garageCube

[vjfj]

hi - i have breen trying to figure out this weird problem i have that clips which play smoothly suddenly start to play jerky (irregular "slow-motion" effect). at first i thought it was my iMac G5, but with 64MB graphics card and 2GB ram i don't think that is it.

then i checked to see if having a full grid of 60 clips was the problem, because i noticed that if i just load in one clip in a fresh project that clip plays perfectly smooth. so i tried reducing the number of clips in my project. at first it seemd this worked - but then i noticed that clips that began by playing smoothly started to degrade in playback performance with each passing munite. (my clips are average 20 sec to 3 minutes, photo JPEG 320*240)

i also have experminented with several memory configs in prefs to see if that made a diff. not really, except that setting higher values allows me to load more clips into RAM.

so then i opened a new project and loaded a bunch of clips in. at this point i had not set any effects up. just the clips and naked layers. after 30 minutes of running channels a & b the clips are still playing perfectly smooth.

now that leads me to the assumption that there is something in the project file that screws up playback of the clips. i started programming my sets by first loading all clips into the grid that would fit. then slowly filled up the 8 different sets of 10 layers adding fx etc. once i had that done all was still well until suddenly i noticed the jitter effect starting.

so returning to ground zero i have to painstakingly recreate my sets (2 days work!!) and pray that this is the problem.

this is why i turn to this forum and plead with all who would help me out. i have a big performance in 2 days and am starting to panic. is it possible my M8 project files got corrupted? are there certain NO-NO's that i should avoid? (i'm new to the program) how can i ensure that my clips will play perfectly?

for example - i have 7 sets of 30 min. up to now i had them split into 2 projects. should i only program 1 set per project?

thanks for bearing with my long diatribe - but who knows, maybe someone else in the future will have the same problem and we can help them this way...

-fj

[moonbase]

There was something similar reported in early V2.0 I think, see this old thread:
http://www.garagecube.com/forum/viewtop ... t=playback
but it was sorted out in V2.01.

Simplest might be the most obvious and you need to repair and/or verify permissions on your machine:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repair_permissions
If you install lots of new programmes this can slow stuff down or make 'odd' things happen for no apparent reason.
If I can remember to, it is one of my pre-gig tasks.

Or maybe a bigger, faster external drive might be needed? See lots of threads & opinins on this subject.

[vjfj]

well, perhaps that problem is a little related, but in my case, the program worked flawlessly while i built an entire 4 hour, 7 segment set within one project file and all 60 clips loaded. then all of a sudden - wham! - jittery clips for NO reason. permissions were fixed recently and i am a stickler for keeping my system in perfect shape, since i use alot of heavy pgms like motion dvd pro and final cut pro...

yeah, i tried all those "1 clip into a new file" solutions etc. and from this i deduced that the project file itself must be corrupted, since i am now in the middle of rebuilding my set - 1 segment at a time per project file instead of all 7 sets within one project file - and so far it is perfect. i am playing all my clips directly from the local SATA drive on my iMac G5.

i pray it stay's that way. my gig is on friday and saturday.
anyone else who experienced such weirdness? please let me know. in case it happens again.

otherwise i love the pgm and it is stable as a rock. never crashed once yet! (careful frankie... don't push your luck...)

cheers
-f

[moonbase]

Just re-read your post and seen how many sets you've been setting-up
as I have seen M8 lock-up on my iBook when pre-preparing lots of material
in nearly the maximum number of sets.
- Save as you go!:wink:
Annoying though.
Potentially you might have 2 or 3 hours of material loaded there even without any of it looping!

[vjfj]

yeah i figure 2-3 hrs maybe not but certainly plenty. i save always something i learned a long time ago.... (the hard way !!!)

so once i am done with 1 set per project i may risk making it 2... if i still have time. annoying to have to drop DVD in, press track that matched upcoming set, reload that set, fade dvd out, continue...

you get the picture

cheers
-fj

[moonbase]

Appreciate that vjfj -
you sound pretty sorted so it is always a **** when stuff gets in the way.
Can't figure it any further, sorry

[vjfj]

don't sweat it bro - appreciate your chiming in though!
i tell ya, i've been pulling my hair out all week....

when all works as it's supposed to it is a BLAST doing this stuff. only a drag when weirdness takes control of your stream of consciousness.

cheers
-f

[jm302]

hi - i have breen trying to figure out this weird problem i have that clips which play smoothly suddenly start to play jerky (irregular "slow-motion" effect)

Greetings,

I hate to sound alarmist, but my wife's ibook started acting the same way, out of the blue(not with M8, but Digital Performer)... after things got progressively slower during the course of one afternoon, her machine stopped booting up altogether. Turns out her internal drive died.

