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[CoriDavis]

So I need a new laptop... bad.  1GB RAM and a crap processor just isn't working for me. I have to deal with freezes, whitescreens, and lag ALL the time which makes Anim8or and everything else I do hard.  (Latitude-D531, this thing was made in at least 2006!)

So whenever the day comes that I get the new latop of my dreams, I'm considering Windows 7.  I have XP now, and it does everything I need it to, but how will getting 7 affect Anim8or? I've seen the conversations about issues on other operating systems so I'm wondering, is it worth the switch?

[Navek]

My parents have a windows 7 laptop with a better graphics card, processor etc, then what i'm using currently... unfortunately i've never managed to get anim8or to run on it while running windows 7. The latest linux ubuntu release does work with anim8or though, but thats really the only thing i've tested in linux.

[davdud101]

Maybe it's not the computer... but the program. I'm using the 0.95 beta version of Anim8or, which actually is quite old now, maybe 4-5 years? On a Win7 tower/desktop with 7GB of RAM and a quad-core processor... And I'm still struggling.

[ENSONIQ5]

I have been running Anim8or on Win 7 with no problems whatsoever, on both 32-bit (at work) and 64-bit (at home).  Windows 7 has a couple of tools that allow it to run older software.  To start with, right-clicking on the Anim8or icon allows access to a compatibility wizard that, in most cases, is able to resolve any issues that might occur.  I did have to do this for Anim8or on both versions of W7 but it takes about a minute and has worked perfectly.  At work I needed to run old versions of Corel graphics suite and the wizard could not resolve compatibility issues, I resolved this by running an XP virtual machine (all free downloads from Microsoft) with no further compatibility issues at all.  The virtual machine runs as a window within W7 and will run anything that runs on XP.  Not all systems are capable of running VM's, you shouldn't need it to run Anim8or but it is worth making sure your new machine is able to before buying.

davdud101: That system should be making mincemeat of Anim8or... the processors will hardly be working during modelling, rigging etc.  Bear in mind however, Anim8or's renderers will be slow on any system as they do not support multi-threading.  Rendering in Anim8or will have one of your 4 processors about 50% utilised at the most, the other processors will be twiddling their thumbs.  Unfortunately there's not a lot you can do about this, it's just the way the renderers work.

[CoriDavis]

Okay, so it looks like I shouldn't have any problems with Anim8or on 7. that's great! I'm convinced I should get it now.  I'll admit I feel a bit "left behind" that I'm still using XP, lol

[$imon]

Haha using XP is no shame... I'm still using it (with a windows 2000 theme lol)! Works great, no problems - why switch if I don't have to? I like its simplicity and light running.
Windows 7 of course has different strong points and would be just as good! As long as Anim8or runs of course...

Good luck with dreaming about your pc - or will there actually be a purchase soon?

[CoriDavis]

Well, if my parents cave in to my begging and puppy eyes this Christmas (or with HUGE luck, my birthday which is next month) It hopefully will come true.  One thing's for sure, I am not going for a used one EVER again. Big mistake.

[dwsel]

davdud101: That system should be making mincemeat of Anim8or... the processors will hardly be working during modelling, rigging etc.  Bear in mind however, Anim8or's renderers will be slow on any system as they do not support multi-threading.  Rendering in Anim8or will have one of your 4 processors about 50% utilised at the most, the other processors will be twiddling their thumbs.  Unfortunately there's not a lot you can do about this, it's just the way the renderers work.

Can't fully agree here. There is a thing you can do (it applies to animation). When you have i.e. 100 frames to be rendered on 4 cores and have enough RAM - run 4 instances of Anim8tor. Each rendering different range of frames from the same scene: 1st core - 0-25, 2nd - 26-50 etc. Instant 4x speedup (and check settings before - AA settings and active cam are not saved inside the file). And the fun starts when you have more than one computer... you can make your own renderfarm then Just you need to check paths to your textures, take careful notes which frames are already rendered and assigned to be renderer to which core on which computer and at the end synchronize manually all the files and join into movie file.

As a side note... Actually 3 instances (with multithreading option on) on 4 cores work for me more optimal: each of 3 instances having own core and the last core (filled not 100%) serving for GUI calls for all of these Anim8tor instances.

[ENSONIQ5]

Good call dwsel, quite right.  Hopefully one day Anim8or will have built in network & multithreaded rendering, it is certainly a lot simpler than running multiple instances of Anim8or, but that is certainly a valid workaround that makes better use of available resources.

[CoriDavis]

I wish I could do that, but with the crap amount of RAM I have, it would probably take even longer.  I have a feeling that my renders now take longer than they should...