Animation RAM

[Nejc Kilar]

Hey guys and girls,

I think we've discussed this issue not so long ago in another topic but I can't find it for some reason and so I'd appreciate some brain power.

I've had an animation render recently that started eating up more RAM with pretty much each new frame.

Naturally I first thought it was the UHD cache getting bigger and bigger but it does the same thing in PT / PT mode. A thing to note as well is that for like 100 frames of an animation I needed 64 GB of RAM.

The scene itself is nothing special, its really small and I don't remember having this issue with other similar scenes. I am using DOF, MB and displacement though.

If I recall correctly this is kind of a 3ds Max <-> Corona issue.

Is there anyone with the same problem out there?

Thanks!

[maru]

That's strange, I don't recall similar reports. What are your displacement settings?
Maybe some point of this guide will help? https://coronarenderer.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/12000023310

[Nejc Kilar]

I am using 2px displacement settings at 1920x1080. When the first frame finishes rendering I barely have 20% of total system RAM used (64GB) so the scene is really not demanding.

I can't really seem to find anything in the freshdesk that would help me but thats for linking to it.

Funny thing, when I stop the render the RAM consumption barely drops. Now I am rendering 100 frames and then I close 3ds Max and start over with another 100 frames. Rinse and repeat.

It seems like a memory leak of some sorts but it seems consistent with this particular scene.

I haven't rebooted the workstation just yet. Its the only thing I can think of could still help.

[maru]

Just a random idea (if this is still happening): are you using proxies in your scene? Do they have the "keep in RAM" option enabled?

[Nejc Kilar]

Hey Maru,

Yeah its still happening but I really don't know what anyone could do. It looks like a memory leak.

I am using ABC imports with animation + DOF + MB and its just so funny because sometimes it stays at like 6 GB usage and at other times it starts jumping all the way up to infinity (each frame adds X MB until it starts swapping over to the ssd). Very unreliable.

I tried 4 different scenes and all behave randomly. That said, I'd say the "memory leak" happens like 90% of the time when working on this project.

There is really nothing special about it. Geometry that moves, displacement and some other really basic things. No proxies.

What I am doing right now is putting the PC to sleep after like 5 hours of rendering over night because otherwise it just starts eating into the SSD because RAM consumption reaches weird height.

I could send the scenes over if you'd like.

[Njen]

What I am doing right now is putting the PC to sleep after like 5 hours of rendering over night because otherwise it just starts eating into the SSD because RAM consumption reaches weird height.

I have no problems rendering multiple frames using Deadline, plus it's free for use with up to two computers. I recommend installing deadline, then have Deadline manage your rendering, even if it's on a single computer.

Btw, I'm rendering about 150 shots on the short film I'm currently making, so to have something render with no issues is important to me. For example, I went on vacation a short time ago, and my computer rendered non-stop 24 hours a day for 3 weeks straight, and it never required a restart.

[Nejc Kilar]

Hey Njen,

Yeah, Deadline is something I'll eventually need to start using but for this particular problem it appears like its an internal 3ds Max / Corona issue. I mean if I look at the process manager (Task Manager -> Processes) I see how 3ds Max starts eating up more and more RAM as each frames finishes rendering.

Its like its not purging the memory for some reason.

As you can imagine 24/7 rendering without being a shepard for the rendering job is something I deem normal too. I just can't get it working on these scenes for some reason.

[johan belmans]

Hi

I recently tried Deadline, it is a great tool. Rendered an animation 1080HD on our farm, 26 days 24h/day, no issues at all.
I didn't checked the Ram usage, but we did not run into problems. Although plenty of proxies and forestpacks where in the scene.
Furthermore we had to render out a high res image (30.000 pixels width), it crashed on Rebusfarm, but did the job by using the tile function in Deadline.

[maru]

@nkilar which version of Corona and 3ds Max are you using? Any plugins?
You mentioned using "ABC imports" - what is it?
Could you share any scene with this "memory leak" with us? Please use this uploader and share the file name with us: https://corona-renderer.com/upload

Update: I just tried setting up a very simple scene (box, some lights, large plane with displacement, animated camera moving around), rendered 100 frames, and I am not seeing any RAM usage increase at all. It stays at the same level through the whole animation.

[Nejc Kilar]

@Maru,

Sorry for not replying too fast, I just had to resolve the issue on the fly - I had to be at the computer every 6 or so hours to close 3ds Max and restart the render.

Its 3ds Max 2018.3, no plugins used (for real :) ).

ABC imports = Alembic files :)

I will package the scene and send it over once I am done with the project.

[maru]

@nkilar any news here? Can you share the scene with us?