Saving a sequence with WHM is slow

[flyinverted]

My whole house model consists of 4 windows with a total of 237 channels.   Saving a sequence that originally had just a 3600 ch model took under 1 minute with 66 rows.

Saving the same sequence with the added WHM of the windows has been saving for over 15 minutes and I've just only added effects to the first 10 timing marks.

Win task mgr showing 50% CPU and 500mb of memory to xlights.exe during the save process.
I do understand that's where the rendering is taking place.

It's slow saving the megatree rows that did not change since the last save.

The save finished as I typed this and it took just under 20 minutes to save.

xlights.exe CPU usage is at 1% and memory still at 500mb.

I re-created the whole house model as a custom model with all of the channels and added the custom model to my sequence. I copied the same effects from WHM to the custom model, then removed the WHM and saved. The save took just a few seconds.

I don't think that's right that the WHM with such few channels should take that long to save. 

-Steve

[sean]

When you made a custom model of your WHM, what size did you make it. try a custom model that is 400x400 or 600x600.

Also , in a custom WHM, you cannot have models overlay each other. If your arches are in front of the megatree, you must artifically move the arches so they would be below if doing a custom model.

The data in the current WHM has way finer resolution and handles the collision. We might make the save become multithreaded. basically each thread handles a column.

Do i have your latest xlights_rgbeffects.xml? I would like to try testing with yours.
sean@meighan.net

[flyinverted]

The custom model was VERY small  6x24.

The custom model is comprised of the 4 boat windows. As you can see the left most triangle window is only 19 pixels.

The WHM just included the windows so I could sequence to those as a singular unit.

Last year I used dumb RGB with 4 models with 3 channels each. Those red pixels will now be individual 2811s with a relatively small pixel count.

I would like the ability to sequence to each window individually and combined as a WHM or custom model.   The 24x50 megatree will go on the bow in front of the windows with no physical overlap.



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[sean]

Maybe we can prompt for the resolution we save our whm. It was 400x400, now I think it is 600x600. So speed of a 6x24 vs 600x600 grid is probably the speed difference. I'll discuss with the team

[flyinverted]

Ok that makes sense and it explains why the Preview Controls were so large as well for a relatively small model. A dynamic resize based on user input sounds good.

I've sent the my rgbeffects.xml via email.  Now you have all my good effects too!  Try the last 3 on a 24x50 megatree.

[flyinverted]

I will add that I just created a WHM  that contains a smaller WHM inside.. so a nested WHM and it works!!

It is a slow buggar to save but that's a small price to pay for a cup of awesome!

[jnealand]

I have also found that saving a sequence that has nothing but my whole house model has become an opportunity to visit the head or refresh my current beverage of choice and I still have to wait before I can do anything more with xlights.  A small price to pay for the functionality I have gained.  I love it.