#R3 DXF Prob.
44 messages in this thread
Thank you for the prompt reply regarding:
>>#: 82932 S3/Autodesk 3D Studio 10-Feb-94 22:41:53 >>Sb: #82896-R3 DXF Prob.
>>If you're trying to import huge files by entity, and you've got
thousands of entities, it could theoretically take a huge amount of
time to process. What option are you using?
Usually by Layer, rarely by Color, never by Entity. These files
usually are models constructed in another 3D program (not CAD) and
exported DXF. You know, after doing some more tests last night – to
make a long story short – I believe the problem occurs after the
program has been "used" for a while, and apparently memory has
fragmented considerably. Running the converter "fresh" from program
boot managed to convert some problem files and in a reasonable amount
of time. Is this a likely reason ?
While I've OWNED 3d Studio since 1.0, I honestly never used it much
(relative to other app's) until recently, after the 3.0 release. Most
of the reasons why I didn't, went away with R3, and I have made a
personal commitment to spend as much time with the program as
possible – so that is why I'm a little vauge on this subject.
However, I have also noticed some things happening regarding memory
useage that I don't recall prior to R3:
For instance, today, after working for a couple hours with a model
which was not geometrically complex, but did use about 50 maps thus
forcing virtual operation, I noticed AFTER starting a new model that
the program was apparently paging on virtually every operation, even
though this NEW model was of absolutely insignificant "size" (all
parameters requiring memory use). While I have noticed that R3 uses
quite a bit more memory, and this is completely understandable, it
does seem that once a project has been loaded / constructed which
uses nearly all of physical memory, subsequent (perhaps much smaller)
projects will suffer from the paging delays, etc..
I have noticed that some other PC 3D app's suffer from a similar
problem, but continuing working will eventually allow the program to
"clean things up" and restore normal operation. Since I'm not
intimately familiar with 3DS, I always reboot the program when this
happens to be safe.
1) Does any of this make sense and is this "normal" ?
2) Will 3DS eventually "clean things up" as well on it's own ?
3) Any suggestions to overcome / minimize this problem ?
I apologize for the length of this document, but as I said, I really
intend to spend a lot of time with 3DS, and fortunately (part of the
reason why), there is an outstanding forum such as this available.
Having worked in 3D for about a decade on virtually all platforms, I
am very pleased with the "completeness" of this program and am very
excited regarding the development of R3 IPAS. While I prefer some
features which are not included (such as freeform B-Splines and NURBS
constructed in 3D space), your points I read here recently regarding
other app's not being capable of producing commercial animation (I
believe the app. was Playmation) are very valid.
While I may prefer this program's features or that program's features,
when it comes down to producing work, a well-rounded and thorough
program such as 3DS, with true support and limited boundaries (via
IPAS, etc.), is what I will turn to everytime. Having been involved
with other programs' development and testing over the years, I have
tried to drive these points home, usually falling on deaf ears. Very
few programs on any platform contain all the elements required for
COMPLETE animation production / post-production, from soup to nuts.
You have a truly unique and useful program, which has evolved at a
surprising rate, and I wish you continued success as you certainly
deserve it…. it's very rare to accomplish what you have at all, and
especially, in just a few years. I look foward to becoming more
intimate with the program in the future.
Thanks a lot for your time and any response you may have to the memory
useage questions.
Once 3DS has been sent into "swapsville"<g> it can keep doin' it for
subsequent renders, no matter how small. Just a Phar Lap thing. After
rendering a file that ran out of RAM, just reboot the program, and
it'll have re-mapped the memory and you may start anew.
Once you run out of RAM and start paging you'll never stop. This is
headache with the Pharlap memory manager and has been since R1. The
only way to stop using the swap is to re-start 3DS.
The incredible need for this glitch to be fixed has been paramount for
three years and it is amazing it has not been corrected yet – maybe,
finally in R4.
If your doing a lot of DXF translations, the DXF3DS.EXE utility (that
came out to fix a bug with R1) is still the best convertor around
since it lets you control all the parameters, including the critical
arc-segmentation missing form R3's, for each translation. It also
works fine in a 3DS or ACAD shell. Get it, use it, it's on the forum.
p.s. – You can usually do a better job of welding, and especially
smoothing, by selection after import than the convertors can.
Whew! What a long note!
