[Bf-committers] Re: Linux + Blender faq

GSR - FR bf-committers@blender.org
Sun, 1 Aug 2004 17:27:02 +0200


jjulio.pena@verizon.net.do (2004-07-31 at 2128.36 -0400):
> possible under Linux. You need to render your animations to an uncompressed file, and then use another program to 
> do any needed video compression.

Not correct. The difference is that in Linux you can only use the
Blender internally supported codecs, Raw and MJPEG, but there is no
way to use external codecs like in other OSes. You are not avoiding
codecs as your text seems to say. And I am pretty sure MJPEG is a
codec that compresses, and in a lossy way, btw.

People can also render to separate pictures and assemble later. Using
PNG one can save space (Raw problem) without lossing quality (MJPEG
problem). It is another solution with its pros and cons... and as you
are always forced to use other tools if you do not want Raw or MJPEG,
it is a pretty good one when you are sure you are going to use other
codec (multi machine rendering, fucked up renders are easy to
recover, on-the-render checking...).

> Blender uses OpenGL for all it's GUI drawing operations, so having an OpenGL accelerated graphic card truly does a 
> difference when it comes to GUI response time.  
> 
> On most Linux distros the OpenGL drivers used are provided by the MESA project, which are OK for general work, but 
> aren't precisely the best choice for 3D work.  Check if your graphic card maker provides Linux drivers for your card. 
> By replacing the general MESA driver with a driver made specifically for your card you could see speed increases up to 
> 400% (my own experience) or maybe more.

Uh? You are mixing things. Today's hw drivers are DRI or proprietary
(from chip designer or from companies like Xig). DRI uses Mesa, and it
works acceptably fast. In some cases it is all you will get, and in
others it is better to lose some speed than fuck up the install,
depends on user skills. Saying that Mesa is bad is not right, you do
not want users scared cos they got "DRI Mesa" when they ran glxinfo.
"Mesa Indirect" is when things get nasty, cos you have 0 hw accel, it
is Mesa doing all in software. What matters in the end is if hw accel
is working or not.

> Nvidia, Ati and many other graphic card manufacturers provide Linux drivers for their cards.

And DRI provides acceptable drivers for ATI up to 9200, Intel
chipsets, Matrox and some others. Of course, for 9500 and newer, or
all NVidia, you have to use the proprietary drivers (lots of howtos
around the net) or you end using Mesa software based fallback. And I
dunno what is the current status with PPC users and propietary drivers
(probably not good at all, only lucky people would be those that can
use DRI).

> * Why are they 2 versions of Blender for Linux? What does the static/dynamic mean?
> 
> Actually there are 4 versions of Blender for Linux, one for x386 processors and one for PowerPC processors.  Each one of 
> them having dynamic and statics flavors available. (2 x 2 = 4).

Four, one and one, two, write things in a clearer way, four, two and
two, four. Or separate processor from versions or something, it is a
FAQ, docs have to be clear. "There are two versions for each currently
supported CPU family (x86 and PPC), one named static and the other
dynamic. So first make sure you get the file(s) for your CPU kind, and
now lets explain what of each version means: ..."

GSR