Can't render - system memory low

Norm Sanders

Norm Sanders

Script Wrangler
Okay, my system is SERIOUSLY choking on the short film right now, and it's only going to get worse once we import in the uprezzed HD images. Right now, it's getting really fickle as I try to work with the HD FX that I've imported in (TIFF image sequences).

I've just restarted my system with nearly nothing loading at start up, and hopefully it'll make it through the render (77% last I checked).

I've got the following gear under the "hood" in my system:
  • Antec Sonata Steel Tower Case w/380W Truepower2 supply
  • MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum Motherboard (socket 939)
  • AMD64 3500+ processor
  • 2GB 333Mhz DDR Ram (4 banks at 512MB each) 3200 speed, but due to configuration - the way the banks run - it only comes in at 2700.
  • 128MB ATI 9800 Pro Video Card
  • 2x250GB IDE Western Digital HD's in one RAID array for a 500GB HD.
Now with the above, which do you believe is the weakest link to cause the issues I'm having? Simply the fact that I'm running the OS off the same HD? Would getting a smaller, seperate HD for the OS help that much (current 500GB is about 70-75% full)?

Since Vegas doesn't utilize the video card, I know that's not an issue, and I'd think 2GB of RAM would be sufficient.

Any insight's greatly appreciated.
 
That system looks fine to me. But Vegas chokes on complicated renders unless you have an ubermachine.

Try this: render the tracks individually as "new tracks", then use those new ones instead. That's what I've had to do on mine. (Well, just one track needed it...too many effects + track motion.)
 
I am SO screwed!

I am SO screwed!

I need serious help/ideas, here folks.

When I try and work with these HD (1280x720) TIFF's for our FX, the system's acting oddly enough that it won't even recognize all the frames, but instead shows big RED sections where there should be frames. All the while, the system window is showing the memory usage going CLEAR UP TO 1.4GB!!! At 1.7GB, it gets unstable and things begin to not work correctly.

I've tried rendering the files, and they just won't go. Not enough system memory, as listed above. I tried exporting out a series of PNG images, to see if that would help, and while it appeared to render (at least make it though), it's still doing whack things like the mask I had on a high res. image appears & disappears (bezier mask), blank spots are showing up where an image should be in a composited clip where I had imported an image sequence, etc.

Is there any one piece of hardware you guys would suggest I buy to help alleviate this problem? Is it not enough memory, or is my processor/MB too slow?

I've got 3 days to get this taken care of, or we're screwed.

I'll say this, I REALLY HATE HATE HATE that Vegas won't take advantage of the video card, and is software only based.
 
Try this: go to Preferences and set Maximum Number of Rendering Threads to 1, and the Dynamic RAM Preview to 16.

It'll probably make the render take a longass time, but it *should* render without choking.
 
Vegas seems to hang onto it, even when it's not using it anymore. Cutting it down to size sure sped up my renderings. (Just have to remember to ste it back when editing or it's VERY painful to watch. :grin: )

Oh. Also. Turn off the Preview when rendering.

It's not even a bad idea to minimize the program while rendering. Every control* that shows takes up a bit of system resources.

*Well, only Windowed controls, and I've no idea if the programmers used Windowed controls...but they probably did.
 
I try to make sure that the only thing I've got running in the BG is a firewall, as it's my only system so it is connected to the internet. There's probably one or two other small things that I don't see, but I tried to keep it pretty bare.

When you guys are wondering if I've got something open (i.e. video scopes), does that mean VISIBLE or in the tab window section. I'll gladly close ALL of those completely, if it'll help anything. I guess closing the preview window as well would be good, though I'd imagine if I minimized the program, then none of those things (scope, preview, etc.) should have any effect.

One thing I noticed last night was that if I zoomed in on one of these HD image sequence clips, it would show the red frames where there'd be no image. Then, if I minimized the program and then maximized again, they'd be there. Wierd. Anyway, I exported a PNG image sequence for this SMALL section, and it worked well. If I have to, I'll render this thing out in ITTY BITTY BABY STEPS, though I'd rather not. Then piece it all back together once all the tracks/composites are on one track, and export the sound out to a WAV file, and bring that in, hoping & praying it's all in sync. Oh, the joys of editing with a tight deadline.
 
Properly programmed, non-visible controls (like the scopes) should take up a lot less resources. The program may still be doing the math, but Windows won't be using any extra memory for the display.

The same goes for all the images in the tracks. Minimize the entire program, or at least minimize all tracks. The idea is to release as much meory to the real processing as possible.
 
Isn't your processor more or less on par with a Pentium 4 ?

I upgraded to Xeon's last year and have never looked back and my machine smokes on renders.

I'm also using a 256MB G/Card. Now, I have heard t does not affect Vegas but I know MB utilizes it for real time previewing so............... who knows.
 
I'll try what you're suggesting, Dan, to see if the entire thing minimized will help.

John, yes the AMD64 is on par with the P4, some say it's even better, but I regret getting it instead of the P4 with HT, especially since Vegas takes advantage of the HT. 64 bit processors, in my mind, don't really do much good unless you're on a 64 bit platform/OS (Windows Longhorn), and even then with a program that's 64bit ... so until I'm on that kind of OS, and Vegas is 64bit, then I'll never really see its potential.

Just have to see how much to replace the MB, ideally for dual, dual core processors with HT. :thumbsup: Also probably dump my 4x512MB sticks of RAM for 3 or 4 1GB sticks. Graphics card I'll worry more about when Vegas needs it, perhaps down the road.
 
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