Enough physical RAM for all your simultaneous programs, and enough user memory for one single program, really are separate things. Solving one will not solve the other.
Download the LaaTiDo service program discussed in this tutorial, as well as this tutorial in PDF format (4Mb).
Running out of Memory
When you’re running a 32-bit program (note 1), you might experience “running out of memory” events (note 2). It can happen especially when rendering 3D scenes, or rendering media output for video or music. This can make the program crash, it can make it loose functionality, or it can cripple the results. You may overcome this problem to some extent (note 3), by adjusting the program itself (note 4).
Notes:
- 1. when you’re not sure that your program is 64-bit, then it’s most probably 32-bit
- 2. see the Monitoring User Memory section in this tutorial
- 3. by default, each 32-bit program is granted 2Gb User Memory. This can be increased up to 3Gb. That’s it. In case you need more, you’ve got to go for 64-bit programs and thus a 64-bit Operating System as well.
- 4. see the Raising Large Address Awareness section in this tutorial.
Note that Poser 8, Daz Studio 3, Carrara 7 and up might have their Large Address Awareness already raised by the supplier and do not require further enhancement. Vue has not raised LAA and does need your attention.
When you’re running the program in a 32-bit Windows environment (note 5), you will have to adjust the Windows system settings as well (note 6). This comes at a price. By assigning more memory to user programs, there is less available for system routines. This may slow down some operations, like massive data transfers between disks, or over the network. When you’re running a 32-bit program in a 64-bit environment, only the program itself might need an adjustment (note 7).
Notes:
- 5. when you’re not sure that your Windows is 64-bit, then it’s most probably 32-bit. 64-bit Windows versions exist for: XP Pro, Vista and Win7 Home Premium, Professional and Ultimate
- 6. see the Enabling Large Address Usage section in this tutorial. Note that Mac, Linux, and 64-bit Windows environments do have Large Address Usage enabled by default, so it’s a 32-bit Windows thing only.
- 7. see the Raising Large Address Awareness section in this tutorial
The important thing in this is that’s all about program and system settings. Running out of memory has NOTHING to do with the amount of physical RAM in your box, so increasing or decreasing RAM might bring performance effects (note 8), but will NOT affect the issue above.
Notes:
- 8. see the Physical and Virtual Memory section in this tutorial