Tip: How to save hundreds of MBs of RAM on large scenes without slowing rendering

Brian Smith · July 3rd, 2008

I recently mentioned this tip in a class and based on the fact that no one knew it, I thought it would be worthwhile here. If you are rendering a very large scene and are getting close to running out of RAM, here's a way that will save you a few hundred extra MBs from being consumed without slowing down rendering at all like other procedures (such as rendering in dynamic mode or with proxies).

Simply save the scene in wireframe mode with one maximized viewport and reload the scene. As soon as you change to Smooth+Highlights mode, you should see a lot of RAM consumed, with more being consumed for larger scenes. If you switch to Smooth+Highlights mode before you render, you are basically giving away that RAM, and there is no way to get it back. But if you just load a scene and immediately render without going into Smooth+Highlights first, you will have all that extra RAM to render with. Open your Task Manager and monitor your RAM consumption to verify. The larger the scene, the more RAM you save. Roughly speaking, you should expect to see a savings of 100MB for every 1million polygons your scene contains.

FlytE · July 3rd, 2008

Its the little things! Nice one Brian, thanks!

Claudio Branch · July 3rd, 2008

Great tip, thanks!

Ray · July 3rd, 2008

Thank you, Brian! Keep 'em coming.

Brian Smith · July 3rd, 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ray

Thank you, Brian! Keep 'em coming.

Ok, how about this. Take it a little further. When it's time to render, go to the Display panel and in the Hide by Category rollout, select everything but Geometry. This hides all the lights, shapes, cameras extra that all consume RAM. Then select all the geometry and enable 'Display as Box'. Save then reload and you can see another few hundred MBs less RAM consumed.

odouble · July 3rd, 2008

Really interesting... I am going to try it right now. Thanks

John Dollus · July 3rd, 2008

or use the batch renderer and eliminate the entire overhead associated with the UI....

Dave Buchhofer · July 3rd, 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian Smith

I recently mentioned this tip in a class and based on the fact that no one knew it, I thought it would be worthwhile here. If you are rendering a very large scene and are getting close to running out of RAM, here's a way that will save you a few hundred extra MBs from being consumed without slowing down rendering at all like other procedures (such as rendering in dynamic mode or with proxies).

Simply save the scene in wireframe mode with one maximized viewport and reload the scene. As soon as you change to Smooth+Highlights mode, you should see a lot of RAM consumed, with more being consumed for larger scenes. If you switch to Smooth+Highlights mode before you render, you are basically giving away that RAM, and there is no way to get it back. But if you just load a scene and immediately render without going into Smooth+Highlights first, you will have all that extra RAM to render with. Open your Task Manager and monitor your RAM consumption to verify. The larger the scene, the more RAM you save. Roughly speaking, you should expect to see a savings of 100MB for every 1million polygons your scene contains.

close the material editor also, as those bitmaps also get loaded into ram at startup/open.

another way without reopening max to do roughly the same thing is to:

Code:

in the little pink maxscript bar at the bottom left hand corner type:
freescenebitmaps()
hit enter
gc()
hit enter again
minimize max
maximize max
:)

Also be aware that the real memory ram usage number you're looking for isn't visible by default in the task manager, if go to View, Select Columns, and look for VM Size. thats the combined RAM+Virtual memory. if you're in max 32bit, and that number hits 1,700,000 roughly, you can kiss max goodbye

slowly thats becoming less of an issue with 64bit, but not everyone has taken that plunge.

Brian Smith · July 3rd, 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave Buchhofer

Also be aware that the real memory ram usage number you're looking for isn't visible by default in the task manager, if go to View, Select Columns, and look for VM Size. thats the combined RAM+Virtual memory. if you're in max 32bit, and that number hits 1,700,000 roughly, you can kiss max goodbye

slowly thats becoming less of an issue with 64bit, but not everyone has taken that plunge.

I find it much easier to just monitor the Available RAM under the Performance tab.

Ruramuq · July 3rd, 2008

I can't notice a difference with this tip, this memory issues seems to be more about textures and geometry :
› Global Viewport rendering settings : standard display

Max loads viewport textures only when they are visible, so, perhaps moving the viewport away would give similar memory improvements

Another thing to notice, is that if max is minimized,a big amount of 3dsmax memory will be released, or marked as free, which means that virtual memory will be used, thats the reason why I try to never minimize max when I'm working with it, (I don't want xp reading the paging file)

but even if you release a lot of memory deactivating textures, etc.. the most likely is that if the render engine needs more ram, windows will paginate automatically, and the memory used for the viewport will need to be reloaded by max when the render ends, in other words, it's likely that these tips might not be a big benefit for the render..

another thing is that big textures seems to be loaded completely, and with several textures displayed on the viewport, textures sizes matters. it is probably a good idea to reduce the texture size of objects that are far away or too little(this for render and viewports).

