardware business to work with.
I got both A6000 Ada's for 13k. I also didn't buy them but leased them, as it's super easy to deduct 100% of the cost as a business expense.
And the best/saddest part? The leasing rate of these cards together is less than 40% of my monthly energy bill. Let that sink in.
I didn't like the Ada. I didn't want to get it. And now I tested them for two days.
I knew they would be slower than my current setup...
But I was wrong. Those Ada's outperform my 4090+3090 easily.
I have some numbers:
4090 + 3090
Render 1: 6:28min
Render 2: 8:42min
2x A6000 Ada:
Render 1: 5:13
Render 2: 7:01
The reason I didn't want to get the Ada was that they got rid of the NvLink and memory pooling.
But I found an SLI option in the Nvidia settings... And I think it somewhat works.
I went back to the scene I couldn't render previously and rendered it without any issues. (12 Characters).
I then noticed something funny... The cards were only using 25 GB VRAM out of 48.
How is that possible?
If that was the case, the 4090 & 3090 should've been able to render the version with 7 characters. (These cards have 24GB VRAM and the scene would've definitely dropped below 24GB by removing 5 characters.)
That's why I think the SLI (NvLInk) actually works to a degree. Theorethically I could render this scene with 24-26 characters.
That's amazing.
So yeah, I gave in and got myself two Ada's for a "decent" price and now have a friendly relationship with a B2B Hardware business in Germany. (Which will help a lot in the future.)
And I'm very impressed by the Ada's. I never expected them to be faster than my 4090+3090.
They also only use half the energy compared to the 4090/3090 combo.
I could also add two more of them to the case.
I hate to say it... But the Ada's delivered.
Prepare for some big, immersive scenes in the future.
And now I'll answer the question from the beginning: How am I able to do Season 2 again?
Thanks to the Ada, I can now do what I've been doing with WiAB for SG.
Work on two updates at the same time.
Previously, I couldn't do it if any scene featured more than two characters. (In each Daz instance).
Alrighty, let's start with the Season 2 previews. (Limited to three.) 4K attached.
Judging by how S1 ended. Season 2 has different starting routes. (Mila, the Cheeto & solo)
Some Mila.
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I'm kinda sick of the Cheeto's open hair. It's such a low quality asset. I also don't like to use her ponytail all the time, so I've begun to experiment with new hairstyles.
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The look the Cheeto gives you while you try to explain, why taking a bath together is a bad idea before she dismisses everything you just said with a funky "Yo!"
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Now to the current priority target. Season 1.
Sadly, the A6000s arrived after I finished the basketball scene... So I had to limit myself there.
But the basketball is done and only a few smaller scenes are left and then I'll need to do the postwork and... Oh god... The gallery for Chapter 2 & Chapter 5.
Some more basketball comparisons. 4k Attached.
I had to laugh a few times when I checked out the older images... Like what the actual fuck.
Old (Bella slamming MC into oblivion.)
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Obviously, the new version has a much better dynamic. Bella isn't a hulk anymore, you'll actually deal some blows to her too this time, and the scene flows much better.
New
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Less than 200 lines are left. I can see the light.
It also feels so good to work on Season 2 again.
Oh, I almost forgot. I've also started to work on the first Blender cinematic. It's the new Intro for SG, as I sadly had to remove the old one due to music license issues.
I bought the license for the new intro song almost two years ago. Since then this intro cinematic has been in my head... and soon I get to use the music.
I feel good.
I hope you do too.
- Ocean
