Maximizing Daz usage on a minimal computer

paulawp (marahzen)

I am learning Daz on a computer that was bought years ago for purposes entirely unrelated to art, and I know it is underpowered for the need. (If my skill and interest level develops enough to justify buying a purpose-built computer, then I will, but for now, I'm learning on this one.) So far, I'm mindful of the situation, and most of the time, this trusty old computer plows through and gets it done but there are things - some of which almost seem random to me - that it just hangs with. There are some seemingly complicated prebuilt environments that I have no problem rendering with, but then I will put a couple of figures in what seems like hardly more than a cardbox box and I'm having to do a hard reboot. 

Question 1: I suspect that Daz is maxxing CPU usage. Is there a way to keep it from doing that, so if I start a render it can't handle, I can cancel it gracefully, or at least end-task Daz?

Question 2: Generally speaking - not looking to troubleshoot any specific item here - what makes something more demanding to render, so I can be aware to approach those situations with more care?

Computer specs are: AMD Ryzen 7 1700 Eight-Core Processor with 16GB RAM; Radeon RX 560 video card.

Thanks!

barbult

1. In the Render Settings pane, on the Advanced tab, you can set the "CPU Load Limit" to one less than the total number of threads on your CPU, to keep one free for activities other than Daz Studio rendering.
2. In the Parameters pane, in the General section, under Mesh Resolution, a high value for "Render SubD Level (Minimum)" for characters and props will lead to slow rendering. Some Daz characters load with Render SubD of 4 with HD morphs. If you aren't rendering a close portrait, you can probably get by with turning that down to 2 or even 1. In general, the more you add to your scene (figures, props, etc.) the more taxing it becomes. You don't have a lot of memory on your computer. You don't want to add so much stuff that you end up with the computer using your hard drive as virtual memory. That will slow it down tremendously.

fred9803

Well my CPU maxes out even though I have CPU rendering turned off with my 2080 and it's carrying most of the load. Big textures can overlaod a system. You can reduce them with this but the geometry will remain the same. There's also a free script.