Alan's response re Phar Lap and memory reallocation is right-on. We
have no control over what Phar Lap does once it starts paging, so the
best thing to do when that happens is just exit to DOS and restart
the program.
That's probably the problem you're having with DXF importing. Once
you're fragmented, it could take FOREVER to import a huge file.
Thanks for your comments. As you can tell, we listen very carefully
to what folks say about usability. Enjoy!
As Alan says, once the Phar Lap memory manager begins paging to disk, the only
way to "refresh" the memory is to exit 3ds, and restart it.
– Jack
—
As Alan says, once the Phar Lap memory manager begins paging to disk, the only
way to "refresh" the memory is to exit 3ds, and restart it.
—
Quite a nice feature for a $3000 program… <G>
That always bothered the heck out of me also. (Another real problem is
the current dongle. I actually had to get me an extra cheap and slow
I/O board, just to get the dongle to work with my computer!
Autodesk's respones was: "buy a slow LPT interface, your computer's
LPT port must be too fast…" And even now the damn thing doesn't
recognize the "dongel" the first time it starts, usually only on the
second time.)
I really think you guys should trash that Phar Lap mem ext. since it
seems to be more of a Phar Cry from a real one. Try the one that came
with the Symnatec compiler (formerly Zortech), for ex., not only
does it work, but alas, it's royalty free…
And please, pretty please, if you insist on the dongle, at least get
one that works with ALL machines, especially the faster ones. (since
those are the ones that are more than likely the ones to be used in
rendering). You can add that to the wish list for rel. 4. <G> (I
want to throw out that extra I/O board asap, I had to remove one of
my "treasured" cards to install it..)
Well, that's enough bitchin' for now, all else considered 3D Studio
(r.3.0) still rates highest with me. IMO it's the best there is for
the PC platform.
Now to the question part:
I own the IPAS disks 2, 3 and 4, just purchased about 3 month ago at
Digimation and AI. All are (C)1992, are those the latest and
greatest, or did I get "burned"? <G> Do you anounce updates to people
on your mailing list? Will there be a IPAS Developer's Kit for "real
compilers" that have DOS extenders etc.? (like Symnatec etc) Will
there be a WACOM tablet driver that doesn't get trashed after going to
the DOS shell and returning to 3D Studio? Will there be a tablet
configarition template (tablet menu overlay) like the one that comes
with AutoCad? (now that would be extremely nice for us tablet
owners…) Will there be a (color) printed book with all the maps and
pics of the World Builder CD? (like the one that came with my
CorelDraw rel.4.0, a $219 program) Will there be a FAST picture
preview in Rel.4.0? (The current one must be slowest I have ever
seen..) Will there be HP550C and HP 1200 direct support? And
finally, will you promise to never make it a Windows application? <G>
(why slow it down 300% and limit memory to 16MB…)
Well, that's enough for one session, keep up the good work,
laters,
Jack
>Will there be a IPAS Developer's Kit for "real compilers" that have
DOS >extenders etc.? (like Symnatec etc)
Ehm ? But IPAS Development Kit is for REAL COMPILERS. As far as I
know, IPAS SDK is for Watcom C (version 9+) and MetaWare C (1.7x and
3.x). Both of them definitely ARE REAL COMPILERS (or better to say
compilers for REAL PROGRAMMERS). Not like these toys called Borland,
Microsoft and Symantec <g>. If you want to develop IPASes, buy the
MetaWare C. You will need to buy Phar Lap DOS Extender too.
BTW, the MetaWare is a very funny thing. The most cryptic compiler I
ever seen. This is the compiler for real mens.
P.S. I was not serious about Symantec. I have this compiler too. Very
long (approx. 90 MB on my HD), very nice (all those icons, windows,
colors etc.) and very good for click/drag/drop programming. I'm sure
that in Symantec version 15 (4.7 GB on HD) or Borland ver. 23.02 (3.2
GB on HD) the only thing necessary for programming will be the strong
fingers on the mouse, not the brain. <G><G><G>
Hi Pavel. I'm calling Matrox on monday to inquire about the MGA libraries.
There will be a few of us bugging them at the same time, so it should provide
some results <g>.
John Tissavary (La Luna cie)
Pavel,
From JT's message…
>> There will be a few of us bugging them at the same time, so it should
provide some results <<
You see, Ang Guarino, JT and I have formed the "let's bug them until
we can get them" consortium!
I sent them several faxes, but without any success. I'll write fax to John
London tomorrow. If it will not help, I'll call him.
