Clear cache (RAM) on a Mac

[martinjango]

Howdy, so this happened today. I have no idea how to clear the cache, googling it led me down a path of telling me to enter preferences and find a "clear cache button" that I highly suspect isn't there anymore.

I run an M1 Max with 64 gigabytes of RAM, so I find it hard to comprehend how a single artboard document (albeit running a 3D scene, but nothing too slow) can cause this error. 

[Doug A Roberts]

A 'roadblock' is much more likely to be Illustrator itself than your hardware. That said:

Is there space on the assigned scratch disk (Preferences > Plug ins & Scratch Disks)?

What does 'a 3D scene' consist of? How many objects? How complex?

[martinjango]

Thanks for getting back to me! 

Yeah, there is space. It's a laptop, so I only have one disc, but that being said I've got at least 250 gigs of free storage.

The 3D scene had, at the point of said roadblock, two objects totaling 13 closed paths and 391 points. Artboard size is A4.

[Doug A Roberts]

Do the objects have any other effects applied?

What OS and hardware are you using?

[martinjango]

Objects had a color gradient as fill and a solid stroke of 1 pt in addition to the 3D effect. 

MacOS Monteray 12.4

Macbook Pro 14" M1 Max with 64 GB RAM and 1 TB storage.

[Monika Gause]

Does it work without the gradient and a solid color instead?

[martinjango]

I don't know, I solved it by clearing the cache of Google Chrome at the suggestion from a post lying around here somewhere. To me, this is just one of those annoying errors that occur once a year or so that you end up solving without knowing exactly why. It takes a few hours to iron out and at the end, you're no wiser than when you began but just happy it's over.

What frustrates me is that an error pops up and you're given no suggestion or hint as to how you can begin to solve it. Same thing each time: you google the phrases in the error prompt and get results for Illustrator CS6 from 2011. Not particularly helpful.

Anyway, I guess we're never gonna know! Thanks a lot for the help, guys!

[Doug A Roberts]

A few versions back I had constant issues with the (classic) 3D effect saying it was out of RAM. They went away if Chrome was closed.