Hi all. I'm trying to use a model I bought here and it opens huge. It's a space cruiser and when I apply the bump maps and try to render it, Poser crashes, says I'm out of memory (a common message which is actually not the problem at all -- I think), and it's making me very depressed. The creator seems stumped and I don't think he can help me. I've tried this on two different computers with the same result. It renders fine without the bump maps, so I know that's where the problem lies. Is it possible to keep the bump map the same size, but lower the dpi, or is there anything else I can try???

are you running P4 or P4 pro pac or p 5 ? When you say bump map does the file end in BUM ?

This may be a version specific issue as well as hardware, so please let us know all the stuff tasquah is asking plus your cpu/ram/OS specs. Thanks.

The "out of memory" is a pretty generic Poser response to anything that it doesn't understand. Also, in addition to the system specs requested, is it when you use a MAT file to load the bump, or are you doing it by hand? Which space cruiser is it? There may be other customers that can help out if they have the same model.

tasquah: the BUM and version thing doesn't matter as to whether Poser will crash, just as to how messed up it may look. I freely distribute BUM files in JPEG format -- not greyscale bumpmaps, but the green BUM style ones -- see any of my FreeStuff since Christmas-ish as examples.

Well yes and no Dodger. If its in the BUM format its probley a pretty darn big file and when loading its eating up there recourses so it could be reduced or altered depending upon what version of poser they are running. Not many people know how to work with them to get the like you into a resonable file size. I have downloaded files with BUM maps at 25 megs each and have had problums trying to get them to work that were memory related . The file would load and render well untill i tried to use the bum map. That is untill i changed it into a bmp then saved it as a jpg. Its why i asked what version of poser they were running.

Ack, 25 megs? for a bumpmap? That's crazy. Hey, In my defence, I've posted the Big BUM Solution technique to this forum, the Poser technical forum, and the merhcants' forum, and I use it in all my new freestuff with bumpmaps so that people can see it IRL B^) You're right, though. People distributing things for pay or free should try their best to make the stuff as easy on as many people's machines as possible. I'm getting more and more into refining the number of polys i need to get it to exactly the right number, not too little to look good but not too high to use. For anyone using P4 and dealing with huge BUM files: change the extension to .BMP and open it on your favourite image editor. Save it back out as a JPEG. Open the cr2 or pp2 or pz3 or whatever in a tet editor and look for the material entry that refers to the BUM. Edit the reference to point to the jpeg instead. (Don't just try to load the JPEG in Poser or it will try to convert an already-converted file resulting in a squooshy looking mess) and a BUM just as big.)

Thanks for all the info. I'm using Poser 4 on a Mac G4 dual processor OS 9.2.2 with a high memory allottment (400 mb). The files are from a model called Scout Ship and came as jpeg files and converted to the green-style bump maps which I applied by hand thru the "materials" interface. I'm going to try a reduced file size when I get into work and see if that helps. FRED

Talk about eerie. I request the name of the model ... I have it. :) I haven't had any problems trying to use it, or the bump map with it, but I'm a PC user. Definitely not your processor, that's more than sufficient to handle it. RAM might actually be part of the problem, then. Not sure with a Mac. Something else. The model does say PC only. Did you do anything special to convert it, or are you trying to use it straight out of the box? If it's a conversion problem, there are a LOT of Mac users in here that might be able to help out now that we know what you're running.

I'm using the mac converter that I always use. The author sent me a smaller sized bump map so we'll see how that works. FRED

If it doesn't help, let us know. I can hunt down more Mac users to figure this one out.

JPG is smaller than BUM only on your HD - once uncompressed into memory the only thing affecting size is the pixel dimension, not dpi, not format. Opening and resaving may have smoothed out a glitch in the file you were having problems with. Using a jpg in place of a bum in a MAT file for P4 often gives the dreaded "long day down the coal mine" look.

I'm on a PC and I'm currently having the same problem with the Mil dragon, boy was I glad I read this as the Image I'm currently working on looks suckie without the bumping. As to why, I figured it was cause I had a really old cpu, even though I've now upped the mem to 512K. I'll try the 'fix' later and here's hoping it works, again, thanks.

Here's how this ended. The author created a new bump jpeg that was double the dpi (went from 72dpi to 150dpi), but reduced the dimensions by 1/ 2 and that did the trick... really. Now if I can just figure out why the 3DS "science lab" model I bought crashes everytime I try to open it I could die happy. That particular author has failed to respond to any of my emails. The Scoutship guy was very anxious to help and was a very pleasant fellow. Thanks to all here. Fred Olen Ray