Bye PavelK
Hello Pavel. I just got off the phone with Thomas Fehr, the MGA
product manager at Matrox. He would be happy to make the MGA
libraries available to a "real man" programmer such as yourself
<ggg>. Please send him a fax immediately (he is leaving town next
week and would like to get on it asap) with the information on who
you pruchased your cards through, and some limited personal info
(name, address, etc).
Send fax to:
Thomas Fehr
(514) 685-2853
I wish you the best in your MGA endeavours <g>, and will be happy to help you
further in any way I can.
John Tissavary (La Luna cie)
Thank you for your help. I'll fax him tomorrow (better to say today)
and I'll inform you about the result.
I'm curious (and anxious) to hear about your progress in the MGA dynaview
adventure!
John Tissavary (La Luna cie)
I sent faxes to Matrox. One addressed to Thomas Fehr and second addressed to
John London. I tried to introduce myself and I wrote them about my future
projects. BTW, I made some demonstrations of MGA-PRO for my friends etc. with a
great success. My friends gave me some ideas. Development of Borland .BGI
interface for example. Another friend gave me the idea to develop the driver
for OrCAD (popular package for electronic design) etc. I only hope that there
will be any possibility to get some SDK and technical description. If no, I'll
try to make the disassembler of ACAD/Windows drivers and I'll see.
Bye PavelK
As I mentioned, Thomas Fehr was reasonably excited (me too!) about the
popularity of 3D Studio and the possiblity of a competent devoloper writing a
3D Dynaview IPAS for 3DS. He told me the MGA SDK costs $500. I'm sure it's
got documentation. If you have questions you would like posed on the phone,
just let me know and I'll call Thomas again.
John Tissavary (La Luna cie)
>Will there be a IPAS Developer's Kit for "real compilers" that have DOS
>extenders etc.? (like Symnatec etc)
Note the quote(s)… ^
^
—Ehm ? But IPAS Development Kit is for REAL COMPILERS. As far as I know, IPAS
SDK is for Watcom C (version 9+) and
—MetaWare C (1.7x and 3.x). Both of them definitely ARE REAL COMPILERS (or
better to say compilers for REAL
—PROGRAMMERS). Not like these toys called Borland, Microsoft and Symantec
<g>. If you want to develop IPASes, buy the
—MetaWare C. You will need to buy Phar Lap DOS Extender too.
/\
/\ /\ /\
ups, there's that bad word again … 😉 || || || ||
BTW, REAL PROGRAMMERS program in assembler… 😉
—BTW, the MetaWare is a very funny thing. The most cryptic compiler I ever
seen. This is the compiler for real mens.
Real men don't eat quiche, remember? 😉
—Bye PavelK
—P.S. I was not serious about Symantec. I have this compiler too. Very long
(approx. 90 MB on my HD), very nice (all those —icons, windows, colors etc.)
and very good for click/drag/drop programming. I'm sure that in Symantec
version 15 (4.7 GB —on HD) or Borland ver. 23.02 (3.2 GB on HD) the only
thing necessary for programming will be the strong fingers on the —mouse, not
the brain. <G><G><G>
right… (Looks like you haven't figured out the DOS part of the
compiler, scratch the windows trash and the 90 megs will shrink to
nothing)
All BS aside, the problem isn't with the C-compiler, but with the
lousy implementation of a licensed DOS extender, hmmm, might that be
Phar Lap? The thing is even too stupid to quit swapping to disk when
RAM IS available again, quite an achievement. <g> The target of my
exclamation wasn't really the compiler, but the tool. That might not
have come out as it should have in the original post, but then, the
post was talking about it, so I figured that it was obvious.
The Watcom is actually an excellent compiler; I only rememberthe
MetaWare C from my good old 68000 days, and it was an ok compiler
then. Borland IMO sucks royal and I agree with you. (But then I'm
only into C ( Unix based) since 1977, so I might be a little too
green for a high level discussion like this and leave it to the
experts …)
—MetaWare C. You will need to buy Phar Lap DOS Extender too. >ups, there's
that bad word again … 😉 || || || ||
Actually, for IPAS development, you need only protected mode linker.
MetaWare is without any. So if you don't want to buy PL, you can use
Watcom. I don't know exactly, but I think that you can buy the
"small" version of the Watcom^32. This is only DOS/protected DOS
version and the price is around $200. But consult this possibility
with some dealer. I have only the full version.
