Sean Meighan
Welcome => Do You Need Help? Post it here => Topic started by: Gary on August 31, 2016, 12:29:44 AM
-
In another thread, I mentioned my confusion with how models appear in the preview window when I'm fiddling with sliders/controls for a model, and since the changes aren't taking effect right away, and I slated it to software bugs where it isn't the reason. Rather, it's my impatience.
An example is when I was experimenting with the spiral effect on all the lights along my gutters to make a nice, slow flowing effect... it was being all chaotic with the effect stopping and restarting seemingly randomly as I was previewing. The way to truly see how the effect looks is to click the Render All button and wait a minute or two for it to create a FSEQ file that I'm not anywhere close to using (I turned off the Render on Save option so I can save my work often without much delay).
Is there a way to render just one effect, to save myself the time? I saw the right-click, Render and Export Model option, but it's not fast, either (it seems to take even longer than a "standard" render)... plus I'm creating a file I don't need.
-
If you are making changes to effects and you aren't seeing the changes immediately in the model preview then something is wrong.
Post your files.
Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
-
When you click on an effect it renders...problem solved. :) The only thing render all does is render all the other effects in the proper render order but if you just want to see the effect you are messing with then that happens when you click on it. You may still see some of the other data from other effects you have on the same channels/model. The preview was not random stopping and restarting. The preview loops so if you have a really short duration you'll see it repeating that loop really quick.
-
If you are making changes to effects and you aren't seeing the changes immediately in the model preview then something is wrong.
Post your files.
Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
What files do you need? I suppose my sequence's XML file, and the xlights_*.xml files as well?
I created a test sequence without any music. It contains one plasma effect that's about 12 seconds long. When I click on it right after opening it in xLights, it's dark. If I click away from it and then click on it again, I get a seonc or so of the animation and then black. If I click away, twiddle my thumbs for 30-60 seconds or so, and I click on the effect again, I get to enjoy all 12 seconds of the effect. Once the effect is "built", if I change the colors for the effect, a similar thing happens... it's takes a while for the new colours to be processed into the effect... but instead of looking at black, I'm looking at my previous colour choices before they get "overwritten" by my new choices.
I noticed that xLight takes about 10% of my CPU time when it's just idle, but when I change colours, it goes up to about 50% for 30-60 seconds, and then back down to 10% again.
It may also help if I post a video on YouTube or something... what free (and spyware free) screen/video capture software do people recommend around here? Audio capture would be a bonus.
-
Plasma/Butterfly (and sometimes Text) are the effects that take the longest to render as every single pixel has a ton of math that goes into it. On large models, they can take a long time. That's what you are seeing. It's rendering it, it just takes a while. When you first click on it, it starts rendering, but it takes a while. You can "see" it in action. Expand out the Strands and then the first strand to see some nodes. Click on the effect (or change a setting) and then hit play. You should be able to see the node data changing as it re-renders.
-
How about posting those files and then we can compare videos? I'll show you how well it performs on a good PC.
Edit: Sorry didn't notice you already posted them. When you hit reply and look at previous posts it doesn't show the attachments.
-
I opened your files and I think you have some issues. I'm not seeing long render times, but the effect you have is doing weird things.
I replaced your effect with the bars effect and it behaves very oddly. Not sure what is wrong, but I believe you need to look into this further. I don't have the time right now to dig into it any further.
James
-
Nevermind what I said. I had a few minutes to look at your files. The effect was being "weird" because you had rotozoom set to something other than none. This was making things look weird. I set rotozoom to none and it's working like I would expect. Again, I'm not seeing long render times. I would post your computer specs. Maybe it's time for an upgrade.
James
-
It could also be the extra math involved in rotozoom is slowing it down.
-
It wasn't slow on my machine, just looked awful.
Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
-
Nevermind what I said. I had a few minutes to look at your files. The effect was being "weird" because you had rotozoom set to something other than none. This was making things look weird. I set rotozoom to none and it's working like I would expect. Again, I'm not seeing long render times. I would post your computer specs. Maybe it's time for an upgrade.
I thought I turned Rotozoom off. When placing effects on the grid, it seems to remember the last Rotozoom setting used, sort of like how the Fade In/Out Transitions seem to be remembered.
The computer is hardly impressive. According to Windows 7, it has:
AMD Turion 62 Mobile Technology TL-60 2.00 GHz
4 GB of RAM (3.19 usable)
According to the Windows Experience Index:
The Processor has a score of 4.7
Memory has a score of 6.1
Graphics is 3.5
Gaming graphics: 3.2
Knowing it's not the fastest, I would understand that rendering an entire sequence would take a while, but a render of one effect would take mere seconds--not a minute or so.
I had a PC upgrade in mind, but thought that I'd hold off for this year, and wait until the sophistication of my sequencing would make my CPU struggle with layering, morphing, and Roto-Zooming all combined.
-
I'm not going to say that replacing your computer will make things better. But, there are smartphones that have better specs than that.
Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
-
I bet that PC was awesome in 2001.
-
I'm not going to say that replacing your computer will make things better. But, there are smartphones that have better specs than that.
I bet that PC was awesome in 2001.
Tough crowd. In my defense, the laptop originally had Windows Vista which was originally released in 2006 and Windows 7 came out in 2009, so the laptop is only between 7 and 10 years old. ;D I was thinking that a laptop running Windows 7 isn't really that old, but when I look at Windows Vista's release date, it's time to consider a new laptop.
