SimTenero - Iray Memory Assistant [Commercial]

13

Comments

  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,245

    Is any  work being done on this to improve the accuracy? In particular I am still looking for it to handle surface subD, HDRIs in the render settings, and geometry shells. In the current state, it is just too inaccurate to rely on.

  • simtenerosimtenero Posts: 383
    barbult said:

    Is any  work being done on this to improve the accuracy? In particular I am still looking for it to handle surface subD, HDRIs in the render settings, and geometry shells. In the current state, it is just too inaccurate to rely on.

    Yep, I've not foprgotten about it! :-D  I haven't found solutions,. especially for the HDRI data, which I really want to figure out before releasing anmother update.

  • RenomistaRenomista Posts: 921

    Hi,

    when you are working on it anyway i have 2 requests that would make the tool even more useful (can't live without it):

    1) When I hide an object using the check box the remaining VRAM (and probably also RAM but thi is not so interesting for me) increases. Would it possible to add this amount to the lines of the singel objects so i can see how much VRAM I free before doing so?

    2) Would it be possible to have the option to organize the Items by parting hierachy. Somtimes it is a bit difficult to find out which hair belongs to which figure etc.

    Bonus a) Even better  also show sums (maybe in () ) in the hierachy nodes

    Bonus b) enable to hide the complete hierachy by clicking the checkbox on the Node

     

    Thanks for the Great Tool!

     

     

  • simtenerosimtenero Posts: 383

    Hello All,

    Another update is inbound.  This one adds a button to the SysInfo tab which allows you to manually select the log file location (in case you aren't using DS defaults).  Look out for it in DIM sometime next week.  I'm still working on the other items we've discussed (and Renomista, suiggestions noted :-) ), just chipping away one at a time :-D.

  • V3DigitimesV3Digitimes Posts: 3,150

    Hi Simetenero. It is a useful product, but I meet a little issue:

    If an object is in a group (I often group things) and the group is hidden, then the object is (as it should be) unchecked in the list. But yet, if I check it, it does not appear in the viewport (because seen as a visible object in an invisible group). It remains invisible. I think that when the line is "checked", you might have to make the group visible, and all the other elements of the group (except the one just checked) invisible... or something like that...

    But otherwise it is useful to hide some unused stuff.

  • simtenerosimtenero Posts: 383

    Hi Simetenero. It is a useful product, but I meet a little issue:

    If an object is in a group (I often group things) and the group is hidden, then the object is (as it should be) unchecked in the list. But yet, if I check it, it does not appear in the viewport (because seen as a visible object in an invisible group). It remains invisible. I think that when the line is "checked", you might have to make the group visible, and all the other elements of the group (except the one just checked) invisible... or something like that...

    But otherwise it is useful to hide some unused stuff.

    Hi V3Digitimes!  You're right, currently whole groups are hidden and shown together.  There might be a better way though, I will tinker and see! :-D

  • BeeMKayBeeMKay Posts: 7,019

    Thank you for the update! smiley

    I installed it straight away, and setting the directory worked like a charm. heart

  • simtenerosimtenero Posts: 383
    BeeMKay said:

    Thank you for the update! smiley

    I installed it straight away, and setting the directory worked like a charm. heart

    That's great to hear, thanks for letting me know!

  • This is something I bought from you because it was essential to doing renders without Iray falling into cpu mode which is awful. I think daz could use a way to decimate or remove alltogether textures on the sides where the model and textures are not visible to the camera so we can save on vram.

  • Hi simtenero: Any Plans on updates?

  • simtenerosimtenero Posts: 383
    Renomista said:

    Hi simtenero: Any Plans on updates?

    I want to be careful not to over-promise, so my answer is "possibly" :-D.  Quick explain:  I've reached out to the folks who manage the IRay SDK (not Daz, it's an NVidia 3rd party) to see if I could get access tro the SDK, or at least some bits of it.  All of the estimates provided by IMA are based on testing and averaging.  I've sort of hit the limit of how accurate I can get with that approach withbout klnowing more about how IRay ticks under the surface.  Also, future versions of Daz will likely include a newer version of IRay, so I will be doing testing to make sure that IMA doesn't lose accuracy in the new version.  If there are any Iray changes that affect IMA, I will definitely update the script to accomodate.

