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RAM memory and ZBrush optimization

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

Hi everybody. I just upgraded a little bit my old computer RAM memory, for I’d been told I my Zbrush workflow could get a lot better by doing this.
I have a P4, 3GHz, 150 Gb HD, Nvidia Gforce FX 5900XT (128mb). I had 1 Gb RAM and now I have 2,5 Gb, but still I’m getting slowdowns in my workflow, sometimes I have to wait up to 2 minutes to load a Ztool (if it has lots of polys or subtools).
I’ve changed some parameters in the MEM tab, raising the mem usage, lowering the number of undos, and so on. But still nothing changes dramatically. I was wondering if I could do anything to change this, other than getting another computer :). Maybe some settings I don’t know about or sth.

Thank you very much for your help and greetings from a Spanish Zbrush user!
Pablo

#2

I have a few “Use at your own risk” suggestions…

You didn't mention your OS, but if your were to google "optimize [your OS here]", you will find lots of info on optimizing your OS. I did an optimize XP and freed up almost 200 mb of RAM from unnecesary programs and features.

Also, there is something called a “3GB switch” that you can turn on by adding an additional line of code to your boot.ini file, which allows more than the alloted 2GB of RAM to be used for applications set by Windows, to be increased to 3GB. This has made a pretty noticeable improvement on my machine with 4GB of RAM. What’s interesting, is that it seems to help on systems with only 2GB of RAM as well. At work, someone saved out their ZTool with all the subtools set to their max subdivision levels, and noone was able to open it on their machine, including mine with 2GB of RAM. I installed the switch, and was then able to open the file.

I haven’t really included specifics here because you should really do a bit of reading and research before you try any of this stuff and since there are so many variables, what exactly I did may not be what you should do. Hope this helps…

#3

Really appreciate your help. I’m running under XP pro SP2. Up to now I’d been using Uniblue’s Speed up my PC to free some RAM.
So when you say “use at your own risk” you mean “hey be careful your system COULD EASILY crash down”, right?:slight_smile: . I’m gonna read about what you just told me and maybe try it out.

I’m new to Zbrush so I still don’t have quite a nice and easy workflow and maybe don’t really know how to optimize my actual models and to work with them effectively. And I found out something interesting in your post, when you indirectly say it’s better to save out ztools with subtools at their lowest level, well, it really makes sense now, I’ll try it out also. I guess I also have to try to work with all my subtools set to level 1 as long as I can.

Also, I really SHOULD change my graphics card, mine is 4 years old and it is (or should I say WAS) only useful for games, not 3D modeling. But I’m trying to keep this computer a little bit more, save some money and buy a nice workstation…

Anyway, THANKS again for your help
Pablo.