I upgraded the memory on my pc from 2 gig to 4 gig and need to know if I need to do any thing special to V5I to get it to recognize the additional memory. Thanks!!! Jim

Nothing special to do.... except you have to know that on windows XP, any application can only have up to 2 Gb. Vue will not be able to use 4 Gb. However, you will see an improvement since all the other applications will not use Vue's 2 Gb. Pay attention to the page file created by windows XP. By default, it is a percentage of the max amount of memory - in your case, it will be an obscene amount of disk space. Set it to 1 Gb maximum (I have 4Gb on mine and simply set it to 500 M :) ).

The page file you are talking about, is that the virtual memory??? Right now mine is set at 2046MB. If this is not what your talking about where can I find this setting so I can change it??? Thanks for your help!!!

Yes... it is the virtual memory. With 4GB of RAM, there is no reason for your virtual memory to be so large. With that much memory you could get away with setting the virtual memory to just a few hundred Mb and claim back that disk space :)

So I could set the VM to say 500 MB and that should help a little??? I'll give it a shot. Thanks!!!!

It helped a lot for me... windows had a hard time keeping track of a 2 Gb VM file, not mentionning the mess that created in the hard drive as the VM file is very fragmented and will not get defragmented as it is used by the system all the time.

Ok, I'm really starting to get a little upset here. I have 4 GB of memory on my pc and V5I is giving me an out of memory error. I'm trying to render my latest scene "Days End" at 1600x1200 resolution so I can make a print out of it. The render runs at around 1.32 - 1.34 GB according to Windows Task Manager. So with 4 GB of memory that would still leave almost 3 GB left!!! There is no way my system is out of memory!!! Some one please help, I'm about to go nuts!!!

That's what I was saying about windows XP. No matter what, Vue will not be able to use more than 2Gb. Period. It may be possible to change that limitation, but my system became unstable when I tried, so I reverted to the default 2Gb. So you have to think your limit is 2Gb. With 1.34 Gb taken by your scene, that leaves only 700Mb for Vue to work with. If you are using Vue Infinite, I would advise you to set the maximum number of Undo down to 1 or 2. Also, check the option to flush out OpenGL data when starting a render.... or better yet, do not use openGL. The definition of all these polygons, lights and materials in OpenGL has to take memory somewhere :)

I can't believe that Windows XP won't allow an application to use more than 2GB. That really sucks!!! Oh well, I'll try out your pointers for lowering the amount of memory V5I uses. I'm also going to try doing a render at 800X600 and see what size print I can get out of that. I'd be happy with an 8X10 so this may work out. If not I can always enlarge it in Photoshop. Thanks!!!

That's one of the promises of upcoming 64 bits systems - no more memory limitation per application :) In the meantime, we have to go back to workarounds and strategies to make scenes smaller.

QUOTE: I can't believe that Windows XP won't allow an application to use more than 2GB. That really sucks!!! / QUOTE That's how they'll be able to convince us to fork out more bucks for their next operating system. ;-) Consider it as an unusual form of programmed obsolescence ;-)

We will have the same discussion in 10 years when people start noticing that they can't allocate 1 TB of data in their memory :) Need I remind you that Windows 95 was the standard 10 years ago ? :)

Message edited on: 11/22/2005 13:23

Rest assured that the main reason that the 64bits systems will support more than 2Gb, is the fact that Windows Vista needs atleast 1Gb for itself and probably another 1Gb for the rest of the "necessary" bloatware.

So the 2Gb limit is per application? So if I have 2 or more apps open such as V5I and Poser 6, maybe photoshop or something. Would those apps be able to use up to 2Gb each? I have 2 gigs now and was also thinking of upgrading to 4. But I usually like to multitask, so would it be worthwhile?

Yes... it is worthwhile, although it is not recommended to do something else on your machine while Vue is rendering.

Be aware that a 32bit operating system can only address 4Gb address space. Drives and other devices are also mapped into this memory space, which leaves only 2Gb memory RAM for all Windows XP applications. If you have a 64bit CPU (e.g. Athlon 64), you can use Windows XP64, which can address a lot more memory. Unfortunately as Vue is a 32bit application, it can still only use 2Gb RAM, but Windows XP64 provides a 32bit emulation exclusively for each application. So more than 2Gb memory only makes sense, when a.) you use a 64bit CPU and b.) you use Windows XP64 Nevertheless the benefit for Vue is quite small, as long as there is no 64bit Vue version, as for C4D or other high end 3D application.

Let me add something to this as I don't adding more ram is a waste..... Let me state this could be Vue just acting as it's usual bizarre self. I have 4 of ram, this is important for the following. I was rendering out a tree at 6ft x 5ft...Vue came back & and gave a warning saying you need 3.82(give or take a few decimal points) & you don't have enough, do you wish to continue. I said yes, continue & vue happily rendered on. Now then, I upped the size & DPI & Vue came back & said you need 4.8??? in order to keep going, click yes to continue...I clicked yes & OBVIOUSLY Vue crashed since I only have 4. Keep in mind my puter tech guy fiddled with a lot of windows setting. So IMHO..not a waste :)