    This is something I bought from you because it was essential to doing renders without Iray falling into cpu mode which is awful. I think daz could use a way to decimate or remove alltogether textures on the sides where the model and textures are not visible to the camera so we can save on vram.

    I definitely understand you there, textures can eat up a lot of ram.  It's not really possible to hide portions of textures.  Even if you don't see part of an object, light rays in Iray are still bouncing off of that surface and need that texture information.  An easy way to downscale all of the textures in a scene would help.. hmmm.. a future product maybe? :-D

  • cosmo71cosmo71 Posts: 3,609
    simtenero said:

    Hello All,

    Another update is inbound.  This one adds a button to the SysInfo tab which allows you to manually select the log file location (in case you aren't using DS defaults).  Look out for it in DIM sometime next week.  I'm still working on the other items we've discussed (and Renomista, suiggestions noted :-) ), just chipping away one at a time :-D.

    Have a question on SimTenero Shape Reprojector, will it work in DS 4.8?

  • fastbike1fastbike1 Posts: 4,078

    @simtenero  "  An easy way to downscale all of the textures in a scene would help.. hmmm.. a future product maybe? :-D"

    Doesn't the "Texture Compression" setting in Render Settings>Advanced accomplish the same?

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  • simtenerosimtenero Posts: 383
    fastbike1 said:

    @simtenero  "  An easy way to downscale all of the textures in a scene would help.. hmmm.. a future product maybe? :-D"

    Doesn't the "Texture Compression" setting in Render Settings>Advanced accomplish the same?

    Texture compression definitely helps a lot.  Scaling is different in that it actually reduces the pixel count, so, for example, scaling a 4,096 x 4,096 map to 2,048 x 2,048 will reduce it's memory footprint by as much as 75% even after compression.  Of course, you are also losing 75% of your pixels, so there'll be noticable detail loss if the camera is close enough.

  • mjc1016mjc1016 Posts: 15,001

    The problem with compression, alone, is since it doesn't reduce the pixel count it doesn't change the size of the uncompressed file (what is used when it is being rendered), so it may help LOAD more images and have some 'wiggle' room available to use them, but when push comes to shove it doesn't really do enough.

    Using both scaling AND compression will get the best results.

  • Hey, how do I access the Iray Memory Assistant?  I have purchased the program - problem is, I don’t know how to start it.

    I finally located the “SimTenero ­ Iray Memory Assistant User Guide”.  It says nothing about how to access it.  Is this a standalone product?  I thought it would be part of the Daz Studio, but I cannot find it in any of the menus or render settings.  I can’t find it under any utilities nor any drop-downs.  So I am wondering if it loaded correctly?

    Daz Install Manager says it is installed, but I cannot find it in the “Installed Plugins” list.  Can someone help me out here?  I have searched the forums, but there seems to be nothing on how to access the tool.

  • jbarooshjbaroosh Posts: 35

    Hi, I have a question about VRAM. I used the Iray Assistant Manager to see my specs and it looks like I only have 2MB of VRAM available. How do I increase this?

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  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 100,961

    Hey, how do I access the Iray Memory Assistant?  I have purchased the program - problem is, I don’t know how to start it.

    I finally located the “SimTenero ­ Iray Memory Assistant User Guide”.  It says nothing about how to access it.  Is this a standalone product?  I thought it would be part of the Daz Studio, but I cannot find it in any of the menus or render settings.  I can’t find it under any utilities nor any drop-downs.  So I am wondering if it loaded correctly?

    Daz Install Manager says it is installed, but I cannot find it in the “Installed Plugins” list.  Can someone help me out here?  I have searched the forums, but there seems to be nothing on how to access the tool.

    It is a script, so you fidn the file in the list of installed files and double-click it (though I would advise right-clicking and selecting Create Custom Action, so it appears in the Scripts menu).

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 100,961
    jbaroosh said:

    Hi, I have a question about VRAM. I used the Iray Assistant Manager to see my specs and it looks like I only have 2MB of VRAM available. How do I increase this?

    You would need a new GPU, unless there's soem quirk of configuration. I assume you are on a laptop since you have an M GPU - it's possible there is a system option to increase RAM (by allocating soem that would otherwise be working memory) but it's not a feature I have heard of.

