I was rendering a scene in the Vue3 Demo,and my GDI level dropped down to about 32%. Once it had finished, and I closed the program, the GDI jumped back to 87%. And yet resources stayed where they were at 89%. While using it, I closed every program except Systray and Explorer. Even though Vue4's render engine is 40% faster, I'm just wondering what impact it has on GDI and resource levels. Of course, I know that the more models, scenes you use, the longer it takes to render, and smooth out. I'm using 156mb RAM. Will it knacker my machine :) JoeBlack

One of the unique things I've found to be true in Vue is that the total number of polygons is not nearly as important as the total number of objects, and the total number of objects is not as important as the size and number of bitmap textures. Even with Hardware accelerated OpenGL support, the display can really bog down if you have a lot of objects. Texture size plays a big roll in how long an image takes to render. All in all, I've found that Vue is no more demanding than any other pro 3D rendering package. However, I may not be the right person to ask, since I have 512 megs of ram on a 1 GHz system. -SMT

Due to being very impatient (lol), I installed Vue 4 on my current system which is a real whimp compared to some others here. It's a four and a half year old Pentium 200mhz with 64 mb RAM, no special graphics/video/whatevers. And for me thus far, Vue 4 is running like a dream, more stable than v.3, faster with some things, slower with others (volumetrics slow it down but not too badly). So far, I'm really impressed with it, and it seems like if it runs on this machine, it'll run anywhere! ;)

I suppose I won't know until I get it :) Thanx :) BTW: is an OpenGL accelerator card essential?My card came with the PC and has 4mb RAM - I think :) JoeBlack

I don't know what a GDI is.. okay, you can laugh... but I do know how to check my resources... they do not seem to change more than a few percent... I am running vue 3.1 on an athlon and it is rock steady, and renders VERY FAST no matter how many models and stuff I put in there... it is a wonder to me, and much faster than bryce 4!! (when I very frist got 3.1, I wanted to test it, so I loaded a bunch of copies of my vista models, and a bunch of trees, and terrains, just to see what would happen!) Oh, I tried it at final and broadcast render settings. I do not know about vue 4... all the comments on the problems have me waiting and watching... (and saving my money for later when it is resolved or a patch is posted) Sara

Joe, my guess is that an OpenGL card wouldn't hurt. I wouldn't consider it essential but I don't think it would hurt anything and may even do some good. On E-on's Vue 4 FAQ, the only card they've noted problems with currently is the GEForce3. Sara, if you ever want to check resources simply, there is a tiny program called rsrcmtr.exe (or something close to that) in your Windows directory. Just double-click and you'll get a little meter in the task bar that you can watch as you work. Opening it will show a bit more. This is a very simplistic monitoring program, so it doesn't give a lot of info but can be helpful when just trying to see which programs are "going too far" while in use. :)

Attached Link: http://www.ibservice.com/products.htm

I had a few resource problems and then discovered that one or two processes were running about which I knew nothing. Not all running processes are shown using Ctrl-Alt_Del. To see what's potentially hogging your resources by being loaded at boot up, try using IBS's StartUp Editor. It's free from the above URL. Apologies for getting all techie. :) Mark

The sad truth about digital art is that ANY program that renders (especially raytracers, and just 3D programs in general) is going to really slow down your machine and use most of your resources. It's a fact of computing. Mostly you have to either get an SGI or live with the drag on your system. :( I've been living with what Photoshop does to one's resources for years, so I guess I'm maybe just a little more used to it than most ;). Laurie

Attached Link: http://www.paraben.com/html/memjolt.html

Just found Mem-Jolt, a little shareware program that frees up memeory automatically. It just gave me back 24Mb from a "clean" boot. At last I seem to able to run PhotoPaint, Amapi 6 and Vue 3 at the same time in 256Mb RAM. Free trial at the above URL. This is my last bit of techie input. Honest. Mark

::thunking head:: Sara, I'm sorry. I misread your post earlier and thought you'd said you don't know how to check your resources. Duhh...I feel pretty silly now! :)

Attached Link: http://www.billwinkle.org/rambooster/index.html

There is also RamBooster...freeware :) http://www.billwinkle.org/rambooster/index.html Cheers

Ah well, it's okay, Varian... LOL! The only thing really important is that vue 3 runs GREAT for me.. especially since getting more ram... :) And that is ALL I will say here, now that this thread has become so techy... -Sara runs out of too technical thread, not daring to install any funky little programs that would mess up nicely running machine, with rock steady vue 3.1-!

Ok let me clarify and attempt to simplify: GDI = Graphic Device Interface: This is a set of instuctions programed into Windows that tells Windows how to handle graphics in regards to processing it for display purposes. Unto itself it has very little to do with your resources directly. Its simply instructions in Windows as to how to deal with the graphic data to get it up on your screen. Where the resource overhead comes in is when the software dynamically links (dll) to this instructional set. The GDI provides the interface for graphic data between the software and Windows. It is the software in this case Vue that sets up the resource parameters based upon either what was programed as optimal vs what is available on the system in terms of RAM for caching, setting up stacks and heaps, and swapfiling. So what this means is that if you are having resource related problems it has as more to do with how Vue is written then what is available on your system if your in Win98 and have at least 128MB of RAM. If software is written properly it releases resources as it needs to (it always holds more then it really needs to run) as the resources are reduced. In other words it should be dynamic in nature but most aren't. Unfortunately most software doesn't release unnecessary resources properly. That is why with some software you need to close out and reopen in order for it to run properly. By doing that you are manually releasing resources. If you have software like this then you might and I say this with much caution want to consider changing operating systems if you are using Win98, or Win ME, to either Win NT or Win 2000. Win 2000 is basically Win NT 5 and its more dynamic in its use of resources, compensating for poorly written software. Win 98 still operates in a session Window although its more dynamic then previous versions its still far less dynamic in its ability to compensate for resource useage. Open GL= Open Graphic Language: This is a set of graphic adapter instructions created by Silicon Graphics and used as part of graphic adapter's driver to accelerate the device's performance. It to has nothing to do with resources other then making your video card driver larger. Its like adding a turbo to your car's engine. It runs fine without one just takes longer to get there.

Wow, Zack, the tech area must be your ballywick. Thanks for the very clear details! :)