Any tips for working with large poly count scenes?

Looking for tips and suggestions working with large poly count scenes, i.e., a lot of objects in one Blend file...

I've heard that Blender does this very well. I saw one video where a 3D artist using Blender worked with a blend file containing one object that contained over 50 million vertices and the file (memory) was over 15 gigs,  so I know it's possible, but I've also heard of methods 3D artists use when working with large scenes, for example, something called instance copy vs. duplicate, persistent image rendering, appending models? 


Will anyone elaborate?

I'm looking for a good work flow, if one exists, so thanks in advance.


PS> Here's the YouTube video I watched using large polygon objects: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B79bGW7F8N0

  • spikeyxxx replied

    Hi Declan,

    I think that that is not a workflow issue, but mostly depends on your  machine/hardware. Linking models in stead of Appending might reduce file size somewhat, but when you have a 15 GB file, you will need a powerful machine.

    Linking can reduce your file síze a bit, but not a spectacular amount in my experience.

    If you make a linked copy with ALT+D in stead of SHIFT+D, you save some memory, but again: not a lot and it is mainly a question, whether you want all copies to be the same, when making changes (change one and all (linked) copies change with it), or not.


  • Declan Flynn(jdeclanflynn) replied

    I see. Makes sense. 

    The guy in the video I provided, "Blender Bob," he reports that he's using an iMac Pro with a 3.2 GHz  8-core CPU, 32GB of ram and a Radeon Pro Vega 64 16GB video card. I am using an AMD Threadripper  3.8 GHz  24-core, 64 GB of ram and a NVidia RTX 2080 8GB.

    My video card has less ram than his (I really need to update my video card - damn these hard-to-find video cards!!!), but I think I am okay as long as I am smart about it.

    Thanks, spikeyxxx 

  • spikeyxxx replied

    My video card has less ram than his

    but your CPU is much better and with the latest improvements in Blender (that are coming in 3.0) they are using more and more multi-threading and then the difference (in speed) between 8 and 24 cores will be more noticeable!

    Also, the GPU mostly makes a difference when rendering. Modeling and Sculpting and so, only use CPU, when I am not mistaken...