so i'm trying to do a 1950x3000 render, firefly.  in poser pro 2012.  on windows xp sp3.

  the thing croaks and pops up and tells me i can reduce firefly rendering memory usage by...

1: rendering in a separate process

2: raising adaption threshold

3: specifying smaller bucket sizes

   i'm lazy, and the pp12 manual is downstairs... :X  i just do not see any controls/settings for #1 and #2.  ive turned the bucket size down to 8.  don't think it gets any smaller than that.  4? 2?  i'll try 2.

Try making your bucket size smaller and go to the editgeneral preferencesrender and check the separate process box. Do not know about the adaption threshold and I am not sure any of  this will solve the problem, but it might help.

In general preferences on the first or second tab there is a checkbox that says "Render to separate process" or something similar. Check that, save and try your render again :).

At least then if there's a problem only Firefly will crash and not Poser.

Laurie

Attached Link: http://forum.daz3d.com/viewtopic.php?p=1173050&sid=a8d9d64750a4c3e17af0bc2903d8c887&flatnum=1

oh!

well, clever of them to hide it nowhere NEAR the render settings... :X  let's try that with bucket size back up to 8...

any clue what the number of threads slider thing is over the separate process checkbox?  (and haha! i knew this would be faster than me and going to get the cd and poking through the pdf manual...!  brain trust FTW!)

...well, it got further than it did before!  i'm keeping my fingers crossed.  thanks guys!!

try number of threads = 2*number of cores.  maybe adaptation threshhold is cached texture size.  I searched manual: "adaptation" not found.  didn't search for "adaption" nor "adaptive", but unfortunately these manuals were often written and edited by the same person, meaning they'd miss errors.

If your processor is hyperthreaded you can do two threads per core (example: 4 cores 8 threads). If your processor does not support hyperthreading use one thread per core.

Laurie

First and important uestion in your case is..
RAM???????

XP 32 bit is limited in its RAM usage........ rendering that big can/could be a problem if you need all the new PP2012 stuff..........

First upgrade would have to be to a 64 bit system.
And RAM + RAM + RAM +RAM.

Bucket size ideal = 32, but you can reduce to 16 if yo want-need.
Redue to 8 as a last effort.......

Certainly render in external process, (certainly for XP 32 bit) in General preferences
And set number of threads to number of CPU cores.
Times 2 if your CPU is hyperthreted.

How do you find out if your CPU is hyperthreaded? For example, I've an i3, quad-core. When I look up processors in the Device manager, I see 4 i3 CPUs. Which is 4 cores, right?

Or Check www.cpubenchmark.net

Quote - How do you find out if your CPU is hyperthreaded? For example, I've an i3, quad-core. When I look up processors in the Device manager, I see 4 i3 CPUs. Which is 4 cores, right?

Easiest way is to use wikiepedia. Just put a vague name of the processor into the search box, e.g. "intel i3" and then look for the entry named like "list of " which gives a clearly laid out overview of the key data of the processors.

The device manager (like with linux the /proc/cpuinfo) gives hyperthreading as processors, so if the processor has hyperthreading (the i3 has), the number shown (4) is twice the number of cores (2).

Thank you, MilliGhost...

Windows Taskmanager tells you the amount of threads (performance tab, a diagram for each) and it will also tell the memory usage (processes tab). XP32 will allow up to 2Gb memory usage, unless you've pulled the 3Gb switch.

I did a tutorial about it, on my website as well as in the Rendo Tutorials collection (Poser as well as Vue).

BTW: what is an adaption / adaptation threshold - related to CPU / RAM usage?

The mentioned thread was about Poser 7, and according to Google is the only page on the net using that term. ???

Attached Link: http://www.awn.com/articles/tutorials/iposer-7-revealedi-render-images/page/3,1

it may be orphaned code.  somebody with poser 7 installed check to see if this screenshot is correct. if so, should be possible to set it using script.

Will add for everyone who needs help with this there is a program avalible called CPU-Z it will give you details on everything from GPU , Memory what speed its running at what chipset the MOBO has , who made the motherboard.

and on the CPU side it will tell you the core speed the codename of the CPU I.E for my I7 it say's Lynnfield and everything from how many cores and threads.

its a pretty nice benchmarker if you look it up on google you will find it.

Speccy will do the same.

Laurie

@Miss nancy - this adaptive bucket size is the Poser 7 way of handling resources, from Poser 8 / Poser Pro on it's replaced by the max bucket size methode.

Difference: the old way started with some bucket size, and grew it with a rate (the lower the threshold the faster) until it met resource limits. The new way start at the given max (default: 32) and shrinks when it meets resource limits (acc to the manual).

What happens: each thread gets a bucket to render, each one has size (say 32x32 pixels) plus some overhead (say 8 pixel border, I don't know the real number). In this case a (40x40/(32x32) = 156% overhead. When the thread is finished, it gets a new bucket. Poser cannot render individual buckets over the network (Bryce and MojoWorld can). When you double the bucket size, the border stays intact. So the memory required to the thread quadruples but overhead reduces to (72x72)/(64x64) = 126%. More memory, less CPU time.

notes:

(1) when you press Cancel, finished threads will not get a new bucket, but the running ones are not stopped. So you have to wait longer for a response.

(2) if you've got many threads available, large buckets will create a situation where just a few are runnning at the end of the image while all others remain idle. Example: a 500x500 image at a 64-bucket size dicides into 8x8 = 64 buckets, so on a 12-thread machine the last porting will have 4 active and 8 idle threads. Only when the last thread is done, the image is finished. Hence the question is if larger bucket sizes really give an earlier result. In this example: render time will be reduced to 88% instead of the expected 126/156=82%.

(3) less threads running will have less simultaneous buckets worked on. A bit less memory use, far less CPU power, so far longer render time. Your image, your call.

(4) smaller buckets (16) are adviced for scenes with fine detail, like a facial portrait with dynamic / complex hair or much displacement mapping. Larger buckets (64) run fine on scenes with buildings, distant figures and props. Generally, the default (32) fits both.

if you go into Task Manager, Performance, how many of those little CPU usage boxes do you see?

curious,   i'm still only dreaming of 64bitz and quad cores.

have fun.

Quote - and my i7-990x (6 cores 12 threads looks) like this, when FireFly ramps up

they come in 6 now?

(with 6 you get eggroll)

yep, and they have temperature dependant clocking speeds as well (temp up, speed down). And they can be easily overclocked too. Mine run at 4Ghz basic setting.

At last, my FireFly can fly a bit.

compy envy :lol:

if i don't pay my rent this month i could buy a new compy.  thahz a really bad idea, but then again it's my birthday this week.