I was quite surprised, however that when I installed xLights on my work PC (shhhh! Don't tell anyone) which is only about a year old, the build took about 20 seconds. It's an Intel Core i5-4570 @ 3.20 GHz, with 8 GB of RAM (7.88 usable), and solid state hard drive. Windows 10 doesn't have the "Windows Experience" index to compare to.
And come to think of it, I suppose it doesn't help that my sequencing goes with 25 ms timing, either.
I'll have to go home with my stopwatch to get an exact time to compare more accurately. I was wondering, does xLights take advantage of multiple core CPUs? I think I did read that a 64-bit version is not on the horizon at this point, is this correct?
-
Yes we spawn a lot of rendering threads so the more cores the better.
-
Well, for those who are curious, I just did the test on my laptop at home with an actual stopwatch, and it took 60 seconds--give or take a second or two.
-
When I tested I didn't time it, but it was within a second or two. When I changed to a bars effect, it was immediate.
Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
-
When I tested I didn't time it, but it was within a second or two. When I changed to a bars effect, it was immediate.
If it was a second or two for me, I wouldn't be able to time it, either. That was the plasma effect? I don't get it... What kind of computer do you have that would render the effect 10 times faster than what I could consider a more than decent PC?
-
What are you calling a decent PC? I thought you said it was a laptop. Unless you're paying over $1000 for the laptop a desktop is generally going to blow it away performance wise any day.
-
When I tested I didn't time it, but it was within a second or two. When I changed to a bars effect, it was immediate.
If it was a second or two for me, I wouldn't be able to time it, either. That was the plasma effect? I don't get it... What kind of computer do you have that would render the effect 10 times faster than what I could consider a more than decent PC?
Yes, I was using your file which was a plasma effect. When I removed rotozoom it rendered immediately. Honestly, the rotozoom for that effect and that model doesn't make sense.
I use my work laptop, which is a Dell precision m4800. It's win7x64, i7 2.8ghz, and 16gb ram. I wouldn't buy this box with my money, I'm not big on Dell. Like Gil said, a desktop is more bang for your buck.
Compared to sequencers like Vixen 3, which really does need some horsepower, xlights doesn't require a massive machine, but in my opinion your specs are very weak. I would stear clear from amd and I recommend at least 8gb ram, preferably 16gb.
James
Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
-
What are you calling a decent PC? I thought you said it was a laptop. Unless you're paying over $1000 for the laptop a desktop is generally going to blow it away performance wise any day.
The PC I'm referring to is my work PC that I used for comparison tests that's about a year old with quad cores, solid state HD and 8 GB RAM. I use an older laptop at home for sequencing. This is my first year getting into pixels and xLights, and I was hoping to delay getting a new laptop for at least a year. I'd really like to stick to a laptop for being able to take it outside and tweak things in-person. Well, I had to do that with Vixen 2.1 for things such as lights coming on where I thought they were completely off in the sequencer (i.e. 1% power on an AC LED is pretty noticeable, but pretty well invisible in the sequencing grid), and emulating an RGB floodlight using a cross-hatch pattern in the Adjustable Preview leaves much to be desired to see the final colour result. I guess I'll see if I won't be doing that with the new xLights paradigm.
-
Yes, I was using your file which was a plasma effect. When I removed rotozoom it rendered immediately. Honestly, the rotozoom for that effect and that model doesn't make sense.
I use my work laptop, which is a Dell precision m4800. It's win7x64, i7 2.8ghz, and 16gb ram. I wouldn't buy this box with my money, I'm not big on Dell. Like Gil said, a desktop is more bang for your buck.
Compared to sequencers like Vixen 3, which really does need some horsepower, xlights doesn't require a massive machine, but in my opinion your specs are very weak. I would stear clear from amd and I recommend at least 8gb ram, preferably 16gb.
That rotozoom on the plasma effect was in there by mistake.
When shopping, would you even put extra emphasis on a faster CPU than more RAM? In the whole grand scheme of things, xLights does more in CPU processing than RAM usage, right? Looking at my Task Manager, xLights takes 200 MB with one of my sequences open that's nearing completion, where in comparison, I have a Chrome task that's 160 MB.
It's been many years since I've researched Intel vs. Cyrix, AMD, etc., but after your advice and some Googling, an Intel CPU is something to seriously consider.
-
The memory needed is directly related to how many channels and length of audio file. We've had users that have hit the 3.5GB Windows limit. Just get at least 16GB and then you won't worry about it. I despise bargain shoppers.
-
The memory needed is directly related to how many channels and length of audio file. We've had users that have hit the 3.5GB Windows limit. Just get at least 16GB and then you won't worry about it. I despise bargain shoppers.
I'm comparatively small potatoes at this point... around 8000 channels or so. The plan in the back of my mind would involve about 16000 channels, due partly to electrical power/amperage/wattage limits of my electrical outlets and I tend to gravitate to the "less is more" mantra. As they say, never say never, but I don't figure that I will want ever to go to P10 panels which would cause channel explosion; and if I wanted video, I'd consider using a projector of some sort, even though that presents its own set of challenges as well. ::)
When shopping for a laptop, do you think that the salespeople would balk if I asked to install xLights and do some rendering benchmark testing to compare them? ;D