Just for fun, if you have the time, try duping your system onto an external HD, preferably of the FW800 variety. I'd use Carbon Copy Cloner(it's free and kick ass). You'll be able to make a bootable mirror of your internal system and it should run exactly the same. The whole point of this exercise is to:
A. see if M8 runs the same on an external drive as it does on your internal (if so, you know it's probably a software issue)
B. if it IS your internal drive dying, you now have a usable backup (I once did a gig with MotionDive 4 loaded onto a LaCie 200GB FW800 drive and it did ok–haven't tested this with M8 yet, so results will probably vary).
C. or, if you're not into experimenting, atleast moving your movie clips onto an external might help (I know you're on a an iMac w/ fast internal drive, but you never know...)

Good luck!

Cheers,
Justin

[vjfj]

Hi justin and thx for the good advice.

i ran some tests and apparently my iMac HD needed "repairing". so i did a full carbon copy cloning of the drive onto an external drive and repaired the drive. (it's only 6 months old). then i tried the files again. no luck. so yesterday i recreated all of my sets which i had split into 2 project files individually and so i have 7 sets in 7 project files. it's not ideal, but it woeks. the clips play smoothly as expected.

the upshot is - though i never did figure out why this happened to my files - i now have a full backup in case something goes wrong at the show. plus i played the 7 sets onto an external DV cam, reimported the clips into FCP and burned a DVD.

so now my modus operandi is: complete set, switch to live cam, load the next set into the dvd, fade it in, switch back to M8, load that set in, check everything, fade in M8 computer signal to replace DVD version. next set, repeat...

cheers
-f

[stuart]

just to help with additional info...

I fill all the sets with compositions and I fill the media bank to it's 80 clip capacity on my G5 iMac. The only time it really bogs is if I am doing a 3D matrix with high definition.

Though we might be mixing up terminology here. I call a set the little orange tab at the top left. Of which there are eight (or sixteen if you split them into the A/B banks.)

[vjfj]

just to help with additional info...

I fill all the sets with compositions and I fill the media bank to it's 80 clip capacity on my G5 iMac. The only time it really bogs is if I am doing a 3D matrix with high definition.

Though we might be mixing up terminology here. I call a set the little orange tab at the top left. Of which there are eight (or sixteen if you split them into the A/B banks.)

hey stuart, i can't really say what it was. i filled up all orange tabs and all 80 clips and it ran fine until for no reason suddenly performance took a nose dive... sure there were a few complex 3D anims in there. but it was more like i woke up the next day and the clips no longer ran smooth.

my solution, which was to break each set (my sets are 30 minutes segments of a specific series of clips, rather than your "16 orange tabs") into individual project files, where some sets require more and some less use of the orange tabs and numbers of movie clips. the compex 3D renderings remain, however perhaps spreading them out over 7 project files rather than all within one (or two) project files has an effect. sorry i have no more time right now to test. what i did try was to start at the "back" and delete clips and orange tab sets to see if that would return performance to my project file. but that did nothing, hence my suspicion that the project file itself was the problem.

now that my sets are broken up i have not had the problem. (but it required me to create a backup DVD where to switch between sets i have to open a new project file and thus have to interrupt playback, using the dvd as interrim filler...

would sure like to know if others have had similar project file problems, though..

-fj

[yves@garagecube]

Well, I guess the slow down is coming from memory swapping.

- How your clips are stored in memory ? (Full preload, etc.)

- What are your Modul8 preferences (memory settings) ?

- Do you see the clips being removed from the ram (the red circle in the media preview) after a while ?

- Try to open the Activity Memory and select the "System Memory" tab. Open your document and try to select some presets. When the video starts to slow down check the memory state in the Activity Memory. You can also check the "Disk Activity" (in the same application) to see if there is memory swaps.

[vjfj]

Well, I guess the slow down is coming from memory swapping.

- How your clips are stored in memory ? (Full preload, etc.)

- What are your Modul8 preferences (memory settings) ?

it couldn't be memory swapping, since all clips are loaded. there are no red dots. i have the prefs set to accept a) slightly more than the largest clip's size, and b) the maximum loaded size enough to exceed the sum of all clips together, so i can't imagine there would be any memory issues, the clips should load instantly directly from ram...

[boris]

In some cases (others applications in your computer run, preferences of modul8,...) is it possible to swap, even if you don't have a red dots.

What is your version of mac osX ?
What is your free memory when you start your computer ?
('top' on a terminal)

[boris]

R U here ?

What is exactly the model of your Imac G5 (ref.) ?

Thanks.