How to configure your workstation for KeyShot 2023
With the CAD application Keyshot you are able to create high-quality 3D visualizations in record time. You can observe in real time how your animations and renderings take shape and form. Keyshot impresses with its ease of use. The program has been developed as a standard visualization tool for industrial designers, 3D artists and designers.The CAD program KeyShot has no special requirements on the CPU, memory or graphics card. KeyShot takes full advantage of the cores and threads of your system. The more powerful your workstation is, the faster KeyShot becomes. System performance is linear to the number of cores and threads in your workstation. You want to work on larger and very complex projects with appealing geometry more easily and faster? We configure the optimal business workstation for your individual KeyShot applications and offer you the possibility of remote access to evaluate the system with a test license for KeyShot. Contact us and arrange a free remote test. Below you will find our expertise for KeyShot 2023:
Optimized processor core for KeyShot 2023
Keyshot is a CPU-based rendering program. In order to process optimal results for more complex models or light scenarios in real time, we recommend using a workstation CPU with many CPU cores. The number of cores and threads has priority over the clock frequency. Each physical core increases performance by 100 percent. Activate hyperthreading in the BIOS. Each virtual core (hyper threading) increases performance by about 30 percent. We can recommend a whole range of processors for Keyshot. Intel Core i7 9700 with 8 cores and a maximum of 4.7 GHz, Intel Core i9 10900X with 10 cores and 4.5 GHz. Intel Xeon W2155 with 10 cores, 20 threads and up to 4.50 GHz in Turbo Boost. At low workloads, the CPU will operate with the available base clock frequency. When processing hardware threads that are set to high performance, Intel Turbo Boost technology comes into play and automatically increases the clock frequency up to the maximum specified Turbo frequency. Intel Xeon processors are a safe bet due to their reliability and stability. If your budget allows it, you can consider a business workstation with dual Intel Xeon processors. The number of cores significantly increases the performance in Keyshot. Look for a MHz performance of at least 3.00Ghz for Intel Xeon Dual CPUs. We can recommend Intel Xeon Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum series with up to 40 cores per processor. A great alternative for Keyshot are AMD processors, as they often have more cores than Intel processors. We can recommend a Lenovo ThinkStation P620 with an AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 3955WX with 16 cores and 32 threads up to 4.30 Ghz.
The perfect working memory for Keyshot 2023
We recommend 32 GB of RAM for Keyshot to be able to import all polygons into your CAD files without losing speed. 32 GB RAM is sufficient for most Keyshot projects. If you are working on multiple projects at once or dealing with demanding scenes we would advise 64 GB. When choosing your business workstation, look for a high number of memory banks. Usually, most business workstations have at least eight memory banks.With enough RAM, your workstation will be able to run more programs simultaneously or open multiple and larger files at the same time. The faster the RAM, the faster your project data will be read and written. Programs can be started much faster. When equipping your RAM modules, make sure to fill the same memory channels. Make sure to fill the same memory channels when equipping your RAM modules. To get the best performance for your Keyshot projects we recommend to use the RAM in quad-channel mode.
The right graphics card for Keyshot 2023
Starting with version 9, it is possible to use the full GPU-accelerated ray tracing performance of NVIDIA RTX with OptiX in Keyshot. You have the choice to switch between real-time CPU and GPU rendering without affecting your current workflow. Keyshot supports the latest generation of NVIDIA Geforce and Quadro graphics cards. For most product scenes, the GPU provides excellent performance for its renderings. For highly complex scenes with lots of geometry and textures, the CPU performs better compared to the GPU. Another area where the CPU has an advantage in its renderings is accuracy. KeyShot uses double precision (64-bit) floating point numbers for some of the sensitive parts of the ray tracing core to ensure extremely accurate geometry processing. The RTX architecture relies on single-precision (32-bit) floating-point computation, which limits accuracy in large scenes and can lead to interruptions or inaccurate shading. Since dedicated ray tracing cores for the NVIDIA Quadro RTX series can be expected in the future, we install the following graphics cards in our business workstation for Keyshot: NVIDIA Geforce RTX 2060, NVIDIA Quadro RTX A2000 with either 6 GB or 12 GB GDDR6 VRAM for simple projects, NVIDIA Quadro RTX A4000 with 16 GB GDDR6 VRAM, NVIDIA Quadro RTX3080Ti for high-performance workflows, and NVIDIA Quadro RTX A5000 with 8192 Cuda cores or an NVIDIA Gefrorce RTX3090 or RTX 4090 for more complex tasks. Update the graphics card driver at regular intervals. As mobile variants, we can recommend mobile workstations with the following dedicated graphics cards: NVIDIA Quadro 2080, NVIDIA Quadro RTX 3000, NVIDIA Quadro RTX 4000, NVIDIA Quadro P3200 or an NVIDIA Quadro P5200 with 16GB VRAM.
The best hard disk configuration for Keyshot 2023
For maximum performance, high-speed storage solutions are suitable for installing the operating system and all applications. We recommend M.2 NVMe SSD for the operating system and programs. For the project data we recommend using 2.5 inch SSD from 1TB. We have had very good experience with Samsung SSDs in recent years and recommend Samsung M.2 NVMe SSDs from the EVO series for the system and a second M.2 SSD for your project data.
Pay attention to the correct settings in Keyshot 2023
Render times are strongly influenced by the settings in Keyshot. An example: Change the mode in the settings of your render options from *Standard* to *Background* to reduce the render times by about 30%.
Increase rendering speed
Make sure that Keyshot uses all available CPU cores. In the ribbon menu you will find a dropdown menu *CPU usage*. Select *All cores*.
For larger models, set the border (disable) to *Auto*. Go to the settings under the Interface menu item and click *Save Changes*. From now on, the orange outlines around larger models will be switched off.
In Power Mode, certain scene lighting settings, such as Ground Shadow or Global Lighting, are disabled to improve the real-time Resup/Frame Rate. You can use Alt+P to turn Performance Mode on and off.
Decrease the resolution of your real-time view. You can set the real-time resolution using the Image tab in the Project window.
Disable the import of NURBS data when importing your CAD data. Click Import, navigate to your model and open it. In the Import window, go to Geometry and disable Import NURBS Data.
Use the basic setting for real-time illumination. Starting with KeyShot 6, you will find the setting under the *Lighting* menu item. This preset allows for simple, direct shadow lighting and is ideal for simple scenes. Use the basic illumination when you want to render simple models illuminated by the environment.
Reduce your output resolution. You can change your output resolution in the Render *Output* menu.
