Okay so I am working on a project and I keep running in to this issue "Poser out of memory" and was wondering if there are things that can be done to help this...

I have 8 gigs of Ram, 1GB DDR5 Dedicated graphics memory and run a 64x system... I have heard poser has a limit to how much ram it can access so that said

**Is there a way to increase that? **

I have made some custome textures for the scene and when I make them in photoshop I tend to set them to the highest quality

would lowering the quality a bit help?

I know that polygon count in an item matters,

is there a way to figure out how many poloygons/ memory an item will take up?

Any other tricks and tips to help with this would also be much appreciated. 

Although your system is 64bit Poser 9 is 32 bit and can only address 2gig of memory.  The Pro version is 64bit and does not have that limitation, although it may have a limitation depending what operating System you use.  However, the Pro version should use you 8gig RAM whatever OS you use.

Despite the 64-bit environment on your computer, Poser 10 is a 32-bit program and is subject to ram memory llimitations.  Expect, at least, 3 GB of memory usage.  

But "out of memory" does not necessarily mean you are literally out of memory.  There are other problems which may impede it's function.  Are there other processes running in the background?  Are internet browsers active during rendering?  How populated is the stage in your scene?

Certainly, using lower resolution for both background figures and textures will reduce the render load.  If you can medium resolution, do so unless you are doing closeups.

 Raytrace or depthmap lighting?  

Prominent transmaps for many of the models in the scene?

Are you using IDL?  What are your render settings?  Are those significantly high quality?  Raytrace bounces and reflective surfaces, are those present in the scene as well?

Rendering in a separate process?

There are a significant number of combinations which can cause out of memory; I just mentioned a few.

Also... save the scene out as a PZ3. Check the size of that file and report back. I seem to remember when I was running a 32 bit version of Poser about 450 Megs was the upper limit that would render without coughing to a stop.

Attached Link: Windows memory limits

Size of rendered image will also affect memory usage, big renders like 4000x3000 will consume far more memory.

Also check the number of undo's.  By default, Poser places it at 99.  Lowering the undo numbers to a reasonable number as well as clearing the undo cache can free up resources.

With 32bit versions of Poser, I have found that if I have been working for a couple of hours, it helps to save the scene, clear the undo cache, close Poser and wait a couple of minutes and then restart.  This often frees up resources.

I also found that keeping the number of other apps running in the background with it to a minimum helps too.

I didn't see this suggestion but But before you run Poser check the Task Manger to see how many programs are running and if anything is using up your RAM.  Sometimes programs in the background can take up a lot of resources.   I'm assuming that you are running windows so if your task Manager is showing that more than 10% of CPU being used then it's possible that you may have some spyware going on in the background or that one of your programs is using more of the CPU.   You may have to start your computer and let your computer settle (finish loading) if you have multiple programs that start when you turn your computer on.  With the task manager you can shut down almost any program that is running in the background and taking up RAM. Just becareful not to shut down something you need to operate your computer. If you have additional programs like skype, firefox, and things of the sort then it's going to eat up some RAM and processing power.

thank you for all the segestions, I am sure the population of the scene has something to do with it as it has eight fully clothed people 3 visibale and fully decked out rooms of a house etc. and I am sure some of the items (and possibly the house bits them selves) have a sucky polygon count. hopefully some of these other ideas will help :)

I am now kicking my self for not seeing about upgrading to pro, but I just really couldn't afford THAT much...but I think the next time I do have the money I will be... Another question for you all while I am asking... would getting "reality" for poser help in this case or not?

It definitely won't help with render speed. I'm not sure how much of your resources it will take up but if I had to guess it would still be quite a bit.  I don't know of any light weight 3rd rendering programs.

FightingWolf is correct.  Reality only renders better with time unlike Poser's Firefly.  If fast renders are no concern and you don't mind allowing your computer render overnight or days undisturbed, then it might fit your need.  Personally, I would dedicate one computer just for that workload.

If you are not using any Weightmapped figures nor procedural shaders, you might be able to render the scene in DAZ Studio, which does came in a 64-bit version.  Any issues are likey to involve materials, but that will be an issue with any outside render engine.

SnarlyGribbly has a free convertor to Lux Render, which is what Reality uses as its render engine, so you can try it out if you think that you might go that route...

http://snarlygribbly.org/3d/forum/viewforum.php?f=9

thanks again, yeah I am not really worried about speed of the render... just that it renders. I just wasn't sure if Lux Render would solve the bucket size problem, if it would then great.  Cause my problem isn't that poser takes up too much of my Resources its that I have Resources to spare but the limitations of Poser 10 don't allow it to use them. So let it hog the computer as it is I am spending all day/ multiple days trying to remove enough from the scene to make it render well :P

I will Definately look in to that WandW for the Lux thing though reality is pretty reasonaly priced... i just didn't want to buy it if it wasn't a viable solution... does the free version of Daz come in 64x? cause I was under the impression that only the pro version did...

DAZ Studio also comes in 64-bit for free.  I've downloaded both versions but not installed yet.

alright I will have to give that a try thank you again for helping me through this it has helped loads not just for the project I am working on but stuff to  keep in mind for future projects