Graphics cards for photorealistic rendering
For VectorWorks 12, we recommend to respect the following general recommendations:
- At least 128MB of RAM (the more, the better) on the card
- Install the latest driver - highly recommended!
- For OpenGL-Rendering both the hardware as well as the driver need to support it. Ensure both also support Anti-Aliasing
- Onboard-Cards are enough for office applications, but not for rendering threedimensional scenes
The following table provides an overview:
| Series | Windows | Macintosh | |
| NVIDIA | Quadro FX 540, 1000, 1400, 3400/4400 | Often have shown good performance and render results | Not available |
| NVIDIA | NVIDIA Geforce 6 und 7 | Often have shown good performance | Often have shown good performance |
| NVIDIA | Other cards of the Geforce series (e.g. Geforce FX) | Not recommended | Not recommended |
| ATI | FireGL V3100 | Not recommended | Not available |
| ATI | Radeon series | Not recommended | Often have shown good performance |
The ATI cards have shown shortcomings with anti-aliasing. On Macintosh-computers, it was OK when rendering a full scene on the screen, but not when printing, exporting (images or video) or rendering parts of the scene only. The cards of ATI don't seem to be targeted to design and CAD oriented markets, while the NVIDIA Quadro FX series seem to be.