>BTW, REAL PROGRAMMERS program in assembler… 😉 Right, but good
C compiler ==> faster development. I'm using the mix of ASM/C
language.
>right… (Looks like you haven't figured out the DOS part of the compiler,
>scratch the windows trash and the 90 megs will shrink to nothing)
Yes, but why ? If I need to write something in DOS, I'm using Watcom
or MW. I think that this is much better to write in 32bit mode. But
I'm not the developper of commercial applications. All my code is
only for my personal using or for my company.
>thing is even too stupid to quit swapping to disk when RAM IS
available again I know this problem. Maybe there is some problem with
fragmentation or similar. I never tried to examine this PL problem.
>(But then I'm only into C ( Unix based) since >1977, so I might be a
little too green for a high level discussion like this I'm no expert,
so I cannot discuss too. 🙂 Maybe we can write our own compiler 🙂
–Actually, for IPAS development, you need only protected mode linker. MetaWare
is without any. So if you don't want to buy
—PL, you can use Watcom. I don't know exactly, but I think that you can buy
the "small" version of the Watcom^32. This is
—only DOS/protected DOS version and the price is around $200. But consult
this possibility with some dealer. I have only
—the full version.
Actually, if you look at your Symnatec compiler options, you'll find it let's
ya compile for Phar Lap…
>BTW, REAL PROGRAMMERS program in assembler… 😉 Right, but good C
compiler ==> faster development. I'm using the mix of ASM/C language.
same here in most cases… Except for the "good" C compiler ==> hughe
overhead…
—Yes, but why ? If I need to write something in DOS, I'm using Watcom or MW.
I think that this is much better to write in 32bit
—mode. But I'm not the developper of commercial applications. All my code is
only for my personal using or for my company.
It's all a matter of preferences for some 😉
>thing is even too stupid to quit swapping to disk when RAM IS available again
—I know this problem. Maybe there is some problem with fragmentation or
similar. I never tried to examine this PL problem.
Maybe we can write our own compiler 🙂 Bye PavelK
Did that and an interpreter already (about 8 years ago)… If I get the extra
time (and not too bored with it), I might just write a compiler for a "dummy
language", seems to me that is needed for most the "programmers"out there…
laters,
JD
Comments:
I'm just as frustrated with Phar Lap and the dongle as you are… I
assure you.
>I own the IPAS disks 2, 3 and 4, just purchased about 3 month ago at
>Digimation and AI. All are (C)1992, are those the latest and greatest…
They all are current as long as you have Silicon Garden v1.1. Check.
>Do you anounce updates to people on your mailing list?
I'll be mailing updates info out to everyone with the new IPAS3 stuff
in April.
>Will there be a IPAS Developer's Kit for "real compilers" that have DOS
>extenders etc.? (like Symnatec etc)
Pavel answered this very well. Metware and Watcom ARE real compilers.
>Will there be a WACOM tablet driver that doesn't get trashed after going to the
>DOS shell and returning to 3D Studio?
Huh?
>Will there be a tablet configarition template (tablet menu overlay) like the
>one that comes with AutoCad? (now that would be extremely nice for us tablet
>owners…)
I have no idea.
>Will there be a (color) printed book with all the maps and pics of the World
>Builder CD?
Something better is coming… (Texture Universe with its associated
IPAS3 browser.
>Will there be a FAST picture preview in Rel.4.0?
I can't discuss future versions.
>Will there be HP550C and HP 1200 direct support?
I can't discuss future versions.
>And finally, will you promise to never make it a Windows application?
I can't discuss future versions.
Thanks for all the questions. <g>
– G
PS: I've got to ask… what's the ethnic derivation of your last name?
G.-
Is "I can't discuss future versions" a macro on your machine? <g>.
– Phil
It's a macro in my brain/hand/typing subsystem.
That's a great name, isn't it? What if Jack Strange's (Autodesk MM)
daughter were to marry Jack Death's son (or Jack, for that matter) —
would her name be Suzie Strange-Death?<g>
You obviously have too much time on your hands.
I'm not going to touch that.
– G
—I'm just as frustrated with Phar Lap and the dongle as you are… I assure
—you.
Well, at least I'm not alone..
