Running out of memory while rendering?

[Todd W]

Vectorworks freezes up while rendering and I get an error message saying Vectorworks is using 195 GB of memory. I've read about "memory leaks" and am wondering how to fix this? I am trying to create a final rendering. I've tried Custom Renderworks, Interior Final, etc.

 

If I cannot create final renderings VW is basically useless to me.

 

Mac is a 2022 Mac Studio with 64 GB of RAM, running Sonoma 14.6.1.

 

Vectorworks is 2024 Update 6

PICKLE DILLY-3-PURGED.vwx

[rDesign]

1) Have you restarted Vw & your Mac recently? Memory leaks are not something that we — the end user — can fix. Restarting your Mac right before rendering is a good practice to get into. 

 

2) Are you running any other applications while trying to render in Vw? Restart your Mac, and without any other applications running, open Vw, open only that one file, and start the rendering. 

 

3) When I opened your file it opened to a 3D perspective view on a Design Layer, and there is only one SLVP of a rendering (on the cover sheet A0.00). Were you trying to render full-screen on the Design Layer? If so, I would not do that -- that is asking for memory issues, even with 64GB RAM. Personally, I only do rendered views in SLVPs - never on a Design Layer.

Edited September 6 by rDesign

[rDesign]

Looking at your file, there are large portions of the model which could be created much more efficiently.

 

1) When having repeating elements (like the pickle ball courts, nets, fencing along the walkway, etc). -- use Symbols as much as possible. Each of the pickle ball courts is a group, the nets are each 4+ extrudes, etc. Symbols are much more efficient than Groups, memory-wise.

 

2) The fencing has been all ungrouped to fillets, extrudes, etc. Much more efficient to make repetitive panels as a symbol which are then duplicated.

 

3) Objects that have Fillets on them (like the 40 covers over the movable dividers, I don't know what they're called) have a history to them, and contain all of their creating objects  -- and are not efficient. Once you are happy with the fillet, convert the filleted object to a Generic Solid which will delete the history. Create a symbol of that and duplicate that around the room.

 

I think you get the idea. Once you've got the model as efficient as possible, run the Purge command and then you can assess your memory-leak issues.

 

My 2 cents.

Edited September 7 by rDesign

[grant_PD]

I also tried to run this file.  There are elements causing the memory problems, I would follow @rDesigns advice.  There may be more issues, I just haven't delved into it too much.  But the fact that it hangs on "pre render" tells me that it is not to the rendering part yet, so the problem as of now is not with the rendering.  Typically if there are rendering issues, you will get bad outcomes or very long rendering times per chunk of the visible space.  ie, when you render glass with blurriness, it takes a long time to render that part of the scene because that particular area needs a lot of computing power.  

Look for repeatable elements in your scene, make symbols of them.  You should see a lot of improvement.

[Jeff Prince]

I was able to run the Custom Renderworks on your file and produce images in the Design Layer, which as @rDesign pointed out is not a desirable workflow.

Set up some sheet layers with your desired viewports/rendering scenes, this will limit the size of the renderings to whatever you set your sheet layer dpi to.

 

When I reviewed your file, I believe the number one "problem child" in terms of geometry to render are those perforated metal curtain walls you have around the perimeter of the building.  When I moved them to a different design layer and turned them off, it cut the render time in half.  This is due to the complex geometry they are made of.  You could simply use a flat plane with a texture map on it to achieve the same look.  There are probably more triangulated surfaces in one of those curtains than the entirety of the architectural model.   Clean and efficient geometry are what drives render time more than anything.

 

Custom rendtrworks without you curtains rendered in 3:30 on my machine.

 

The same render settings with your curtains shown ended up taking 5:48.  So, when you run a Final Quality Renderworks with the curtains shown, the wheels are going to fall off the bus.

