Maya 8.5 VERY SLOW on Mac w/ 4 gig RAM
 

Hi Using Maya installed on a Mac Mini with

Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 1.83 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 2 MB
Memory: 4 GB
Bus Speed: 667 MHz

This is a scene I am working on on a friends set up during my vacation. However, when I open the scene I had previously created on my work PC the hardware window scene tumbles extremely slow with barley half of the scene shown, as if I had less than 1 gig of RAM. I haven't even bothered to try any renders yet.

This is a scene I started on my own PC with OS: Windows XP, 2 Gig RAM. On that computer, the scene wasn't too big to view everything with no slowdown when tumbling.

Is this an incompatibility issue with a Mac? Is their a way to check to see if Maya is not using all the available RAM?

If there is anyone with any knowledge of what if anything I can do about this, I would welcome any help.

T

Re: Maya 8.5 VERY SLOW on Mac w/ 4 gig RAM
 

Go to Applcations>Utilites>Activity Montior. Then go to "System Memory". That will allow you to take a look at your computers memory usage.

Maya should use all ram that it is provided with. Are you sure your mac mini can access 4gb of ram? I know that the mini isn't technically "supported". Your specs seem fine. Does it lag with all scenes, or just this one?

Hi. below is the activity monitor info for Maya. I am not at all familiar with macs, but to me it looks as though the program's only reading a fraction of the available RAM.


Maya ********* 0.2 4

Real Memory:186.93 MB

Virtual Memory:1.20 GB Intel

I have to add that when the program was originally installed here some time ago, it was on a different mac with less than one gig RAM. They then upgraded to this more powerful Mac. The program had migrated over to the new Mac with all the other programs, but I had to relicense the program to get it running. Is it possible that the program is still functioning as though it were installed on that weaker computer? Should I uninstall and reinstall it?

Any further help would be most welcome.

T

Sounds like its a graphic card issue, does that machine use integrated video? Even with dedicated cards, Macs can have less than great performance in that area because of the driver support.

Hi GecT.
This is not my computer, and I'm not too familiar with Macs. I am told this computer came with whatever is standard -- no special modification were built in to it regarding graphics or anything else. Here is what the computer tells me about the graphics hardware:

Intel GMA 950:

Chipset Model: GMA 950
Type: Display
Bus: Built-In
VRAM (Total): 64 MB of Shared System Memory

Does anyone have any ideas about anything I can do to get the program running better on this Mac? Should I try reinstalling or is that pointless?

T

There be your problem. Maya does not play nicely with built-in graphics. I would say pointless...

Hmm. Sounds bad.

anyone else with knowledge of Maya and Mac's care to comment?

Thanks, T

I use Maya 7 & 2008 on my iMac with no problems. I also use Maya on a Macbook with integrated video, with no problems either. Besides, the viewport wouldn't be lagging this much if it was just a video issue. There is one way to check however. When you rotate your scene, press the spacebar. If the view updates to the proper position when it goes to the four view layout, it means its a redraw issue with your video card. If it doesn't however, and just hangs, or does what it usually does, then it's something else. Reinstalling may help. Make sure you delete the preferences as well, as these are not deleted when Maya is uninstalled.

Also, make sure to run software update, and see if there are updates for your video card.

Hope all goes well!

Hi NextDesign.

I uninstalled and deleted the preferences folders for Maya. Then reinstalled. This time it didn't ask me to relicense, but just started running. Not sure if this means anything significant with regards to the continued problem.


The problem is still the same. I don't notice any progression in the tumble when I spacebar to 4 panel split screen while the lag in the tumble is happening -- if that's what you were asking me to check.


Anyone with any ideas why I can't get Maya to access the RAM available and possible solutions?

T

The tumbeling issue to me does sound like a gfx card problem, but as for accessing RAM, not too sure with the macs and how they address and how much they can allocate but maya is only 32bit on the mac (or at least theres not mention of 64 bit on the box only 32bit)

Hi. Well, the tumbling only starts to slow as I introduce more polys in to the scene. With only a small mesh visible, the scene tumbles fine. That alone is a graphics card issue?

I have worked on the scene on a 32 bit OS (PC) with no problems, so it's not that, I wouldn't think.

T

What GFX cards in the PC that you used?

What could be happening is that the polys are being put into the RAM of the GFX card, with the intergrated card only having 64MB this can fill up pretty fast and causing the problem.

So all in all if the PC's got a dedicated graphics processor it will run it better than one with a onboard card.

Hi. I don't remember exactly offhand what card, and don't have access to my PC right now to check. As I recall, it is a middle of the line (not top of the line, but high-mid range of the line) NVidia GFX card.

Should I be looking in to buying a graphics card for this computer? Wouldn't be my first choice as it's not my computer, but if that will solve the problem....

Having a dedicated GFX card with maya is a must, a low end GFX card runs rings round an intergrated card so thats probably the problem.

In a Mac Mini I doubt that you could add a GFX card to. You migth be able to.

I have a question I should have asked a while ago... How many polys are in this scene?

Also, try deleting the history for all objects if you don't need this. This will free up a lot of memory. You can also run File>Optimize, and set things accordingly in there. It should flush out some of the extra crap hanging around.

If you want me to take a look at it, shoot me a PM, and I'll take a look.