>I own the IPAS disks 2, 3 and 4, just purchased about 3 month ago at
>Digimation and AI. All are (C)1992, are those the latest and greatest…
—They all are current as long as you have Silicon Garden v1.1. Check.
Silicon garden is on disk 5, which I don't own. Or should it be on one of
the ones that I do own, if they are the newest version?
>Do you anounce updates to people on your mailing list?
—I'll be mailing updates info out to everyone with the new IPAS3 stuff
—in April.
Great! Can't wait to see…
>Will there be a IPAS Developer's Kit for "real compilers" that have DOS
>extenders etc.? (like Symnatec etc)
—Pavel answered this very well. Metware and Watcom ARE real compilers.
Maybe everybody here ignore quotes? 😉
Besides, If they were such wonderful compilers, how come they don't
include a DOS extender of their own? Well heck, anyways, who cares who
considers what compiler to be the best, I do my programming
wherever possible in assembler or C anyhow. It just seems to me that the Phar
Lap
is not the best implementation of the extender concept..
>Will there be a WACOM tablet driver that doesn't get trashed after going to
the
>DOS shell and returning to 3D Studio?
—Huh?
Mine seems to miss a beat every once in a while AFTER I returned from a DOS
shell
i.e., the crosshair seems to be stuck for a sec while moving, or doesn't want
to move.
The problem can be "fixed" by exiting 3D-Studio and restarting it.
>Will there be a tablet configarition template (tablet menu overlay) like the
>one that comes with AutoCad? (now that would be extremely nice for us tablet
>owners…)
—I have no idea.
Marvelous answer.. 😉
Maybe I wasn't clear enough on that, but then cest la vie…
>Will there be a (color) printed book with all the maps and pics of the World
>Builder CD?
—Something better is coming… (Texture Universe with its associated IPAS3
—browser.
Sounds good… A book is a good (and FAST) reference though. (Corel includes
Mosaic (FAST pic. browser), still I'm faster in the book than on the comp.)
>Will there be a FAST picture preview in Rel.4.0?
—I can't discuss future versions.
(AUTO)Cat got your tongue? 😉
>Will there be HP550C and HP 1200 direct support?
—I can't discuss future versions.
>And finally, will you promise to never make it a Windows application?
—I can't discuss future versions.
—Thanks for all the questions. <g>
—PS: I've got to ask… what's the ethnic derivation of your last name?
I can't discuss that. 😉
(But Yost sounds like one of the good ol'd "home" boys from Scandinavia,
or should I say Norway? ) 😉
Laters,
JD
The Texture Universe browser is EXTREMELY fast, and since it can do
keyword searches on images (and all Autodesk images come with Targa
Type10 keywords embedded in them) it's even faster than using a book.
Gary,
<< Texture Universe browser…….Latvia?>>
what?
jonas[adesk]
He asked about my ethnocity, JR… No relation to TextUniv.
– G
Yost group-
I posted a file in this forum, which gave examples of the
problems I encounter when translating an AME model
in DXF format into 3dsr3 last week (Chrisa.zip). I have yet to hear
whether anybody got it, anybody wants it, or if anybody is
currently looking into the situation. Can someone let me
know if you even got it.
Thanks,
Chris
I don't see it in the what's new section. Can you e-mail it to me
please. I'll take a look at it as soon as I get it. Please include a
file that outlines what to look for.
Jonas, I've got it in my mailbox. I'll send it over to you asap.
– G
Chris, Jeff Pike sent it to me and I've been meaning to send it to Jonas to
look at all week. Unfortunately I've been in meetings most of the week (and
all this weekend) and I haven't gotten to it yet. I assure you that eventually
it'll get looked at.
– G
Yost Group,
< I assure you that eventually it'll get looked at.>
No problem. Just making sure that someone got it.
Hope to hear from someone soon.
Chris
The Texture Universe browser is EXTREMELY fast, and since it can do keyword
searches on images (and all Autodesk images come with Targa Type10 keywords
embedded in them) it's even faster than using a book.
Allright! (I didn't think about the thumbnail pics) 🙁
Latvia,
Hit prety close to home, didn't I?
Teutonia 😉
I'm expecting Autodesk to upload more information about Texture Universe within
the next week.
– G
Olivier,
>>looking for a way to display BMP or PCX files under Windows…
I've been using a custom control for VisualBASIC called ImageMan/VB from Data
Techniques Inc (912-651-8003) which supports the PCX, TIFF, GIF, EPS, TGA, WFM,
and BMP formats with some minor limitations. It was $129. If you can't use a
VBX directly, you might call and see if they have something more appropriate.
