Giana said:

ok, well, i do in fact have nVidia, however it is an older system.  so i guess my question would be this:

if you can render using GPU, can you not also render using CPU... i mean isn't CPU simply a default kind of thing?  i don't mean necessarily the mixing/potential overflow type thing, i just mean doesn't one always have the CPU option?

Exactly!! Depending on the render engine. For example, if you use Cycles in Blender (or if GPU rendering is enabled in the next version of Poser), and you want to create/render a scene that you think will use more memory than you have on your video card (or you don't have a capable card), you use the CPU to render it (but it will be slower than GPU rendering). What happens if you try to render a scene that will consume more memory than is available on the video card varies. Some software will crash the video card drivers (which usually means a temporary lock-up of the system until the video drivers recover - and of course the program will crash), and in some instances the system will crash (the old GPU renderer with LuxRender was famous for this).

But this can be completely avoided. For an example, the way Iray has been implemented (which is a PBR now integrated into DAZ Studio), when the render engine is invoked, it monitors video RAM usage/requirements, and if the scene is to big to fit into video RAM, it will default to CPU only mode, thus protecting the user from inadvertently crashing the video card by trying to use more ram than it has. Proper implementation of Cycles into Poser could provide a similar feature to protect the user from trying to do something they can't.

I have been using PBR renderers  (primarily GPU based) almost exclusively for a couple of years now, and I have never had a total system crash (this includes being a beta tester for an Octane plugin and beta testing LuxusCore for Carrara), and have rarely experienced a video card/driver crash. This includes the "beta" version of LuxCore GPU. Now, others may have different experiences, but considering I use a laptop for all my work, I would guess that I should experience more issues than the typical user simply because laptops often have video driver issues that desktops don't.

The integration of GPU rendering would in no way take away the ability of the "average" Poser user (what ever that is) to use the CPU rendering that SM is working on now. It would simply provide more options for improved render performance. GPU rendering can easily be 5X - 50X (or more) faster than CPU rendering, depending on your system configuration (and your budget). So, by supporting both the CPU and GPU modes of Cycles, SM would be allowing the greatest possible use/adoption of the new version of Poser, regardless of system specs. No need for an Nvidia card, you could still use Cycles in CPU only mode. However, those people that have invested in high end Nvidia cards would also be able to use Cycles to take advantage of their investment.

So IMVHO, based on my experience and the facts, there has been a lot of FUD (Fear Uncertainty, and Doubt) spread about the integration of both GPU and CPU rendering with Cycles. It will in no way keep anyone from using the CPU only mode that is planned now.

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