CompuServe Thread

#Ram woes

3 messages in this thread
#161881From: HAROLD KALMUSMar 31, 1995 7:46 AM
I have some basic questions about ram usage in 3DS. I am and for the next few months will be rendering a series of ray traced images to reproduced at poster size (up to 6000 ppi). I have 40 mb of ram and these renderings are bringing my computer to its knees (rendering times between 24 and120 hrs.). I'm creating swap files up to 140 mb. Swap files are being created within seconds of the beginning of the rendering process. My question is will an additional 64 mb of ram do me substantial good or will a swap file simply start a few minutes into the renderings as opposed to a few seconds with no real savings in rend time? Is there a rule of thumb (file size vs. output size = ram required)? or something similar. Does swap file created equal ram wanted? Thanks very much. I''m off to buy ram pending a reply. Harold
#161896From: Mike MorganMar 31, 1995 9:39 AM
Harold, I can't answer your question about the additional ram substantially decreasing your rendering time. I suggest that you optimize your hard drive each time you render, so that you have contiguous space for that large swap file. Is the final output size rendered at full resolution, if so, you might want to do a test sample with the output at a smaller file size. Some of the RIP software at your local image houses do a real good job of pixel sampling and you can get away with a much smaller file. –Mike
#161919From: Yost GroupMar 31, 1995 10:50 AM
Have you read the section on RAM usage in the 3DS install guide? That'll give you a good idea of how much RAM your scene requires. – G