vray error : cannot save bitmap

[geoff]

Hello,
I had this error twice in 3 renders, with latest vray build(1.5 rc2?)
its a 3.5k x 2.5k render.
Done 6 or so before on same scene and it was fine.
render cancelled 90% complete, save ir and lc and then finish render at work.
The only thing I can think of that has changed is that I have added 3 nurb models. There are already 6 or so in the scene.

PC is a intel 3.0 ghz with 1 gb ram

Extremely frustrating seeing the render and not being able to save it.
I could do screen grabs of it but would like to know what the solution is.
Help!

Geoff

[kimgar]

not sure if i understand completely, but if your render is huge, you want to save it in an uncompressed format, tga or something

[vlado]

If you do not have the Bitmap pager ON in 3dsmax, try to enable it. It should help.

Best regards,
Vlado

[yog]

Bugger, I've just run into the same problem.
Same computer specs + 3K image = "Cannot save bitmap"

All test renders at a lower rez worked, but when I came in this morning to see how the large render got on over night, I could see it but not save it.
Bit of a pain as I was hoping to save it as an EXR and fine tune it elsewhere.

[geoff]

@kimgar - it won't let me save the image in any format jpg tif tga bmp anything! or in any location I have avaliable. I have plenty of room on my hard drives.

thanks Vlado will try that

Geoff

[vlado]

It is a memory problem, not a hard-drive one. There isn't enough memory to clone the image buffer so that 3dsmax can save it.

Best regards,
Vlado

[kimgar]

you could try a stripe render or vRay raw image...

[geoff]

Right I'm now getting a

Warning : Memory heap is reported damaged

in the vray message window after I turn on the Bitmap pager.

I'll find out over night if affects the render.

Time to buy a new PC methinks!

Geoff

[Da_elf]

hmmm. i got that message the other day. i forget what the scene was but it did it constantly. however the scene still rendered fine though. ah i think it was when i was doing a ISO render.

[DaForce]

dont worry about that last error. just restart max and it will go away.

The problem you are having (as vlado stated) is a memory problem. The reason it cant save the image after the render is that all the memory is used up and there is nothing left to use to save the render.
You could try rendering directly to a vrayimage and now displaying the frame buffer that will work as the vray image gets written to as it the image gets rendered.

[Da_elf]

actually that error didnt do anything really. would be cool to know what i means. like i said. it didnt do anything to the render. the scene rendered fine and saved the image fine. all be it it was just a simle 640x480 image

[DaForce]

Yeah its just to do with the available memory and if vray is able to get a continue chunk of it. ( i believe)

Like you said it will still render fine. Hence my mention to not worry about and after restarting max i found it goes away (on the few rare occasions that is has happened to me)

Also Geoff a new pc wont help you, your best bet if this becomes a more common problem is upgrade to 64bit xp and get 4gb of ram, that wil llessen the problems slightly and then when max9 and 64bit vray comes out it wont be a problem any more (well very unlikely)

[kimgar]

do you have any groups in your scene?

i had the memory heap warning yesterday, seemed that some of the imported models contained lots of groups - i ungrouped everything and the warning went away. maybe it's got something to do with the renderer having to ungroup at rendertime?

[geoff]

Rendered out ok and let me save the image.
I get the same message on 2 different PC (same amount of RAM)

Just found out client has gone away for 4 weeks. Grrrr
Busting by balls for nothing!

@kimgar - yeah I got plenty of groups. I like a tidy scene. Will try that trick at some point. I have lots of imported models too, all nurbs. I think they maybe the source to my problems.
@Daforce - I've holding out on buying a PC. Looks like I'll be able to get something pretty fast very cheaply. Rendered some good images on the old girl, but her time has come to put her out to pasture. The start of a farm I feel!

Geoff