Maya crashes from high poly model

[liamjones98]

I've been working on some high poly models, and Maya keeps on crashing. I then get a message from my computer saying that my computer is low on memory. 

Do I need to upgrade my RAM or VRAM, or is there something else I can do to fix the problem.

Cheers,

Liam

[mspeer]

Hi!

"...my computer is low on memory."

It's the computer (RAM) not the Graphic Card.

You need more RAM or work with less amount of data.

[lucascarci17]

Can you post the specs of the computer you're running Maya on? Also, how many polygons are in your model? (Sheer curiosity) 

[dgorsman]

Operating system and Maya version (including updates and so on) would also help.  Plus, what constitutes "working on" - do you get this when doing specific operations?  When rendering?  Or... ?

[liamjones98]

Windows 10

Intel core i7- 4790 CPU @3.60GHz

16GB RAM

GTX 970 Graphics card 4GB VRAM

Polygons are 200,000

[liamjones98]

Latest version is Maya 2016 Extension 1 + Sp6

[lucascarci17]

Hm. Your specs shouldn't be a problem—I've rendered and worked with higher polygons in Maya 2016/17, on a slower CPU and smaller graphics card. Are you using the student version or paid license version—or was it acquired through other methods?

Like someone mentioned before—is the crash random or does it happen while you are performing a specific task i.e: rendering, extruding, smoothing etc.

Another issue might be the space you have on your drive—not always the case but Maya does use disk space to cache information. If you want to try upgrading to Maya 2016 (Extension 2/Maya 2016.5) then you can also give that a go as well. 

[liamjones98]

I'm using the student version, and I have version Extension 1 +SP6 but am updating to Extension 2 like you said. I am unable to download 2017 as I work on windows 10, and 2017 is only available on Mac and Linux.

The problem occurs when I am smoothing objects.

[lucascarci17 · Accepted solution]

Smoothing high poly models—when they are already high in polygons, can be quite a task for Maya and your computer. If you said there are 200,000 faces, then that means the smooth function in Maya has to smoothen each one of those faces based on a number given (1 division, or two divisions smoother etc) so in this instance, you are dividing each face up either once, or twice depending on those settings—which can actually take up to several minutes for Maya and your computer to calculate. 

Have you waited an extended period of time for it to smooth? One thing you can do, (before you smooth) is delete the history. 

Under [File > Delete > Delete All By Type].

This will remove any previous function that you have applied to your model (Smooth, reduce, extrude, merge vertices, bridge etc. So in the Channel box, you will no longer see things like "polyExtrude458". Rather just the model name itself. What this does is prevents Maya from remaking all those calculations every time you move the camera in the viewport. Since modern computers can make millions of three-dimensional calculations a second this doesn't affect you, unless you actually start giving it alot to do (in your case you might be). A GPU will do all these calculations, and if you don't have a GPU, your CPU will do it. 

Also, what are you modeling? Can you upload a screenshot? I'm curious to see how you are working with your subdivisions, there are alternative methods to this when it comes to high detail modeling, and things you can do to cheat the eye with lighting tricks and the glorious edge loop tool 🙂

[mspeer]

Hi!

Smoothing or subdividing the mesh for preview or rendering will increase the amount of data drastically.

So as i said you need more RAM or lower your data amount (for example by using less subdivisions).

[liamjones98]

Thanks lucascarci17, I was forgetting to delete history, that has fixed the issue. 

But I should play around with lighting as I shouldn't have such high models(high detail when not necessary). The model I am working on is a replica of Lecco, Italy. But I was stupid enough not to save before smoothing and then the crash so I painfully lost half my work.

[lucascarci17]

Great Glad I could help! Well for a city like Lecco I can understand why you were working in high detail—theres a plethora of detail within a city block period. So it's easy to get carried away, just takes practice when optimizing the model, knowing where to add edges faces, and where not to. Hope the model turns out great!