CS4 & GPU accelerated effects

so what ? Adobe wakes up and realized that nowdays, a lots of power is not used in your graphic cards. And so, you could have very fast processing power to allocate to graphics operations !
(that's why Nvidia build their own way of programming their GPUs using CUDA specific language. more on CUDA on another post...)

that's mean that some effects are now REALTIME !!!
but they use OpenGL instead of directX, so you have some limitations...

http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=kb404898

OpenGL/GPU features in Adobe Photoshop CS4 are:

• Smooth Display at ALL Zoom Levels
• Animated Zoom Tool
  
• Animated Transitions when doing a One Stop Zoom
• Hand Toss Image
• Birdseye View
• Rotate Canvas
• Smooth Display of Non Square Pixel Images
• Pixel Grid
• Move Color Matching to the GPU
• Draw Brush Tip Editing Feedback via GPU
• 3D GPU features include:
  
  • 3D Acceleration
  • 3D Axis
  • 3D Lights Widget
  • Accelerated 3D Interaction via Direct To Screen

see the video here :
http://www.nvidia.com/object/builtforadobepros.html

As usual Nvidia is trying to convince you that's you can get this only when using their expensive Quadro cards, but that completely false, as Adobe itself explains :
http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=kb405445&sliceId=2

and "The NVIDIA® Quadro® CX is the accelerator for Adobe® Creative Suite® 4" let me laugh :
- this apps ONLY works in premiere CS4, and ONLY for export into H.264 video
- it is NOT MADE BY ADOBE itself, they buy the licence from elementals technology
(http://www.elementaltechnologies.com/ the RapiHD™ Accelerator, that is a bundled and light version of Badaboom™ Media Converter)
- yes it's not the full version but a special bundled one.
- and sorry to kill you again, but as you can see on Anandtech review "Elemental also indicated that performance scales linearly with the number of SPs in the GPU, so presumably the GeForce GTX 280 should be nearly 90% faster (at least at the GPU-accelerated functions) than a GeForce 9800 GTX. "
- in fact the quadro CX is a brand new hardware card based on.. Geforce GTx260. So lower that GTX280. cost 2 000$ !!! and the Geforce GTX 260 is about 300$
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia_Quadro and http://www.vr-zone.com/articles/nvidia-quadro-cx-speeds-up-adobe-creative-suite-4/6127.html)
- as elemental list themselves , http://www.badaboomit.com/?q=node/4
Minimum System Requirements
1.6 GHz Intel or AMD dual core CPU
NVIDIA GeForce 8 series or later CUDA enabled GPU


adobe CS4 supported OS :
Windows XP 32
Windows Vista 32
Windows Vista 64

Windows XP 64 : OpenGL is not supported on Windows XP 64 because XP 64-bit drivers aren't written to support this technology.
what a joke !!! I mean, i HAVE personally worked on IBM workstation with XP64 and quadro cards, and tested 3dsMax 9 with openGL. And nvidia does have drivers on XP64...
i will test this at work ASAP and report it here...

from Nvidia documentation :
Hardware and Software Support
Supported Operating Systems
This Release 178 driver includes drivers designed for the following Microsoft®
operating systems:
• Microsoft Windows® XP
• Windows XP Professional
• Windows XP Home Edition
• Windows XP Professional x64 Edition
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition1
• Microsoft Windows 2000

http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp64_178.26.html

UPDATE : tested at work with xp64 sp2, 8800GT and latest drivers... doesn't work ! so seem something is locked. if it's true, that means that the only avaible option is Vista 64. so bad...

quadro demystified

hi ! let's talk a little about Nvidia "quadro" cards...

i just copy and past here an excellent article from Tech ARP website :
"The NVIDIA Quadro family of professional graphics cards are very, very expensive. They are generally 2-5X more expensive than their gaming counterparts, the NVIDIA GeForce graphics cards. But everyone knows that Quadro and GeForce graphics cards are virtually identical in hardware.

Yes, you read that right. Even with the unbelievable price tag, the NVIDIA Quadro is really no different from their desktop GeForce counterparts. So why is NVIDIA charging you so much for a Quadro?

It all revolves around the driver support for professional 3D applications like 3ds Max or Maya. Quadro drivers allow the Quadro to be used to accelerate the rendering operations of such professional 3D applications while GeForce drivers do not. This is the basis for the premium prices NVIDIA (and ATI) charge for their professional-grade graphics cards."

some facts :

1) quadro is using the SAME hardware than geforce (and in fact older one)

2) you just paying to get... specific drivers, that works ONLY in very few applications. As a QA analysis for autodesk 3DS max 9, i can say :

- the drivers for quadro (and especially openGL) are always old, and get few updates. because the certification process is very long. and vendors are afraid of compatibility issues. so you get something working, but do not benefit from updated drivers boost.

- 3DS Max 9 (and more and more others) has jumped into directX world, so i don't think you get any benefit using a quadro here !

3) by the end the best world is to get a nice new hardware part for a good price : the geforce, and then use the "quadro specific openGL drivers" on it. that's called "sof mod", very easy and secure to do. http://www.techarp.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=539&pgno=0

4) quadro family specs : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia_Quadro

PS : for now, the best geforce are GT280 and GT260... but only 1 year old, and NO QUADRO comparable card are available. i remember you that the GT2xx cards have about 2x horsepower that anything before (in nvidia). so why to pay 5x the price to get an old and half powered quadro card ?

UPDATE : yes nvidia as the new Quadro CX based on Geforce GTX260 chipset avaible for $2 000 (instead of 300$ for the geforce equivalent lol)

http://www.vr-zone.com/articles/nvidia-quadro-cx-speeds-up-adobe-creative-suite-4/6127.html