The Poser 7 blurb states that it renders 4 times faster using multi-core and multi-processor systems. Just what does that mean? I'm sure my computer doesn't fit into that catergory. Even so some of the features seem to be aimed at making Poser less draining on resources during the rendering process and that in itself should improve things. From what we have heard so far from e-frontier does it sound as though it's going to be a huge improvement from 6?

Firefly is now multi-threaded. Poser 7 can create up to four processes during rendering.

Users of older computers will of course also benefit from a number of improvements. The tiled texture cache severly reduces the memory footprint of the renderer, so you can put a lot more textures and bigger textures in your scenes than ever before, without running out of memory. The improved raytracer and the irradiance cache can significantly speed up the rendering of scenes that use ambient occlusion. Occlusion culling and the improved depth of field also provide a better rendering experience on old and new computers.

and it tastes great too...;)

Please do not lick the raytracer.

Quote - Firefly is now multi-threaded. Poser 7 can create up to four processes during rendering.

Would be nice with the new Kentsfield 4-core processor soon to be released. :- )

Multi-threading was the one "reason" I was most hoping for, only using half my processor while rendering seems like a waste of resources.

Quote - and it tastes great too...;)

.....less filling!

"Poser 7 is delivered as Universal Binary, greatly increasing Macintosh performance on OS X v10.4. Native Intel Mac support generates a 300% performance boost on the latest Apple hardware compared to Poser 6."

Latest Apple Hardware = Quad Core Mac Pro. 

Quote - Users of older computers will of course also benefit from a number of improvements. The tiled texture cache severly reduces the memory footprint of the renderer, so you can put a lot more textures and bigger textures in your scenes than ever before, without running out of memory. The improved raytracer and the irradiance cache can significantly speed up the rendering of scenes that use ambient occlusion. Occlusion culling and the improved depth of field also provide a better rendering experience on old and new computers.

That is, of course unless your computer is so old its only slightly more advanced than an abbacus as mine is.  Then there's no 7 for you, your stuck with Poser 4,5,or maybe if your lucky 6.  :crying:

Don't see why they've limited to 4 threads? Some lucky so-and-so out there could have up to 16 processors ( 8 dual core on one mother board!) and that is at the moment. What's it going to be like when they start coming up with higher multiple cores, another upgrade?!
  Whilst I'm bitching; why can't we have a face room like trueSpace, where you can use any geometery as a face? It's from the same people!
   But truely I do like Poser.

I am no programming guru, but I suppose turning a program from monocore to quadcore is more complicated than from quadcore to lotsofcores, so for those who have those beasties surely will be able to use them fully in the near future.

Quote - Users of older computers will of course also benefit from a number of improvements. The tiled texture cache severly reduces the memory footprint of the renderer, so you can put a lot more textures and bigger textures in your scenes than ever before, without running out of memory. The improved raytracer and the irradiance cache can significantly speed up the rendering of scenes that use ambient occlusion. Occlusion culling and the improved depth of field also provide a better rendering experience on old and new computers.

There's something to think about.  Mine's only 4 1/2 years old and using P6 can be a chore if one's rendering so many things in one scene.  I hope it's true though.

They speak of "hard disk caching", presumably to benefit those who lack RAM.
I'm hoping that's an option and not a default, 'cause I want my 4 gigs of DDR2 to do the memory work, NOT the virtual memory.
Unless I'm misunderstanding it, that is, and if I am, please correct me. :)

Also, I'm assuming Poser 7 will be 32 bit. I know a 64 bit system can run it fine, but can a dual or quad core CPU even work properly in a 32 bit environment?

I'm not trying to be obnoxious, just it seems to me there's something wrong here, and I'd like to know the facts about the memory/processing speed stuff.

I'm hoping this isn't what it sounds like - them trying to sound good while taking advantage  of the fact that many of their customers don't know there's more to it than just saying, "It's faster because....", and "Better memory because...."

I'm also waiting to see if Poser 7 can use TIFF files with alpha channels. That would be an important step towards "professionalizing" the app, IMO

Umm..from the title of this thread. "Poser 7 renders 4x faster?"

Well gees..how about making P6 render 3x faster at least that what it is now for us. Then we can deal with the 4x faster in P7.

