Someone know why it's impossible to enable the SMP option on CS2.1? I have a PowerMac G4 dual 1GHZ. Thanks in advance, TOXE

I think that SMP only works in OSX. I have the same machine at work and SMP works fine (in X).

I have the same machine as well, and the SMP in only works in OSX. But, then again, C2.1 works better in OSX anyway. I'm using OSX 10.1.5

Hi Toxe, It's the operating system for sure. OS10.x will recognize dual processors and perform the multi-threading operations that allow each processor to work indepndently; OS9.x will not - even operating in classic mode within OSX. It's worth it to make the jump to OSX. I've been running without any issues of note for 9 months... The best part of OSX is that you can start a render in Carrara and then go work in Photoshop, InDesign or Quark without any problems while the render grinds away! :) Mark

Thanks for your helps. When Eovia will release Amapi 7, it will be the right moment to move all my baggages on MacOsX. Another question, have you seen some differences using Carrara2.1 on OsX or Jaguar? BTW, many thanks. TOXE

Every thing I use simply runs better. And of course, thanks to SMP, Carrara renders almost twice as fast. Also using Open GL allows for using High Resolution texturing in the assembly room including transparency. That's nice. Amapi is more stable on my system under Classic within OSX than it was under OS9 but saving often is still a good idea. One word of caution though. When Carrara upgrades happen, Eovia recommends doing a complete fresh reinstall of Carrara instead of simply just allowing the software modify the existing, lower version of Carrara. Do it. Strange little behaviors occur in the software if you don't. Mark

when you say a reinstall do you have to delete the old file and insert the disk or just insert the disk and install again. (Thats what I did) Not to technically adept John

Hi John, It means trashing the old completely and then installing off of the original CD. (make sure to pull out any third party extensions first; they won't cause any problems and can be used again) Carrara is not the only program that this affects. There are some others that I use that make the same recommendation. OSX is very good at finding application parts too. If your'e paranoid like me, I tried being careful and duplicated the orginal Carrara folder to another hard drive during my first Carrara OSX upgrade in case something went wrong during the upgrade. Everything went well and new files worked great. However, when I launched old Carrara files with the updated Carrara, the program would "find" some of the original program parts, referenced by the file, that had bugs from the original Carrara Application on the other disk. Then my updated Carrara would function in a buggy fashion. Trashing the duplicated application on the other disk fixed the problem. You probably didn't need to know that but you never know... Mark

OK guys...what's SMP?
deedub

Hi Deedub, I honestly don't know what the S stands for but the MP is for Multi-Processor. The option is not available in the render settings if you don't have a system with multi-processors. Mark

Symetrical Multi-Processor. As in dual identical processors that the system can allocate 1 to one program, and allow you to run another application on the other processor. Or, as in Carrara, you can force the system to use both processors to double (almost) the rendering speed.

Thanks for the info. I'm still hammering away on a souped-up Mac 9650 Server. ...dw