Rendering Problems.

Alright, guys, here's the thing. I am rendering using Vray for 3ds max. I have a volumetic beam of light coming out from the bottom of my UFO. It will render about 3 frames into the animation, and then freeze my whole computer. It will freeze so much so that I can't even CTRL+ALT+DEL.

Does anyone have any clue what could be causing this?

 

I do not have 3ds max, so please forgive me if i am wrong, but how big in filesize is the model, what dimensions are you rendering too

 

Whats the Polygon count?

 

Umm, I'm not sure what the file size is. I'll have to look at it. But I'm only rendering out to 853x480. There is no reason it should be freezing. I'm wondering if my processor is getting too hot, and freezing because of it.

 

Well I'd try closing whatever you can. And the heat could be another cause. Maybe give you comp a break a bit.

 

Yea, with all the crazy work you're doing for this crazy project, how much rest has your comp been getting? You think it's getting too hot, is it making a lot of noise?

 

Well, my computer has been rendering or compositing for many of it's up hours. Today I turned it off while I went to work. I get off work in about 2 hours, and I'll turn it back on and try again. I've had a problem exactly like this before, because the CPU was getting too hot, because of dust build up. However, I took an air can and blew the inside of my computer.

 

Perhaps it's a glitch in the program. Maybe 3 frames into the animation something in it is tripping the glitch, and freezing up your system in an extreme loop or something. Try changing the animation slightly and seeing if it happens again.

 

Well, if I had 3Ds Max I'd probably volunteer to render it for you. But I don't.

 

Could indeed be an overheat problem. Although they should be a tad more "inconsistent" than crashing at the same spot.... generally.

/Z

 

I've had that happen before, like the computer would render to a certain frame and then freeze or crash. I just made a new scene and imported the files in and it worked fine. But it could also be heating problems, or too much data in the scene.

 

Before you start rendering, load up the CTRL+ALT+DEL performance tab. Watch the system. Is there any activity here at all?

If it happens on the same frame every time, eliminate one object from the render and see if it gets any better. Eventually you should remove the offending object. Also check for motion blur at this frame on a complex object, in a complex light structure, Your Pc may just be working really really hard. My 2cents

 

Well, I didn't fix the problem, I just took a different route to finish the shot. Anyway, the shot is done now. Thanks guys.

 

In case it happens again, I'd try rendering at 240x160 or some absurd resolution. See if you get father.