  • marblemarble Posts: 7,500
    edited April 2017

    I bought this product some time ago but somehow forgot about it (I do that sometimes). Anyhow, I've just got around to giving it a try and find it is completely inaccurate and practically useless. Maybe I'm missing some pdf which tells me how to calibrate the settings. I did find a PDF user guide but there are no calibration instructions. So attached is what I see and it is spectacularly wrong about the amount of system RAM (40 when it should be 32) and also VRAM - 3.3MB reported when the actual figures should be 8GB for the 1070 and 4GB for the 970.

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    Post edited by marble on
  • fastbike1fastbike1 Posts: 4,078

    The Memory Assistant has a bug (typo) in the "Available VRam" Display. it displays MB instead of GB. Same Bug for "Iray Workspace".

  • TooncesToonces Posts: 919

    I find it to be quite useful. It's inaccurate when estimating my vram usage, but I have gpuz (free utility) for that.

    It *does* allow me to easily sort by all objects in the scene, and quickly spot issues. For example, I just worked with a preset scene with dozens of identical objects, but they weren't instances. It was very slow to navigate.

    So I pop open this ultility, sort by face cnt, and see the problem immediately. Delete/and/or use instances for the identical objects. Problem solved. I can navigate faster in viewport and geometry takes up less vram.

  • dreamfarmerdreamfarmer Posts: 2,128

    That's my primary use, too. 

  • Charlie JudgeCharlie Judge Posts: 12,740

    Is any thing being done to fix this bug? I just installed a GTX 1080 ti with 11 Gb of VRAM and scenes that easily fit on the card are showing up as having a VRAM shortage.

  • RenomistaRenomista Posts: 921

    Is any thing being done to fix this bug? I just installed a GTX 1080 ti with 11 Gb of VRAM and scenes that easily fit on the card are showing up as having a VRAM shortage.

    It is showing the correct card as Card no 1

    It is taking the first entires it finds in the log, so after changiung GPU setup you should delete/move the old daz log file

  • Charlie JudgeCharlie Judge Posts: 12,740
    edited July 2017
    Renomista said:

    Is any thing being done to fix this bug? I just installed a GTX 1080 ti with 11 Gb of VRAM and scenes that easily fit on the card are showing up as having a VRAM shortage.

    It is showing the correct card as Card no 1

    It is taking the first entires it finds in the log, so after changiung GPU setup you should delete/move the old daz log file

    Tried that but it didn't help. It even shows a VRAM deficit with no scene loaded.

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    Post edited by Charlie Judge on
  • RenomistaRenomista Posts: 921
    Renomista said:

    Is any thing being done to fix this bug? I just installed a GTX 1080 ti with 11 Gb of VRAM and scenes that easily fit on the card are showing up as having a VRAM shortage.

    It is showing the correct card as Card no 1

    It is taking the first entires it finds in the log, so after changiung GPU setup you should delete/move the old daz log file

    Tried that but it didn't help. It even shows a VRAM deficit with no scene loaded.

    Looks like the avaible VRAM detection is not working correctly.

    I going to have a look how this looks on my machine when I'm back home this evening

  • DeverasDeveras Posts: 2

    I would like to see an update for this utility, it worked prior to daz 4.9+.... Now it says I'm in the hole for VRAM, but scenes load and render just fine. Now, I am confused when a scene doesn't render and falls to CPU... I can't rely on this info to find out what's causing the problem. As a result, I go back to square one... which is check the logfile. unfortutnately I can't ask for a refund, because I've had it for more than 30 days. And I was hoping to see if the author did an update to fix this...

  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,245
    I gave up on it and returned it soon after purchase. The numerous inaccuracies were never fixed. I think perhaps the necessary info was not available to the developer.
  • PatroklosPatroklos Posts: 533
    Toonces said:

    I find it to be quite useful. It's inaccurate when estimating my vram usage, but I have gpuz (free utility) for that.

    It *does* allow me to easily sort by all objects in the scene, and quickly spot issues. For example, I just worked with a preset scene with dozens of identical objects, but they weren't instances. It was very slow to navigate.

    So I pop open this ultility, sort by face cnt, and see the problem immediately. Delete/and/or use instances for the identical objects. Problem solved. I can navigate faster in viewport and geometry takes up less vram.

    Same here.

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