 

I'm certain the reason for this has to do with the level of detail in your curtains.  This is some seriously heavy geometry for no practical benefit.  That curtain is essentially two parallel faces mapped with the same transparent texture that you are asking Vectorworks to render with all the advanced settings.  It simply can't happen due to the calculations you are asking for.  A better solution would be to make a simple rectangle in place of the curtain and put a nice texture map on it that simulates the curvature, except in areas where closeups might be required.

 

 

Hope it helps.

 

 

 

[Todd W]

Ha ha, now I'm embarrassed! Thank you everyone for the great advice! I am going to have to take a step back and rework some of these things with your comments in mind.

 

Todd

[mjm]

No need for embarrassment here. many of us, myself certainly included, went through countless numbers of these same learning processes, mentored by the same folks & many others for years.

[Jeff Prince]

@Todd W I let my computer chew on your model a little more since it wasn't needed over the weekend.

Incidentally, my computer is an old iMac from 2020 with 3.8 GHz 8-core Intel i7, 72 GB Ram and an AMD 5500 XT GB video card.

 

In just over 5 1/2 hours, it was able to render your original scene using Final Quality Renderworks.

It took forever due to the heavy geometry and reflective materials used on some items.  You can see a lot of reflections in the steel framing and such.

 

Using Custom Renderworks and changing your screen curtains to simple rectangles and applying a texture resulted in a render time of 3 hrs 16 minutes.  I threw in a black ground plane outside the building because I wanted to see the reflections in the entry doors better.

 

 

 

Using Custom Renerworks again and changing your screen curtains to simple rectangles with a Bump Map to simulate the curved curtains, the time was just under 2 hours to render, which really surprised me.

 

I tried to render the same scene again with Final Renderworks, but my machine did run out of memory during that attempt with bumpmap materials being used.

 

Here's what the curtain with a bump map looks like all by itself.  It's not bad for a quick representation.

 

 

And here is a closeup of the bump map texture rendering in progress, which includes all the geometry of your scene.  If that look is important, using the texture trick might make your renderings 30% or so faster.

 

I think if you edit some of your material to not be reflective (like the structural steel and such) and go with some simpler render settings and viewport views, you should have not problem rendering this thing out much faster.  Reflections, caustics, and excessive light bounces will drive up your render time significantly.

 

 

[Todd W]

Thanks again all! An update: I re-worked all the repetitive elements, simplifying geometries and creating symbols for them as recommended. All this went really well. Then, I created viewports and sheets for the renderings, with sheet res at 300 DPI.

 

I purged the file and re-started everything before rendering. I was able to easily create some nice Fast Renderworks images, but Interior Final, Final Renderworks, and Custom Renderworks still get hung up and I get the memory full notice. I am going to try this on my PC and see if the same thing happens.

 

I also tried rendering a different file and still could not get the final rendering options to work. 

 

[Todd W]

Thanks a lot Jeff! As you can see I did simplify the curtains and it did help. For the images below I used the Fast Renderworks and it took about 8 minutes to render. I will keep working on the final render options.

 

[Jeff Prince]

3 minutes ago, Todd W said:

Thanks a lot Jeff! As you can see I did simplify the curtains and it did help. For the images below I used the Fast Renderworks and it took about 8 minutes to render. I will keep working on the final render options.

No problem.  Those renderings look great and I'm glad you were able to shave significant time!

Athletic facilities are supposed to have nice even lighting, which it looks like you are achieving.

[grant_PD]

Did some more tinkering and got the renderings down to around a minute.  Here's some things I worked over on the file:

-Took a camera view instead of just the uncropped shot

-Changed the pickleball courts into symbols.  They have two sets of courts layered on top of one another.  I lifted the color ones up a bit.  I would recommend turning off all linework when rendering, it can cause issues.

-Your overhead lights have every cut line modeled in the glass, and the texture is set to emit light.  I replaced the glass with just a sweep, no faceting, and set the texture to not emit light.  

-turned off the blurriness options in your custom renderworks. 

-I was able to get back an approximation of your mesh curtains with reflectivity with these settings.