error when rendering

[rocneasta]

knowing that i don't have the worlds most suitable pc configuration, i'm puzzled by constant Autocad crashes in these past 3 days. I've learn from my past mistakes and now my models that consist of 6400 lightbulbs on a complex ferris wheel are up to 14 MB. Today's model was a regular carousel with 32 chairs, and i don't recall how many lightbulbs, i gave up on chains since acad was making my fan do strange noises

 

enough of chit chat - my rendering output is 4000x300, display render is at it's peek 20000 for arc and circle smoothness, 32000 for segments in a polyline curve, 10 render object smoothness, i have sun and sky background + illumination with shadow segments set to 200 and softness to 10

i did 4 tries of one model two days ago - 3 resulted in an error - mostly in final gather stage, but not sure since i did some of the rendering during the night. this one today, far less complex just simply announced a send report to autodesk, without displaying an error. This is a bit frustrating since it's almost 24 hours of pc work gone to vain - if it's a hardware issue (ReMark knows how bad my machine is) then i'll accept the cards i've been dealt and live with it. If it's something i'm missing out, then advise me...

 

My settings might be to some over the edge, but trust me to get the quality that i need i need these settings - p.s. i render without textures, only a clay render (layer color)

 

cheers, truly disappointed roc

 

p.s. if needed i can upload some resized images of the aforesaid renders

[Cad64]

So what exactly are your pc specs?

[rocneasta]

Operating System: Windows XP™ Professional, Version 2002, SP 2

Processor: Genuine Intel® CPU T2600 @ 2.16 GHz

Memory: 1,00GB RAM

DirectX Version: DirectX 10

Card name: ATI Mobility Radeon X1600

 

+ 80 GB 5400 disk with 10 GB of free space - before the renders it used to be only 1GB of free space left, but i managed to clear up some clutter - running on a 17" HP laptop

[Cad64]

Well there's your problem.

1. You have a 2.16Ghz processor. Is that a single core processor? That's not good for rendering.

2. You have only 1GB of RAM. Also not good for rendering, or CAD work in general.

 

If you upgrade to a faster duo core processor, your render times will be much faster. And if you upgrade to a quad core processor, your render times will be much, much faster.

 

If you're running a 32 bit operating system, then you should add at least another 1GB RAM to your system. A 32 bit OS can utilize up to 3.5GB RAM, if you set the 3GB switch, so you might want to think about maximizing your memory.

 

You might also want to upgrade your video card. Although it has nothing to do with rendering, it would help with general display issues when working.

 

And one last thing. Rendering is very processor intensive and tends to generate a lot of heat. Laptops don't have the cooling capability that desktop PC's have, so if things start to get too hot, the rendering will stop and you will get errors or the laptop will just shut down. I would suggest investing in a good desktop for rendering. Especially if you want to do these high quality renders.

[rocneasta]

i'm posting the work in question - even though due to forum restrictions they aren't what they originally were, going from 4000x3000 to 800x600 is a big drop:shock:

[Cad64]

Nice models, but those render times are ridiculous. 6 hours?

On a good quad core system, renders like that probably wouldn't take more than 15 minutes.

[rocneasta]

if i would to live to see those 15 minutes i would be a new man i tell you!!!!

[lulumara]

Nice and Awesome rendering but takes you 4 to 6 hrs that's really waiting time for you.

[rocneasta]

welli don't mind having it over night to work, but as that's not possible - i have serious lag in stepping from final model over to scene render. This is ofc without any material in the scene, cause i've abandoned hope a long time ago that i can produce quality textures with bump, specular etc

 

but the bare minimum i had in a render was 3 hours, and that's too long

[rocneasta]

sorry guys i was away for a bit, my missus gave me a present we've waited for 9 months, and it's a baby boy

 

but i just want to say i've done a render with glass - transparent and it went on for 84 hours, it got only to 43% or rendered image

 

so i just unplugged the machine and went along my way... something is off here, but i got some time through the nights to sort it out, or at least try

[SEANT]

Congratulations. For the baby boy. . . . not so much for the render.

[Cad64]

i've done a render with glass - transparent and it went on for 84 hours, it got only to 43% or rendered image

 

84 hours and it only got to 43%? Yeah, something is definitely wrong. Can you post the CAD file here so we can take a look at it?

 

And yeah, congrats on the new addition.

[rocneasta]

here's the file, and thanks guys.

 

this isn't the latest version, but i can't post it here since it won't accept *.rar in parts, and i can't split *.zip

bottle_d_temprend_a.zip

[Cad64]

Well, half way through the render my computer shut down and now it won't restart. I think the power supply failed. I've been having problems for the last few weeks, but I think your file may have just sent it over the edge. I'm posting from my old back up computer right now.

 

I did check your render settings before I started and one thing I noticed was that you were using the Lanczos filter. Don't ever, ever, ever use that filter. Use the Mitchell filter. The Lanczos filter will cause you to have ridiculously long render times. The Mitchell filter will give you really nice renders, with quality that's just as good as the Lanczos, without the unbelievably long processing time. I should have switched to the Mitchell before I started rendering, but I wanted to see if I could get the render to go with your settings. Shame on me, I should have known better.

 

So, my computer is off to see the repairman tomorrow. Hopefully it's just a bad power supply that can be replaced fairly easily and inexpensively. Maybe I'll have him reformat the hard drive and install Win7 while it's there, so I can get rid of that horrible Vista. What a mistake that was.

 

Anyway, try rendering using the Mitchell filter and see if you have better luck.

[rocneasta]

tnx i am a quality freak a bit, i must say. I'll use Mitchell's from now on, although i'm rendering the file in 3dsmax with mental ray using Lanczos

[Cad64]

I guess you're just a glutton for punishment. The Lanczos filter will quadruple your render times with very little improvement of render quality. Switch to Mitchell, unless you don't mind waiting two weeks for a simple render of a bottle to finish.

[rocneasta]

hehe even max is having trouble with it

 

how's your pc?

[Cad64]

how's your pc?

 

I'm dropping it off at the repair shop after work. I think it's just a bad power supply, but I need them to check the motherboard and make sure everything is ok.

[rocneasta]

fingers crossed this end!

[Cad64]

Well, it would be nice if I could get someone to call me back. I've left two messages with their tech department and still no call back. And here I'm always praising XI for their great computers and customer service. I may need to rethink my position.