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crashing non-stop


Billabong
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and yet another problem. Whenever I try to render, Max will instantly crash, doents even go though any calcualtions what so ever. I hit render and it crashes. I'm using direct3D, but I also tried openGL, it crashed to. Here are my settings.

 

comp:

 

Quadcore 2.4

8 gigs of RAM

8800GTX(Just updated the driver when the crashing started, so that didnt help either)

3Ds max 2008

Vray1.5

 

scene settings

 

poly count 525,649

2 palms using treestorm

about 600 plants all made into proxies.

also using the vray displacemnt modifier

 

Frame buffer is disabled

 

Adaptive QMC

primary bounce is Irradiance map

second is light cache

 

IM settings

Medium

20

20

LC settings

1000

.01

passes4

 

color mapping is Reinhard

Dynamic memory is on 3200

default gemoetry is Dynamic.

 

I really appreciate any help, this is driving me crazy

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I typically use a Irradiance Map, and Lightcache, or an Irradiance Map and QMC regardless of whether it is interior or exterior. I have actually had more problem with Lightcahce causing crashes than I have had with IM causing crashes.

 

- Turn off displacement. Does it crash then?

- Try moving your camera slightly. Does it crash then?

- Turn off secondary bounce all together. Does it crash then?

- Turn off all proxies. Does it crash then?

 

....if none of those do it, try turning on the top 4 or so layers, and render. Does it crrash then? ...work your way through the layer list in this fashioon. Often you can isolate a problem on a layer that is causing crashes, then you can work only with that layer to figure out the problem.

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I insist. If Max is crashing as soon as you hit render, than the problem has nothing to do with VRay's calcs. Everytime you render something, Max kind of makes a copy of your scene and places it in your RAM. That happens even before VRay can start anything, and is what really causes most crashes (that's why using VRay Proxies is so good).

Max's regular frame buffer (aka render frame window) is another thing that eats up your RAM as well, so you better use VRays VFB with the "render to memory frame buffer" option off and Max's FB at a very low size (4 by 3 is a nice one). This will prevent Max from allocating unnecessary RAM for displaying the rendered picture (meaning no crash).

About the GI method you chose, it doesn't matter which one you're using. Like Travis, I also use mostly IrrMap+LC, regardless the kind of scene. Of course, each method has its advantages/disvantages, but that depends on geometry and it being or not an animation (VRay can't tell interiors from exteriors).

And, just to make clear, your graphic card is not causing the crash, since it has nothing to do with the rendering calculations.

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well right now im rendering at 640x480 and the one thing I have noticed is that max will allow me to render the scene one time, but if I try to rerender it, then it crashes

 

I think ricardo might have hit the nail on the head. Sounds like when max is done and you want to re-render max hasn't purged the memory yet and its trying to stuff more and more into your ram. One of the new webinars has a great tip in it, which is: whenever you're doing a large render, always reboot so your ram is as free as possible before you do your render.

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well, looks like I spoke to soon. Now its just crashing whenever it feels like it. on renders,changing viewports, basically whenever it wants. God, Max sure can be buggy as hell sometimes

 

2hrs later:

I think i found out what it was, I have two onyx palm trees in my scene that are still in treestorm form, I deleted the two palms and it hasnt crashed yet. guess Ill have to call Onyx Mon. if that is the problem, I guess I could always just convert them to an editble poly and turn 'em into a proxy

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God, Max sure can be buggy as hell sometimes

 

It may be buggy, but it's not that buggy!

Download MemTest86, and run it from a floppy disk. You'll get a pretty quick idea from this if there is a problem with your RAM. If something comes up, remove the offending module/s, (with the power off and unplugged), until you get a positive result with MemTest.

http://www.memtest.org/

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