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3 screen compositions

Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 12:02
by ni-cad
Hey there.

This could be a case of my laptop being low on spec, but I'm not sure, can anyone offer me some insite to this problem or a workaround if there is one?

When I set my composition size to a width of 3 screens (for a 3 screen projection) my cpu shoots up to %50 and over, even with no clips loaded and Resolume running idle.

Why is Resolume using up over half my cpu to do nothing?

With a blank project opened at a standard composition size with no clips, no plugins and all output screens dissabled Resolume ticks over at around %2 of my cpu. Add to this only the change in composition size (to fit three clips side by side) and it's cpu usage goes through the roof! before I have even loaded a clip my laptop is completly crippled.

Whats worse is that all the output screens are disabled, the only actual screen open is the tiny preview screen (still minimised and empty) I'm litrally watching Resolume's gui and only it's gui (no clips at all) eating it's way through all the cpu I have.

Other video apps on this laptop tick over at %0 with these composition sizes, even with clips loaded my cpu still stays relativly low.

My specs maybe arn't that great, this isn't my main machine but still adequate I would have thought, it seems wrong to me that this much cpu should be used simply through changing the composition size.

Sony Vaio
2 gig Ram
Intel core 2 Duo
Geforce GO 7600

I know your all probably laughing at these specs, but I was hoping to use this machine and Resolume for live gig's, if simply running Resolume is going to cripple this maching one of them is either going to have to go, or be tweeked, at the moment I'm not entierly convined that it's the machine, but I'm open to sugestions if this is the case.

Please help.

Re: 3 screen compositions

Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 14:25
by VJair
what size are you putting the screen up to?

i just tried putting the composition up to 1920 x 480 and there is an increase in cpu usage but i was still able to add clips to it and play them without it giving up on me - i ran 6 layers 2 on the left, 2 in the middle and 2 on the right. i have a "relatively" slow processor ( 1.7ghz core 2 duo with 2gb ram running Avenue rev1110) i will try outputting it through my projector later to see if it makes any difference in performance.

Re: 3 screen compositions

Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 15:10
by ni-cad
ah, hey air.

Yeah, sounds like you have simular specs to mine. my processor is a touch faster (1.83 ghz) but my composition is wider also, 2160 x 480 for three widescreen clips each 720 x 480. nothing will play, cpu is over %50 before clips are loaded, I'm not connected to any projectors. the clips I'm testing with are just Resolume library clips but it wont play even just a single clip.

Resolume seems to be using way more cpu then it should need to at this stage, before clips are loaded, when the software should just be running idle and not actually be haveing to process anything at all.

With no clips loaded, what could it possibly be using all that processing for I wonder?

I'm still concearned about my machine but about resolume also, I just de - fragged it a fortnight ago so it's pretty clean, it got rest back to factory settings about a month ago also, I could try and upgrade it I guess but then if it turns out to be a problem with Resolume I'll still be being faced with the same problem and minus money which could have gone towards better things.

Is your cpu peaking at 2160 x 480 sized compositions? it would help to know, I'm still unsure if this laptop might of had it but like I said, it has no problems with other apps.

Re: 3 screen compositions

Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 16:48
by VJair
just did a quick test on 2160 x 480 ( no projector connected yet )

avenue running with 2160 x 480 composition but no clips loaded = between 40 and 47 % cpu use
avenue running with 2160 x 480 composition with 3 layers of 720 x 480 clips = between 60 and 65 % cpu use

vids are in picvideo mjpeg 3, 720 x 480 , 15 fps.
running on Win XP service pack 2, 1.7ghz core 2 duo, 2gb ram, ATI HD2600 graphics.

later on i'll try running the clips from an eSATA drive and running it through a projector at the same time to see if it makes a difference.

Re: 3 screen compositions

Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 17:58
by ni-cad
thanks, let us know how it goes.

I guess your getting better performance from your graphics card, I know there's been problems with the Geforce cards. If it's the card then It looks like I'm not going to be able to use this vaio, I think the card is a perminent fixture, I may have to buy somthing else. I don't think it's right though. why does Resolume need to use all that cpu to idle?

Do you think this is a bug? maybe something that the team might tackle at some stage?

Re: 3 screen compositions

Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 18:41
by VJair
im not a programmer or a representative of resolume, so i cant speak from either perspective. but i can however see from running some tests, that the higher the composition resolution the gretear the amount of cpu use and the lower the frame rate, so it would seem reasonable to think that this is simply because the machine is being asked to do more. ( ie - create a bigger composition ) and not a bug as such.

Re: 3 screen compositions

Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 02:06
by ni-cad
hmm, it's running really well at 1920 x 480, cpu is about % 5, and still runs well with lot's of clips and layers so I'm happy with that.

I really didn't think reducing the comp size by that little would make that much a difference but it has, still it's a few hundred odd pixels smaller when you think about it so I guess that does make a lot of difference. oh well.

Thanks air.

Re: 3 screen compositions

Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 13:34
by edwin
There is a big difference between the two resolution although not very obvious.
Resolume 3 needs to work with power-of-two textures (to ensure maximum capability) and when using 1920x480
, textures (for offscreen rendering) are created at 2048x512 size.
Running at 2160 x 480, textures need to be created at 4096x512 size.
So that's a huge difference as you can see, hopefully we will find some smarter ways to deal with this is the future.

Re: 3 screen compositions

Posted: Sun May 17, 2009 09:34
by massta
edwin wrote:There is a big difference between the two resolution although not very obvious.
Resolume 3 needs to work with power-of-two textures (to ensure maximum capability) and when using 1920x480
, textures (for offscreen rendering) are created at 2048x512 size.
Running at 2160 x 480, textures need to be created at 4096x512 size.
So that's a huge difference as you can see, hopefully we will find some smarter ways to deal with this is the future.

Is this a non-issue now with the DXV codec? and new Resolume 3?

Re: 3 screen compositions

Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 09:11
by edwin
No the issue still remains, although with the new codec it will of course run better.