The last time I checked, my Daz runtime contained a whopping 45 GB of stuff, so I’m on a mission to reduce that total by 9 MB. I have discovered that the largest files aren’t geometries, but textures. Large, high-resolution textures take up lots of space on the computer. They also require lots of RAM during rendering, so the textures are probably the culprits maxing out my puny amount of RAM.

In an effort to speed processor response time and rendering time, I will perform the following test. I’ll start out with one of my sets as it currently stands — probably the cemetery, as it’s relatively uncluttered. I’ll throw some people and lights in, then time how long a render takes. I will then reduce the size of the texture files for all set elements as much as possible — preferably by at least 75% per file — and then re-render. If things go quicker, I will consider doing this for all my sets, even one of Jareth’s rather messy and overstuffed closets!

I’m also considering redoing the textures for my characters because Lord knows that their body textures hog RAM. There are separate UV maps for limbs, for torso, for face, for eyes, for inner mouth, etc. All except the last two average around 4096x4096px. On top of that, there are bump maps, displacement maps, specularity maps, transparency maps, even SSS [subsurface scattering] maps in some cases. And that’s just on one naked person! Clothing and hair can have multiple, high quality maps as well, easily putting a strain on resources.

Anyway, I’m thinking of leaving all face textures at high resolution, but cutting all other texture file sizes by 50%. That could make a substantial difference in rendering time…I hope.

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