I am trying to run a fairly complex annimation series through 100 frames on
a P450 with 128 mb. memory, all under Win2k. There are about 2500 objects
located on a height_field and there is also a semi transparent plane.
When I set q=9, to include the transparent plane, the system freezes after
about 5 or 6 frames are rendered at 700 x 350 resolution. If I remove the
transparent plane and set q=5 I get the same problem after 30 frames.
What occurs is that the system just appears to grind to a halt and I loose
all control over POV Ray. The partially rendered image at that point is
locked in limbo and I need to totally reboot in order to clear the last
partial image.
Am I seing some sort of garbage collection problem ?
If I set the resolution down lower I can achieve more frames.
Is there a way to trace what is going on and should I expect this type of
problem considering the number of objects?
The problem occurs also under MegaPOV and I have already tried a full
reinstall of the software.

David

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David Vincent-Jones wrote:

> When I set q=9,

? What is that?

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"Greg M. Johnson" wrote:
> 
> David Vincent-Jones wrote:
> 
> > When I set q=9,
> 
> ? What is that?

Quality setting 9. RTFM :)

-- 
Ken Tyler - 1400+ POV-Ray, Graphics, 3D Rendering, and Raytracing Links:
http://home.pacbell.net/tylereng/index.html http://www.povray.org/links/

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David Vincent-Jones wrote:

> I am trying to run a fairly complex annimation series through 100 frames on
> a P450 with 128 mb. memory, all under Win2k. There are about 2500 objects
> located on a height_field and there is also a semi transparent plane.

	I have run a PII/333 128mb machine with about that many objects but no
transparencies for over 100 frames without a problem on linux RH7.
Win95/98 have their usual problems with misbehaved software causing
memory allocation conflicts. Some MS software is so patched it doesn't
need outside help. So what else are you running at the same time? 

	As POV is using and releasing for each frame if something else grabs
"free" RAM the OS isn't always able to manage. 

	So ... 

> When I set q=9, to include the transparent plane, the system freezes after
> about 5 or 6 frames are rendered at 700 x 350 resolution. If I remove the
> transparent plane and set q=5 I get the same problem after 30 frames.
> What occurs is that the system just appears to grind to a halt and I loose
> all control over POV Ray. The partially rendered image at that point is
> locked in limbo and I need to totally reboot in order to clear the last
> partial image.

	Are those results consistant? 5 or 6 does not appear consistant meaning
something else is causing the problem. Is it always 30? 

	The main question should be first, what else is running and I mean
everything not just what you deliberately started. 

> Am I seing some sort of garbage collection problem ?
> If I set the resolution down lower I can achieve more frames.
> Is there a way to trace what is going on and should I expect this type of
> problem considering the number of objects?

	Have set up an error stream to a file? All text output to file to
compare pre and post crash frames? 

> The problem occurs also under MegaPOV and I have already tried a full
> reinstall of the software.

	If all else fails ... 

	First, comment out the varying part and see how many frames. If it
works then it is definitely the varying part. 

	Second, leave in the varying part but make the variable fixed (change
clock to a constant) and see how many frames. 

	If it passes those tests then try running it with the clock = crashing
frame and crashing frame + one to see what happens. 

	Also consider taking out just the transparency. 

-- 
What is there about "congress" and "establishment" you do 
not understand? 
	-- The Iron Webmaster, 151

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On Tue, 28 Nov 2000 04:39:36 -0800, David Vincent-Jones wrote:
>I am trying to run a fairly complex annimation series through 100
>frames on a P450 with 128 mb. memory, all under Win2k. There are
>about 2500 objects located on a height_field and there is also a semi
>transparent plane.
>When I set q=9, to include the transparent plane, the system freezes
>after about 5 or 6 frames are rendered at 700 x 350 resolution. If I
>remove the transparent plane and set q=5 I get the same problem after
>30 frames.
[...]
>Am I seing some sort of garbage collection problem ?

Looks like it. Use the task manager or the performance monitor to check
whether povrays memory usage is increasing with each frame. 

You might try to use the commandline version of povray, if this also has
a leak, you could write a batch file which calls povray for each frame
(or a small number of frames).

	hp

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