Ok... my purge memory isn't appearing to do anything but look pretty.  I click it, and NOTHING HAPPENS.  my resources dont rise, i don't get a "purge memory" status bar of any kind... absolutely NOTHING.

So, i went to options & looked, cus there's another purge button in there... the clear history one.  clicked it - it grayed out, but my resources did not rise.

it took 159 objects (between trees & terrains) to get resources to drop to 63% - a level i felt i should see SOMETHING.

I have WIndows XP Pro 64, service pack 2, 4 gig ram, and running an AMD athlon 64 X2 dual core 6000+ 3GHz.

So, anyone else have this issue?

Hey Mel! They tried to deliver my V7I update yesterday, but I was ou grocery shopping, and wasn't here to sign for it.

Fortunately, Geeks emailed me the tracking number, and I'm on top of it today, so I should have mine about 1 week from the actual order date.. not shabby during the holiday season, and I'll have the manual.

They ship 2nd day air UPS, BTW.

When I do a "File > Purge memory", it works if there is any unneeded memory available (with a progress meter and a new larger "Resources" number) - otherwise, nothing happens (no messages). 

I dunno exactly what memory gets purged and when memory becomes "purgable". Prolly info in the manual.

My system specs are identical to yours, except an Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 on an Intel mobo.

 When I used Vue on XP, the purge took some time and increased the available resources in the end. Now that I use Vue on Vista, I don't need the purge anymore, so I don't use it (anyway, when I tried it, it didn't seem to have any noticeable effect). The memory management seems to be much more efficient in Vista than in XP. In Vista I don't notice what was typical in XP that the resources keep decreasing for no apparent reason.

Rutra... that's interesting, actually... I did notice that 7 seems more memory friendly than 6 ever was... a scene that would knock my resources down to 6% (not joking here) upon import on 6 pro only knocked me down to 65% on 7i.  In pro studio, it was purge, do something - purge, do something - purge, do something and if it started that rapid decrease of resources, cross fingers, hit save, and exit vue...  now, i have to remind myself not to try to hit the purge memory, it doesnt do anything but make ME feel better LOL.

Hey JC, can you explain what you mean about unneeded memory??

i did notice if i load photoshop, vue lowers the resources, and when i close photoshop, the resources jump back up - but not as high as they were.

Gareee - that is EXCELLENT news, so you'll be up and running in no time!  and isnt it typical they arrive when you're out shopping?  LOL 

I think Rutra is right here, purge memory is only doing something when fragments stay in memory when they shoudn't, like deleted objects textures, so if these fragmenrts are properly deleted by your OS, then pushing this button won't do much.
This said, I find it useful when using displacements that eat up loads of memory. And this isn't right, because I have "flush voluminous data after render completes" on...

OOOOOOOO, excellent test, Bruno  - thank you!!!

soon as it finishes this render for me, will test that out =D  i dont have that option turned on (flush voluminous data)... so we'll see how to goes =D

It did help me at one point when working with Poser and V4. I can't remember what I was doing but it helped and I was able to carry on. I'm using XP Pro 32bit at the moment.

Purging memory on XP is indeed useful.

Well, displacement materials did nothing...

Using V4:  Imported several V4 scene files that I knew had HUGE texture maps, first copy dropped resources to 78%.  i did NOT hit purge memory between imports.  Second copy brought resources down to 59% - and then the resources flickered, wavered between 59% and 60% and then jumped to 64%.  I did not hit purge memory.  I loaded a third V4  - wow.  Resources dropped to.. 61%!!!

Ok, loaded V4 #4  ..ooooooo vue didnt like THAT one.  43%

I hit purge memory.  absolutely NOTHING happened.  not a flicker, not a flash, and my resources are now... 42%.  this is NOT regaining resources.  this is LOSING them.  boggles

So, those with XP 32 bit are able to use it.  Those with vista seem to have no problems as well.

Bruno - is your XP 32 or 64 bit?  Im trying now to figure out if it's platform specific, and others have noticed this (XP 64 bit) or if its something else before i send a ticket to e-on.

I'm Vista64, Melikia. When I was on XP32, purging memory was a great help, same on Vista32(my laptop). But what this button does is erase from memory any bit and fgragment that is not used anymore in the scene, Your 4 Vickies are present, and so their textures need to stay in memory, so hitting the purge button won't do anything in this case. But if you delete one Vicky, and hit the purge button, then you should be able to see some result.

ooooooooo.... did you just see the lightbulb that went off over my head?  i understand that now =D

ok, testing THAT now....

I started out at 85%, load V4 1 (the heavy one i did at the end the last time); ooooo, nice drop.  down to 61% and Vue loves me... it went back up to 67%  (is vue now automatically recapturing memory???  has it grown semi-intelligent???)

load V4 2.... not bad... it went to 55%

load v4 3... it dropped to 35% and then went back up to 42%  ok, gonna delete V4 #1 THEN purge....  it dropped to 38% while i was moving mouse around, and then regained to 42%... havent purged yet... gonna delete second one just to give myself a lot of those possible fragments =D, and resources went to 44% when i hit delete LOL...

and here goes purge...

and absolutely NOTHING.

its still at 44%

not a flicker, not flash, NOTHING.

=(

Did you try deleting history? How many undos do you store? I think if you delete history, and then purge memory, you should regain some resources, because last operations stay in memory (had forgottent about this one!) until you reach the max undos you stated in the options panel (if you didn't specify any level, then you have 5 undos stored, this is default)

If yer already that low on resources anyway, seems you won;t be able to do much more with it anyway, right?

44% isn't so low...

Parping in here - I don't think it's a Vista/XP thing.

If I purge in 6 inf there is a significant increase in resources, but purging in 7 inf doesn't have the same effect.  Hardly any at all in fact, and even then, as soon as I so much as move my mouse....it drops back again.

Vista 32bit Home Premium (sucks I know but I have to 'make do')

when i purged in 6 pro studio, i regained resources like nobodys business.  i see no improvement of any kind no matter what i do in 7.  i've flushed history, no regain.  it looks like vue does it on its own at times, but i cannot make it regain resources. 

and gill - i dont even move the mouse after purging... i stare right where purge memory should be showing up when its purging & click the button... and i see nothing.  its like it doesnt exist, and the button leads to a completely dead end.  resources dont gain, but they dont drop either.

and on this computer, 44% isn't considered low... ive managed to render something in pro studio with only 5% resources left.  it wasnt HAPPY... but it did it. =D  havent managed to test the bottom line with 7 yet =/

got a question unrelated to purging of memory....

when i load say... a cube... and resize it, dragging the handles,  so technically it SHOULD be large enough to now encorporate the camera... why does the camera get "shoved" around?  it doesnt stay in place... the object im resizing moves it around - usually backwards and/or up.  ive checked every setting i can think of - keep level, the height button... l even dug under options for ANYTHING relating to cameras... and i cant figure it out.

my bro says you only have to be 1% smarter than the device you are attempting to manipulate... in this case, i think im screwed.  vue's smarter.  LOL

There's a lock icon in the camera Aspect panel (select camera first).  If you click it to unlock, then the camera will act as before.  The new default is locked, so if your camera is set to 1.6 meters above ground, it will stay at 1.6 meters no matter what is under it.  Good for animations, not so hot for stills.  GeekatPlay has some nice tutorials on the new Vue 7 features. 

erkk... i hit that button, Peggy... and it didnt seem to do anything, so ... well...

i'd once again shot myself in the foot ;)

i can see where it'd work for animations... what a PITA for stills.

dont think ive beat my head so hard against my desk since i first got poser.  ;)

playing with radiosity again chuckles

thanks again everyone =D