Autodesk 663B1-05A111-1001 User Guide - Page 172

9 | Performance tips How do I > Get the most out of Maya Basics 172 • For the Hardware renderer, the plug-in can be called multiple times. The general sequence is usually: depth pass, [lighting pass[es]], color pass, [shadow map pass], [alpha pass], [depth pass]. Items marked with braces "[" "]" are optional and dependent upon the number of lights in the scene, whether shadows are enabled for those lights, and whether alpha and depth output images are specified in the Render Settings. • Use the new Ignore Hardware Shader option which is available per object (NURBS or polygonal surfaces). This is available in the Attribute Editor in the Object Display section and as a new option in the Display > Object Display menu. Use Ignore Hardware Shader to make the hardware shader not show up on the object, or use Use Hardware Shader to restore the default state of showing the shader. This allows users of the plug-in to selectively disable shader display for performance reasons. Memory • Unlimited undo queue takes more memory than a limited undo queue. The default Undo queue is set to 50 in the Preferences window. • Take advantage of large address awareness on Windows XP up to 3 GB. • Use instancing when possible. This includes geometry, materials, textures, lights, and so on. Animation • Use Skin > Edit Smooth Skin to limit max influences, remove unused influences and prune small influences. • Use Deform > Prune Membership to remove components that aren't affected by the deformer. Fur • Lowering the Fur Accuracy value for the Fur Feedback hairs significantly increases interactive draw speed, but makes it less easy to preview Scraggle, Curl or Clumping. • Since Shadow Maps are expensive to render, don't use more than you need. Autoshading is free and can provide an acceptable alternative for some lights when using the Maya Software renderer. Miscellaneous • On Windows, fragmented hard drives can cause serious performance issues. We suggest you defragment regularly and thoroughly with a dedicated application. Standard tools offered by the operating system are often not sufficient to gain performance benefits. • Take advantage of file referencing. For more information, see "About file referencing" on page 5 of the File Referencing book. • Become very familiar with Windows > Settings/Preferences > Performance Settings.