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Hi folks- I have a 900 000k file that I need to render. It is a bracelet with a lot of diamonds- I have 64 bit operating system with 4 gigs of RAM but that is not enough. I am wondering what my options are.... download and install the new WIP V5, or try to get it sent out to a render farm by uploading to divshare or similar. Any ideas? Thanks

Don't know if you did try this yet, but you can try to convert the stones into meshes prior to render. Use really low polygon counts and "simple planes" checked. This should reduce the file size drastically.

Usually render mesh settings inflate gems' sizes unnecessarly

Ricardo

EDIT: See here:

Thanks Ricardo! I will get right on that and see how low I can get this file!
Cary

Hi Ricardo- I drastically reduced the number of meshes to 43 but the file size did not substantially change. I can now almost complete the mesh transfer but I still get Rhino crashing just before the Studio opens. Do you have any other ideas ? Thanks!!!

You could use blocks for all identical parts of your bracelet (the diamonds, the chain parts etc). They can be rendered as instances inside Maxwell without a problem and with drastically reduced filesize.

Holger

Hi Polyxo I did block all identical parts but then I reduced the mesh size. I think I will go back and reduce mesh and then block. Thanks

something must be seriously wrong in your setup.
It is close to impossible to get nearly gb filesize with a piece of jewelery which uses blocks. If you do this correctly only one stone and only one chain-segment are responsable for the file-size.
Even if you had tremendously dense mesh settings on them for extreme close-ups you'll hardly manage to exeed 100mb.

since you're working with rhino 4.0 in 32bit, it only supports up to 2GB RAM. Studio in 64bit does take all the available memory. So you could export the model in two pieces and copy them together in studio and start your rendering out of studio.
Or give rhino5.0 x64 a shot. it works great. (you need the newest solidworks plugin installed in order to get it running)

caryjames-

Is studio starting?

I would make it two steps if you are not already..."Export MXS File" from Rhino and then start studio and import the mxs. I would not use the
"export to mxst" where it takes you automatically to studio.

jvm

Using blocks for all your repeating elements is Step 1, Step 2 is remembering to check "export blocks as instances" on the Options tab. (Not sure about the exact wording in the Options tab, but something close to that). Doing that should drastically reduce the amount of memory Rhino uses to get your objects into MXCL.

edit: wait a minute. Maybe I typed too soon. Didn't realize you were trying to get from Rhino to Studio. I avoid Studio like the plague! If you render directly from Rhino... I can guarantee you'll live a longer and happier life.

Thanks guys-

Polyxo I save my initial diamond section as a block, then my metal section as a block then I am arraying them around a curve. I still get a file size of 600k after the re meshing and optimizing. I don't see how I can block something incorrectly but maybe I am creating an issue somewhere in the pipeline. Do you have any thoughts as to how I am still getting a very large file size when you mention sizes of 100mb?

Sorry Cadhorn- I am rendering directly using the Rhino plugin.... I am not very comfortable operating directly in Studio. My issue is with Rhino - it crashes just before rendering... I probably used the incorrect terminology for the export .

caryjames-

Are you able to make it through all the meshing? You could break your object into two pieces...export the first part and then export the second...combine in studio by opening one and then "importing" the other...should be pretty seamless.

jvm

Thanks guys- I think that I had a couple of issues- too dense a mesh on my stones as well as an issue when defining by blocks which led to downstream issues. I did not have any problems this time getting it out of Rhino, the file is still bigger than I would like or expect but it looks like I won't have any issues rendering (other than I could take a nap before the rendering starts ). Thanks again all of your suggestions were terrific!