JKJ
>>As Alan says, once the Phar Lap memory manager begins
>> paging to disk, the only way to "refresh" the memory is
>> to exit 3ds, and restart it.
—
>>Quite a nice feature for a $3000 program… <G>
I don't see where this is such a major problem. If a swapfile is being
used, but the memory need since the swapfile's creation has gone
down, then the stuff the program needs will stay in RAM. So the
paging will probably stop or near completely stop after you turn off
that material that includes the 1000×1000 texture map…
Also, I've found that in cases where a fairly small swapfile is
required (say 10 MB), I can get near all-RAM render speed out of my
system by simply using an uncompressed, recently defragmented fast
drive.
>>As Alan says, once the Phar Lap memory manager begins
>> paging to disk, the only way to "refresh" the memory is
>> to exit 3ds, and restart it.
—
>>Quite a nice feature for a $3000 program… <G>
Jack –
—I don't see where this is such a major problem. If a swapfile is being used,
but the memory need since the swapfile's
—creation has gone down, then the stuff the program needs will stay in RAM.
So the paging will probably stop or near
—completely stop after you turn off that material that includes the
1000×1000 texture map…
Let me quote the above quote:
>> paging to disk, the only way to "refresh" the memory is
>> to exit 3ds, and restart it.
—Also, I've found that in cases where a fairly small swapfile is required
(say 10 MB), I can get near all-RAM render speed
—out of my system by simply using an uncompressed, recently defragmented fast
drive.
You must have a "near RAM speed" hard disk then… 😉
–Jim
On my system ( I have a 10ms 1 gig SCSII HD and a half gig IDE drive)
it slows down quite a bit and I don't really think that that happens
only on my machine. Besides, the point is that it swaps out to HD
even later on, AFTER let's say, you loaded another small file that
doesn't even use all the available RAM, that's where the doodoo hits
the fan…
>> paging to disk, the only way to "refresh" the memory is
>> to exit 3ds, and restart it.
You mean the only way to close the swapfile is to exit.
Ok, well, it's no big deal to me. I have plenty of hard drive space, and having
a chunk of it tied up til I exit 3DS is no loss…
>> it slows down quite a bit and I don't really think that that happens
>> only on my machine.
I had a project recently where I had to use a fair-sized swap drive. Judging by
the amount of time the drive light was on, the percentage of the 3minute/frame
render time required for hard drive access was minimal.
>>Besides, the point is that it swaps out to HD
>> even later on, AFTER let's say, you loaded another
>> small file that doesn't even use all the available RAM,
>>that's where the doodoo hits the fan…
Well, I'd like to hear what the Yost Group has to say about this. I
thought the RAM would be dynamically allocated (like a HD cache,
keeping what's been recently needed in RAM and leaving the rest on
the HD swapfile) rather than just having the software look at
RAM+swapfile as one big equal area and sticking stuff anywhere in
there. If the program is truly just seeing the RAM+swapfile as a
uniform bunch of RAM, perhaps speed could be increased by using a
HUGE cache size. I use Speedcache plus, which does an excellent job
of keeping what's hot (in the CPU's opinion) in the oven and what's
not in the pantry. I keep a fairly large cache size, even under 3DS.
So, Yost group, what is Phar-Lap's vision of swapfile usage?
If the PharLap sees RAM+swap as uniform, then we should definitely exit and
re-start anytime we reduce RAM requirements back below RAM availability, right?
Jim
Jim,
<< what's this phar and swap all about? >>
See pg. 112 of the installation manual and
post additional questions.
jonas[adesk]
<< what's this phar and swap all about? >>
>>See pg. 112 of the installation manual and
>>post additional questions.
Jonas –
wrong number… this must have been someone else you're quoting; it's not me.
I RTFM before I start bugging anyone here.
Jim
Jim,
<< I RDFM … >> (made me smile this morning..)
jonas[adesk]
the problem seems to be too little RAM in your machine. 3DS liek most
other 32bit programs uses page files to simulate missing RAM chips.
The longer you work with the program, the more segments will be paged
in and out of the main memory. This will only clean up if you exit
and reload the program. I don't know the exact memory specifications
for 3DS, but I have easily filled 32 Meg of RAM during rendering of
fairly simple models.