low memory warning when rendering

[Alec Weinstein]

Vegas can be very finicky when rendering. Recently once one of my projects got to a certain level of complexity and I had to render out each individual track to get it done without getting render memory error.

[Stephen Mann]

Low Memory does not mean “Not enough RAM”, though adding RAM can fix a “Low Memory” waning.

One of the biggest sources of confusion over memory usage is the whole concept of virtual memory compared to physical memory. Windows organizes memory, physical and virtual, into pages. Each page is a fixed size (typically 4 KB). To make things more confusing, there’s also a page file (sometimes referred to as a paging file and dynamic RAM). Many Windows users still think of this as a swap file, a bit of disk storage that is only called into play when you absolutely run out of physical RAM. In versions of Windows starting with Vista, that is no longer the case. The most important thing to realize is that physical memory and the page file added together equal the commit limit, which is the total amount of virtual memory that all processes can reserve and commit.

A “Low Memory” warning usually means that you have exceeded your commit limit. You need either a bigger page file, more physical memory, or both.

Paging file configuration is in the System properties, which you can get to by typing “sysdm.cpl” into the Run dialog, clicking on the Advanced tab, clicking on the Performance Options button, clicking on the Advanced tab (this is really advanced), and then clicking on the Change button. I would suggest a value of 1.5X the currently allocated value. Windows supports up to 16 paging files, where each must be on a separate volume, so if you have more than one internal disk drive you could also try enabling a Paging File on your second hard-disk.

By the way, Windows 7 handles memory much more efficiently than Vista. (Heck, Windows 7 handles EVERYTHING better than Vista. Come to think of it, Windows XP handles everything better than Vista).

That’s a hint – get Windows 7.

Steve Mann

Steve Mann
MannMade Digital Video
http://www.mmdv.com

[Robbie O’brien]

Well, apparently it wasn’t a memory issue. I opened the file, copied the timeline contents and then pasted it into a new project timeline. I was able to render to both MPEG and WMV with no problem. The only thing I can think it was is that I had been using the same timeline over and over to produce several movies. I would delete everything from the timeline and add the new content, rename it and then render. Perhaps after doing this several times the file got corrupted or something?