Zbrush is EATING MY MEMORY

manilamerc · Jul 2015

So I'm extremely frustrated with Zbrush at the moment. I'm trying to work on my soldier guy and next thing you know I get this message saying I have insignificant memory and that I should delete files and try again. Thing is I have nothing left to delete because it's Zbrush that is deleting my memory out of thin air. Every time I open Zbrush and load a ztl my C drive gets lower and lower.

I'm working with a ZTL file that is 116.million
My Zbrush starts at 256 Compat Memory when I open it
I have 16GB of Ram

what in the world is wrong here?!

right now I'm down to 3.45 gb of memory. Sometimes it goes up and down randomly. But for certain it gets lower when my ztl file is open.
If anyone has a solution please help

m4dcow · Jul 2015

116 million poly ztool is a hell of alot, and zbrush is probably writing a lot of data to the disk. How much space did you start with?

Anitlunia · Jul 2015

You should Zremesh some parts for more performance, or use the decimation master. It allows you to mantain the details and less polycounts.
As m4dcow says, 116 million polys are too much in a model.

Neox · Jul 2015

is it a nude character/creature with all pores sculpted? really no idea how anything else could need that much in one tool. If you can, please show what you have

loggie24 · Jul 2015

116 million polys? My 5820k, 980Ti and 32GB ram wouldn't even get that to work!!

Der Hollander · Jul 2015

M4dcow's probably on the right track with the data writing. Optimizing your mesh or just handling smaller details in a detail overlay is probably better than having that all in your sculpt.
Have you tried moving the Scratch Disk path for ZBrush? It defaults to your MyDocuments/Pixologic folder or something like that on the C: \ Drive. Customizing ZBrush Scratch Disk Location
I don't know that it will help with your overall performance issues with the ZTL, but having it write monster scratch disk files to somewhere that isn't your system drive might help a little.

Loucidity · Nov 2015

First off, is it one tool, or multiple sub-tools? If multiple sub-tools, check the polycount on each tool, duplicate the problematic one, decimate one of the copies and project the details back. One thing I have run into is that if you have dynamesh on your interface, I've sometimes accidentally "pulled" the resolution slider over too far and created a mesh from hell that way. Final bit, get it as low polycount wise as you can, and export it, then import it into a brand new project file.

You are referencing multiple different resources. C: drive running out of "memory", too much disk file space in use. There are windows tools that allow for finding problematic files on the device. (Internet cache files, temporary files, etc.), There are also freeware tools out there that can be used to show you a visual display of disk usage. You may be dealing with excessive crash files, or as others have said too many temporary files or one type or the other.

If it's actual physical memory that you're having an issue with, see first paragraph, you're going to have to simplify the mesh(s) you have to get any sort of result.

(You could be dealing with a corrupted subtool as well, again, check the polygon count. 116 million is pretty high)

Now, if you find that you really do use that many polygons, what I've done in the past is break it up after I get far enough into the model and create "sub-assemblies", put those parts into a separate file, merge down, decimated the merged parts, export, or save and bring back into the mesh where I'm assembling all the parts together. Painful, but can be used to work.

Best of luck,

- Lou

PolyHertz · Nov 2015

afaik, Compact Memory unloads data to your hard drive, so you want that cranked all the way up (256 is waaaay too low) to properly take advantage of your ram instead of relying so heavily on your HDD.

humano666 · Jan 2020

Hi, my advice is this:

Get two SSDs, in one you install the operating system and programs. In the other SSD, or PCIe, you install the program cache (quick saves and temporary files).

1.- /Users/Shared/ZBrushData2020/ZBrushQuickSavePath.TXT

---- There you change the address for the new folder in your SSD. This could be: / Volumes / APPLE / Zbrush

2.- /Users/Shared/ZBrushData2020/ZBrushScratchDiskPath.TXT

---- The same you can apply in your other folder. Then nothing will be installed from the temps in your main unit (c), that is, the system will be cleaned of the temporary.

ZBrush does not use GPU, so there is no way.

If the slowness still continues, you can try to clear the computer cache, without discriminating anything. Relocate large files to the new SSD (in a new folder with a name that helps you find those files).

Another healthy habit is to close the programs you are not using when using ZBrush. If you use Keyshot you must use an EGPU, so you do not want it, and it must be from Nvidia, since Keyshot does not recognize those of AMD. If you don't have Nvidia, you can try Substance painter and Marmoset Toolbag.

PolyHertz · Jan 2020

humano666 You do realize this topic is from over 4 years ago, right?

Zbrush is EATING MY MEMORY

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