#Complex scenes and RAM
5 messages in this thread
I am doing a complex animation showing a chemical reaction, specific
binding and separation at close, medium, and long range. I was a fool when
I created the objects to be used for the close shot (too many faces) and I
am paying for it now. I am now coordinating the movement and camera
positions in KF and am hitting the swap file (w/o rendering at all) for
about 12 MB. That's on top of the 13Mb I already have (3Mb reserved to
shell to AniPro).
At the close-up level I need high detail, so I don't know how much I could
compromise on the smoothness of the small spheres involved or the bump maps
I'm using. But the amount of memory I seem to require is phenomenal!
Is this _normal_ for complex animations? I assumed that on my first big
project I wouldn't be efficient, but this is alomost unworkable.
Any thoughts, suggestions for the future?
Chris Barnes
Chris, the number of faces will certain drive up the size of the work space
the studio needs. Also, large map files will increase the space needed.
It's usually less expensive, however, to use maps instead of geometry
whenever you can, but keep the maps as small as your taste for realism
allows.~
Take a look at 3DSRAM.DOC in DL3. It gives the specifics on which parts of
a scene take up memory, and how to calculate the amount of memory they will
take up. It'll give you an idea of what to avoid in the future.
In the meantime, it might not be the size of your meshes that is filling up
the memory, but if it is, you might try recreating the objects with less
complexity, and then using Replace Mesh (page 3-21) to switch to the
simpler objects without altering the rest of your scene.
– Jack
Thanks, I'll check them both out.
Chris
Just another trick you might try is to create simplified versions of you
objects for the distance shots, then as the camera gets close, cut to the
complex objects. Video post can be used to fade between the two takes.
-MM