Building a PC w/ TVPaint in mind

[Gabaldon]

Hello forum!

I've only been working with TVPaint for less than a week and I already love it so much. I'm currently running it on a pretty low end(2014, 8GB RAM 2.4 GHz i5) macbook pro. I've noticed TVPaint slows down or temporarily freezes quite a bit when I start getting into bigger files (I'm also playing with the idea of running TVPaint on a dual display setup).

What I'd like to know is, if I am going to build a new machine with TVPaint (as well as CS5 and Maya) as the main software, what elements should I focus on? RAM (16, 32)? video card (for the multiple displays), processor (what kind, how many cores)?

Basically I want to build a machine on a budget but still be able to run these programs to make short films without having to worry too much that my computer will hit its limit early on.

Thanks!

-Justin G.

[Peter Wassink]

Hi and welcome!
i'm not a technical guy but how i came to understand It its like this:
Ram is most important, then processor power (for instance used when rendering fx) the graphics card is least important, off course you'd need enough output for your multiple displays, but tvpaint doesn't make use of a very expensive graphic card.

i hope someone on the TVPaintcrew can confirm this and maybe elaborate a bit.

[ematecki]

Start with 16Gb of RAM, but be sure your MB has enough mem-slots so you can add another 16Gb if the need arises (I mean, without throwing the first 16Gb out because they used up all the slots).
6 cores is fine.
Any graphical card which can handle the screens you want is OK.
A big HD (.tvpp files get big !)
Add an SSD for the tmp files (and only the tmp files !) and you're all set.

[CartoonMonkey]

I have the pc in my sig, and I am very happy with it. Ssd as my main drive / tvp temp drive.

No lag here loading 4-6 minute long films with multiple layers etc at 1080p.