3ds Max 2008 crashes

[jtroupe]

I am using 3ds Max 2008 and vray and I have an image that I am trying to render. I originally tried to render it at 11 x 17 at 300 dpi and Max would just disappear 3/4 of the way through the 4th pass of the rendering. So I bumped it down to 200 dpi, and it worked. That was about a week and a half ago. Now I am trying to render the same file at 200 dpi, and Max is quitting 3/4 of the way through the 4th pass.

 

Any ideas as to what could be causing this???

[Patrick Mc Ginty]

Sounds like a memory issue/ really heavy scene to me. happens all the time when we make things like housing sites.

 

Number of things you could do:

Invest in more ram, although this doesnt always help.

Lower your vray settings, GI etc. (or resolution if you can afford it)

Lower your polygon count by modeling less detail or using a modifier (multi- res maybe but this can leav nasty results depending on the object )

vray meshing geometry heavy objects can be quite sucessful; this usually works pretty well as is a quick fix but dont try do massive amounts (1-2mil) in one go because it'll just kill it.

Render it from backburner (lighter than having your scene open while rendering)

xref objects in your scene that are instanced, found that can help rendering.. guess its lighter somehow.

Lower the resolution on any massive textures you have.

 

Can think of a few others but if it was rendering ok before using one of these steps should help. Again, would be able to help more if i knew the scene.

[jtroupe]

This is the scene to which I am referring to. Modeled in acad and referenced into Max. I am not sure how to find out the polygon count, otherwise I would give you that too.

[Patrick Mc Ginty]

To get polycount press 7. You may need to update what statistics are displayed to show poly count. Go to customize at the top, then viewport config, then to the statistics tab and click on poly count, total + selection can be handy to check selected object's poly count also.

 

Besides that, not sure if you're using vray displace on the grass but lowering the precision lightens the scene.

 

Again, without having seen the polygon count and your vray settings, it seems to me like its just crashing because of a memory issue. Solutions to that as per above.

[jtroupe]

So the polygon count says that it is 5,279,247.

 

Is that a lot?

[Patrick Mc Ginty]

Yeah, 5 million polygons is pretty high for one house.

 

It really depends on what you are using the model for and how close you get to it. Also, modeling in acad, or other software and then importing to max can lead to lots of unwanted polygons in places they are not needed. You should probably go into wireframe view in the max viewport and weed out areas where there is a high concentration of polygons.

 

For example, a chimney pot doesnt need 150k polygons, you would have to be looking at it with a magnifying glass to warrent that many divisions.

 

If you're not used to modeling in max and not sure how to lower the count, try making high poly areas into vray mesh. It will replace the mesh in the scene with a proxy which is easier to render than the actual geometry. dont forget to save a version of your scene before though

 

Again the multi-res modifier can lower polygon count but can crash on high polygon objects and can tend to butcher your mesh. enjoy

[Tommy L]

Yes that is quite a lot. Not uber-massive, but if it is all regular geometry then yes, its quite alot. Try vray-proxy. Especially on your trees.

[lufias]

hi there,i usually import only 2d plan from autocad and used it as a refrents.

I like model everything in max so i can control polygon count.Less polygon

can make your rendering faster. May be you can try it

[only3d]

are u sure u modelled this in acad? was it simple polygonal modelling or adt tools?

its hard for me to imagine creating those complex columns made in acad but maybe im not up-to-date with the newer acad versions.. (or was it a 3ds block imported) anyhu its most probably the cause for the crashes (this and other multy polygonal objects like it there) . i personally work alot with archicad which actually gives out a very slim model. much lighter than in max most cases (i have tested it myself!)

 

i guess theres not much i can advise u with besides perhaps using a lower conf in vray (medium is quite good ad will do the work in most cases)

another 1 might be using the 'optimize' mod. then maybe collapsing it to a mesh or poly.

maybe even rendering in parts using frame buffer? dont have any experience but maybe worth a shot.

 

 

on a different level (if i maybe forward enough) your model is like a pro (very good actually!) also very nice lighting & mats but your sky is very beginnerish.. its much too dark and contrastic and ruins it all.

sorry but this really could be a "vismasters" render and its a shame to waste it on such a simple thing

 

good luck w the crashing

[notamondayfan]

have u tried rendering the trees on a seperate pass?

 

post up a wireframe and it will give us more info