Quote - They speak of "hard disk caching", presumably to benefit those who lack RAM.
I'm hoping that's an option and not a default, 'cause I want my 4 gigs of DDR2 to do the memory work, NOT the virtual memory.
Unless I'm misunderstanding it, that is, and if I am, please correct me. :)

Also, I'm assuming Poser 7 will be 32 bit. I know a 64 bit system can run it fine, but can a dual or quad core CPU even work properly in a 32 bit environment?

If Poser 7 is only 32bit application then it won't use 4GB of ram. 32bit windows can allocate only 2GB of ram for an application (without "dirty" hacks). That includes virtual and real memory.
Here's some info about 32 vs 64 bit and memory http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/64-bit#Memory_limitations

That's why I hoped that Poser 7 would also have 64bit version, even more than multithreading support. I'd rather have slow renderer, than faster that whines "Out of memory" like current one. But maybe that new memory management will fix that.

Luckily dual/quad core doesn't have anything to do with 32/64bit. It's the same as multiprocessor computer from 10-15 years ago when most operating systems were 32bit, or even 16bit. So they work properly in 32bit environment, only thing that's required is that operating system supports it, and Windows XP (and 2000, and other based on NT core) do.

Thanks for the info, Solo761.
A 64 bit Poser would be the way to go for them, IMO. They're gonna have to do it sooner or later.

Hopefully that's one of still unrevealed reasons.

Although I think they can later add 64bit support to Poser with SPs. But then what will they save for Poser 8. :)

Quote - If Poser 7 is only 32bit application then it won't use 4GB of ram. 32bit windows can allocate only 2GB of ram for an application (without "dirty" hacks). That includes virtual and real memory.
Here's some info about 32 vs 64 bit and memory http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/64-bit#Memory_limitations

That's why I hoped that Poser 7 would also have 64bit version, even more than multithreading support. I'd rather have slow renderer, than faster that whines "Out of memory" like current one. But maybe that new memory management will fix that.

Luckily dual/quad core doesn't have anything to do with 32/64bit. It's the same as multiprocessor computer from 10-15 years ago when most operating systems were 32bit, or even 16bit. So they work properly in 32bit environment, only thing that's required is that operating system supports it, and Windows XP (and 2000, and other based on NT core) do.

I could be wrong but isn't it 2 gig max per thread? that would mean that you could use 8 gigs for the four threads. (Again its been a while since i read the specs so.... )

Also Poser does not need to be 64 bit. (Its been discussed before.) What would benefit from 64-bit support is the renderer, the hair/cloth rooms, and anything else that does large number crunching. If you want to know if the raytracer can handle 64 bit check out the company that codes it for e-f. If their current version is 64 bit you might get lucky.

Quote - I could be wrong but isn't it 2 gig max per thread? that would mean that you could use 8 gigs for the four threads. (Again its been a while since i read the specs so.... )

Also Poser does not need to be 64 bit. (Its been discussed before.) What would benefit from 64-bit support is the renderer, the hair/cloth rooms, and anything else that does large number crunching. If you want to know if the raytracer can handle 64 bit check out the company that codes it for e-f. If their current version is 64 bit you might get lucky.

I'm not sure about that. In dual core processors every core (processor) has access to the same memory, and if they work under 32bit OS then they can allocate maximum of 2^32 memory addresses, i.e. 4GBs of RAM. If each core could allocate it's own 4GBs of RAM, and they still share load that would be very inefficient since you'd need double amount of RAM for the same thing. Kinda like how SLI graphic cards work.

In real life, there are some tricks, like PAE (Physical  Address Extension) which enables 32bit processors to allocate up to 64GBs of ram. But that ability isn't used very much although modern processor support it.

64bit OS can allocate 2^64 memory addresses which is 16x64GB's. And AFAIK 64bit windows can allocate more than 2GB per application. That would eliminate current memory roof that poser has, and also eliminate the dreaded "Out of memory" message. There would also be some speed increase, since 64bit CPU, with 64bit OS, works with 64bit integers, as compared to 32bit integers that we have now, but we would gain more with just the memory side than speed increase.

Quote - I could be wrong but isn't it 2 gig max per thread?

The limit is per process, the number of threads a process has doesn't matter.

I stand corrected.
Funny though when I render in shade it created separate PID's for each thread. Is this what  Solo761 is talking about?

Quote -
In real life, there are some tricks, like PAE (Physical  Address Extension) which enables 32bit processors to allocate up to 64GBs of ram. But that ability isn't used very much although modern processor support it.