#"Error Writing File"
14 messages in this thread
Gary,
I have had several times when my rendering has been terminated with the
message: "Error writing file: not enough space."
The rendering has maxed out my 16 megs of ram and the computer has to page
to disk. Am I correct in assuming that even though I have 7 megs of HD
space left, the rendering needs more space than that? Seems odd that it
would successfully render 44 of 100 frames and then quit.
(Yes, I'll be getting another 16meg ram today)
Alec Jason
Actually, that is not at all odd, you say you had 7 megs of space left, do
you mean before starting 3d studio? I did an animation a while back that
had a 85meg swap file after rendering a 120 meg frame animation on a
machine with 16 megs of ram. I know how big it was, because after it was
done rendering, I shelled out to look at the size of the swap file.
I've learned the hard way to always keep a clean hard disk before rendering
large animations. I always try to keep about a 100 megs free now even
though I have 36megs of RAM in my machine now.
Yann Bertaud – Product Support, Autodesk.
Thanks for your reply, Yann.
I'd -like- to always start with a "clean, 100 megs" of HD space but where
do you find all those unused sectors? <g>
I'm going to get a 240 Quantum HD with 256k cache with, I'm told, an access
speed of 9ms. This might help — for a while.
Alec Jason
Things slow down quite a bit swapping out so I purchased DTC's EISA Bus
Master hard drive controller with 1 mb cache on board. Really kicks for all
my other applications to. Yeah I admit it. I use other sw besides 3ds.
Solitaire, Flight Sim ……
Jimbo
Alec, that message is usually because you've used the High Palette option
when making a flic, and it's run out of disk space for temp files. Is
there any chance you've been using this (dreadedly-hard-disk-intensive)
option?
When you run out of SWAP space, however, you usually get an Out of RAM
message.
So, what's the exact message you're getting, and what are your palette
options and what does your Current Status box say?
– G
Gary,
The message states exactly: "ERROR WRITING FILE: NOT ENOUGH SPACE"
I'm not using high palette but custom palette. I forget what the current
status tells me exactly but it says that all my ram has been used and there
are many, many swaps and faults. But I have succesfully rendered before
with no ram and heaps of swaps and faults (yes, it was very slow but
complete.)
I'll try it again tomorrow with a full 32megs of ram.
Thanks,
Alec Jason
If you're using a custom palette, the message is definitely not happening
because you're running out of temp palette space. It's hard for me to
diagnose it now, but let me know what happens tomorrow when you get more
RAM.
– G
Gary,
With one file I am unable to render even a single frame (at 320×200, phong,
low, display only). I get a "NO RAM FOR BITMAP" message.
Can you tell me what are the "heaviest" items in a project file? Is it the
maps, the materials, the vertices, objects, faces?
Could I significantly reduce my overhead by combining several objects (like
walls) into a single object? Any other tips for reducing file size and
overhead?
Alec Jason
Have you thoroughly gone over the Memory Requirements and Usage section
that starts on page 71 of the Installation Guide? That will give you an
excrutiatingly-clear idea of how much memory your scene is using.
– G
Gary,
Yeah, those pages were very informative.
I've just finished my upgrade to 32 meg ram and from 33 to 66 mhz.
Everything works very well now — and very fast. The ram used indicator now
tells me that I need 24 megs to render out one frame from this file; that's
why my 16 megs of ram and 8 megs of HD space couldn't handle it.
From what I've read, am I correct in concluding that combining several
objects into one big one doesn't reduce overhead?
Alec Jason
Adding enough memory to keep from paging is a pretty great thing! Plus,
the 66mhz upgrade must be screaming. Congratulations!
Regarding your question about combining objects… correct — it doesn't
reduce any overhead.
Happy rendering,
– G
Alec,
I would appreciate any tips from you on the removing of CPU's from the
motherboard since I'm about to do it myself – I'm just getting a
replacement motherboard for my 486/33 (the old one only takes 16mb, the new
will go up to 64mb). This will involving removing the CPU, Weitek and simms
and installing them on the new board.
Also, if you are not bound by non-disclosure, what kind of response did you
get from the lawyers on your tour?
Martin
Martin:
Many commercial electronics and tool suppliers sell special pin grid array
(PGA) chip removers. Get one if you can – they're cheap.
Alternatively, you can use a small screwdriver, if you are careful to work
gently around all sides of the chip.
Evan
Martin,
I can't really give you any good tips on chip removal. I had my local clone
dealer guy pull the chip. I was ready to see what kind of tools and
techniques he used but all he did was reach in, wiggle, and pull the thing
out.
It was dissapointingly easy — especially since I was prepared to hold the
power supply and yell, "breath, breath!"
The Autodesk "tour" seems to have fizzled and died. I've done a lot of
speaking to legal groups on my own and I can tell you that there is
tremendous interest in forensic animation.
Alec Jason