I tested with different color depth and it seems that there is a benefit in the viewport but not when rendering

there are a couple of tools i use
› Process explorer(much better than task manager) and › RAMpage, it displays and is able to release or defragment automatically the memory to avoid crashes.
I also read that memory fragmentation is another cause of max crashes.

my first post

July 3rd, 2008	#1 (permalink)
Brian Smith Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Sarasota, FL Age: 36 Posts: 1,061 Name: Brian Smith	Tip: How to save hundreds of MBs of RAM on large scenes without slowing rendering I recently mentioned this tip in a class and based on the fact that no one knew it, I thought it would be worthwhile here. If you are rendering a very large scene and are getting close to running out of RAM, here's a way that will save you a few hundred extra MBs from being consumed without slowing down rendering at all like other procedures (such as rendering in dynamic mode or with proxies). Simply save the scene in wireframe mode with one maximized viewport and reload the scene. As soon as you change to Smooth+Highlights mode, you should see a lot of RAM consumed, with more being consumed for larger scenes. If you switch to Smooth+Highlights mode before you render, you are basically giving away that RAM, and there is no way to get it back. But if you just load a scene and immediately render without going into Smooth+Highlights first, you will have all that extra RAM to render with. Open your Task Manager and monitor your RAM consumption to verify. The larger the scene, the more RAM you save. Roughly speaking, you should expect to see a savings of 100MB for every 1million polygons your scene contains. __________________ Brian Smith www.3dats.com 3D Architectural Training Solutions

July 3rd, 2008	#2 (permalink)
FlytE Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Glasgow Posts: 575 Name: Andy Pennington	Re: Tip: How to save hundreds of MBs of RAM on large scenes without slowing rendering Its the little things! Nice one Brian, thanks! __________________ "How many polygons does the real world push?"

July 3rd, 2008	#3 (permalink)
Claudio Branch Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Arlington, Texas Age: 43 Posts: 870 Name: Claudio Branch	Re: Tip: How to save hundreds of MBs of RAM on large scenes without slowing rendering Great tip, thanks!

July 3rd, 2008	#4 (permalink)
Ray Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: California Posts: 529 Name: Raymond Fiore	Re: Tip: How to save hundreds of MBs of RAM on large scenes without slowing rendering Thank you, Brian! Keep 'em coming.

July 3rd, 2008	#6 (permalink)
odouble Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Boston Posts: 82 Name: Tunde Agunbiade	Re: Tip: How to save hundreds of MBs of RAM on large scenes without slowing rendering Really interesting... I am going to try it right now. Thanks

July 3rd, 2008	#7 (permalink)
John Dollus Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Tampa Age: 38 Posts: 619 Name: John Dollus	Re: Tip: How to save hundreds of MBs of RAM on large scenes without slowing rendering or use the batch renderer and eliminate the entire overhead associated with the UI....

July 3rd, 2008	#10 (permalink)
Ruramuq Invalid User Profile Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: - Posts: 1 Name: notyourbusiness notyourbusiness either	Re: Tip: How to save hundreds of MBs of RAM on large scenes without slowing rendering I can't notice a difference with this tip, this memory issues seems to be more about textures and geometry : › Global Viewport rendering settings : standard display Max loads viewport textures only when they are visible, so, perhaps moving the viewport away would give similar memory improvements Another thing to notice, is that if max is minimized,a big amount of 3dsmax memory will be released, or marked as free, which means that virtual memory will be used, thats the reason why I try to never minimize max when I'm working with it, (I don't want xp reading the paging file) but even if you release a lot of memory deactivating textures, etc.. the most likely is that if the render engine needs more ram, windows will paginate automatically, and the memory used for the viewport will need to be reloaded by max when the render ends, in other words, it's likely that these tips might not be a big benefit for the render.. another thing is that big textures seems to be loaded completely, and with several textures displayed on the viewport, textures sizes matters. it is probably a good idea to reduce the texture size of objects that are far away or too little(this for render and viewports). I tested with different color depth and it seems that there is a benefit in the viewport but not when rendering there are a couple of tools i use › Process explorer(much better than task manager) and › RAMpage, it displays and is able to release or defragment automatically the memory to avoid crashes. I also read that memory fragmentation is another cause of max crashes. my first post

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Price of V-Ray Stand Alone Version?	GaryR50	VRay Render	45	April 2nd, 2008 11:57 PM
rendering large scenes, very large scenes	guyhaviv	3ds Max	3	September 30th, 2003 02:46 AM