[caryjames]

I have not upgraded to XP64 so my 4 gigs of RAM installed is not doing me much good. I have a Dual Xeon 5120 running XP 32.

I am running into an issue when starting a specific render. I have a scene with a lot of mesh objects that is causing a memory problem when transferring the mesh from Rhino to Maxwell- basically Rhino is running out of memory.

I lowered the resolution and maximized my scene by getting rid of anything that was not in the shot and got the render to start. I was surprised because when the scene starts rendering it actually proceeds much faster than I would have expected given the slowness I experienced with the mesh.

I am wondering if there is a way to "trick" Rhino into allowing a larger mesh transfer? I would like to be able to render this scene at a higher resolution if possible. I know I need to upgrade my system and RAM but don't have the time on this project.

Thanks!

[polynurb]

I am wondering if there is a way to "trick" Rhino into allowing a larger mesh transfer? I would like to be able to render this scene at a higher resolution if possible.

once you got your scene out of rhino, you can render any resolution that your ram can accommodate..

render resolution is not linked to file export from rhino. using higher res, will only make mxcl use more ram but not rhino during export.

shooting a bit in the dark ... my guess would be that you could save ram by using the "join" command on as many meshes as possible if they have the same material, just select them & join. UV should be preserved, and less singular objects processed...

concering your upgrade to x64... why not get a cheap second hdd, install x64 on there keeping x32 as backup.
That's the way i switched to 64bit... but honestly i think i never booted the old drive again..

[caryjames]

Thanks Polynurb- it was getting my scene out of Rhino that was causing the issue. I did delete any meshes that were not in the shot and I did scale down my emitters and flooring that was not in my shot- maybe that is what allowed my scene out of Rhino NOT my lowering the resolution.

Are you talking about the regular old "join" command in Rhino? So if I join my mesh objects together it will lower the mesh/polygons?

I like your idea of switching to X64- my partner just got a laptop with Vista that I had to clean up for her- let's just say I won't be making the jump to Vista anytime soon .

Thanks

[polynurb]

Are you talking about the regular old "join" command in Rhino? So if I join my mesh objects together it will lower the mesh/polygons?

hi cary,

yes, the "old" join command works for meshes too. (that is also the way to join mesh emitters together to make one ML slider for several lightsources)

generally my experience with meshes in rhino is (as single surfaces to polysurfaces) that joined meshes are processed faster (less entities, not less triangles).

eg. i was testing viewport rotation at +4.000.000 triangles, was fluid on my 3 years old graphics card but only if the meshes were joined together (as far as possible)
so i assumed that the export is also quicker with few joined meshes opposed to many single mesh objects...

[caryjames]

That is awesome thanks polynurb- I am going to join them right now.

[Polyxo]

If you insert similar items as blocks in your file (regardless if Nurbs or meshes)
and set "Export Blocks as Instances" inside the rightmost tab inside Scene-Editor you can render virtually any polygoncount from inside Rhino. I tested this with tenth of millions of polygons.

[EADC]

Had this happening many times already. Usually i export mxs files in two or three groups of layers from rhino. If you have your file neatly organised in layers, they import well into studio. Then render in studio and if nessesary, close rhino before rendering. That way you clear your ram and that works just fine. That way i also replace modified areas in large scenes. Just remove groups/layers in studio, and import the same but modified layer from rhino. Much easier than removing objects in studio.

[caryjames]

The first suggestion that I tried was yours... frankly because it seemed the easiest and it worked like a charm! Thanks so much!
Cary

[Cadhorn]

Wow! Polyxo... I wish I'd read your post sooner. (No doubt JD has mentioned it too somewhere). I'm working on a large scene with many rhino block objects, been running out of memory when writing the meshes. Read your post, turned on "Export Blocks as Instances" and now... the meshes zipped out of Rhino so fast I didn't have time to notice it!! Huge improvement.

[Polyxo]

Wow! Polyxo... I wish I'd read your post sooner. (No doubt JD has mentioned it too somewhere). I'm working on a large scene with many rhino block objects, been running out of memory when writing the meshes. Read your post, turned on "Export Blocks as Instances" and now... the meshes zipped out of Rhino so fast I didn't have time to notice it!! Huge improvement.

Glad it helped. Better late than never, no?