"Kenneth" <kdw### [at] gmailcom> wrote:
>
> Meanwhile, just for a bit o' fun, I ran my scene code again as-is, but with 5000
> buildings, the most ever-- just to observe the parse/render/computer
> performance. On my lowly Windows 7 box: disk-swap hell!!

SO.. with two basic changes to my code...
1) using arrays for pre-#declaring both the window/building image_maps AND their
window hold-out image_map mattes (for the reflections)
2) switching from an image_pattern to a MUCH-better pigment_pattern syntax per
Ive's suggestion, to now make efficient use of both sets of those image_maps

....the scene parses *much* faster, and uses a fraction of the RAM that it did
previously.

With 30,000 buildings(!) plus probably 200,000+ roof-top greebles, RAM use is
down to 3.7GB. I could probably run 100,000 buildings now before disk-swapping
would occur.

With these changes, I've discovered that the greebles consume 3/4 of the memory
use! That was a surprise; I obviously need to make them more efficient.

Here's the 30,000-buildings render, just as an exercise in absurdity ;-P I'm
still adjusting the lighting.

But my ultimate plan is to make an animated fly-over of the city...so the more
buildings, the better.

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