garageCube

[vjfj]

Hi, I have just downloaded the PGM and i must say it ROCKS! i have noticed though, that on my iMac G5 with 2GB RAM and 64MB video running 10.4.2, the video starts to run sluggish once i use the same clip 2 or more times.

i have read elsewhere on this forum that there appears to be a diff between using Panther and Quicktime 6.5.2 and Tiger with QT 7.

Can anyone give me some insight here? I shouldn't be taking processing hits on a machine this powerful, since it exceeds the powerbooks capabilities.

thx

[yves@garagecube]

Hi, I have just downloaded the PGM and i must say it ROCKS! i have noticed though, that on my iMac G5 with 2GB RAM and 64MB video running 10.4.2, the video starts to run sluggish once i use the same clip 2 or more times.

i have read elsewhere on this forum that there appears to be a diff between using Panther and Quicktime 6.5.2 and Tiger with QT 7.

Can anyone give me some insight here? I shouldn't be taking processing hits on a machine this powerful, since it exceeds the powerbooks capabilities.

thx

What is the size (width(height) of your movies ?
How are they compressed ? What codec ?

[vjfj]

size is 640 x 480 codec: DV-PAL. no sound.

[yves@garagecube]

size is 640 x 480 codec: DV-PAL. no sound.

DV is not very efficient for realtime mixing. You should try to recompress in Photo-JPeg 75%.

[vjfj]

DV is not very efficient for realtime mixing. You should try to recompress in Photo-JPeg 75%.

hi yves.
ok - i THOUGHT my problem went away after i upped the size movies can be in RAM - it was set to the default (80MB) and turned out reading the file off of the firewire drive was slowing down performance. so i set it to 512MB and the full res DV movies ran smoothly (this one a photoJPEG) ... BUT..

then i tried a movie using the Animation codec and the problem is back.
here's a list of the movie i'm using parameters:

Format: Animation, 640x480, Millions
FPS: 10.62
Data Size: 232 MB
Dtatrate: 7149 kbits/s
duration: 4:32.66

here's what i'm doing in modul8:
- i have the same movie loaded into 2 layers in Group A.
- on the first movie i am using luma key + auto move + auto scale + auto color - transformer "patch" mode circle
- on the second movie i am using the same effects except i am moving the orb (patch mode) in a different direction. (i.e. looks like two circling orbs playing the movie within)

- the orbs move about in the predicted path BUT they tend to not do so smoothly, but every now and then skip a few frames and move in a jerky fashion - jumping a few frames ahead after stalling.

i wish there was a way to show the output but i have the demo only and can't save. it does this in preview AND full screen mode.

i read in the manual that Animation is a good codec to use and that one doesn't lose any resolution in Modul8 ("pixel for pixel")

i'm looking to buy this pgm but not if it is this "jerky" when playing back video. is this a known issue or am i doing something wrong? is this a mac problem?

cheers
f

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[yves@garagecube]

The only good reason to use the Animation codec is when you need transparency. In this case you should try to load it in "Full Decompressed in Memory" mode which works very well for short loops but can a problem if you have long loops. It simply requires a lot of memory.

Unless you cannot, always use the Photo-JPeg codec.

[vjfj]

The only good reason to use the Animation codec is when you need transparency. In this case you should try to load it in "Full Decompressed in Memory" mode which works very well for short loops but can a problem if you have long loops. It simply requires a lot of memory.

yves - i've now recompressed and tried photo-jpeg and even though the file is down to 8MB and now a very short loop (only a few seconds) the jerkiness on the output still persists. i am running no other programs (though with 2GB ram this shouldn't be a problem). perhaps this is a limitation of the program? ...my computer?

that much said, the filters all seem to do what they are supposed to be doing. the issue is simply with the jerkiness. i would prefer if the slow orbital movement i have emulated using 4 duplicates of the clip as "planetary bodies" would run smooth and solid. it takes away from the realism and quality of my "solar system" animation.

anyone out there with a similar problem? do i need a double processor G5 with 128MB video card for the program to trace nice smooth paths with no jagged skipping?

thx
f

[vjfj]

yves: today i tried using the samples included with the demo to see if the jitter problem is with my videos - alas the playback is still not smooth. so i took the trouble and uploaded a sample movie that i filmed off of my iMac you can view it here: (1.1MB)

http://jacobmedia.biz/temp/modul8test_sm.mov

the jittering is most perceivable watching the orbiting red globe on right.

a screenshot of the settings if interested is here:

http://jacobmedia.biz/temp/modul8_pic.jpg

as you can see i'm only using three layers and have nothing much goin on except patch mode and auto move & rotate. so i don't think this should be happening on an iMac G5 with 2GB ram and 64MB video card. or?

to be honest, this is the one thing that is still bothering me about the program and prevents me from wanting to buy it for use in a professional settings.... i would really appreciate knowing why this happens. if nothing else, perhaps it will help with a new version...

cheers
f

[yves@garagecube]

In what resolution is your screen ?

[vjfj]

In what resolution is your screen

1680 x 1050, Millions of colors

[yves@garagecube]

In what resolution is your screen

1680 x 1050, Millions of colors

The problem you have is not related to video decompression but to the display resolution /refresh rate of your display. 1680 x 1050 is a pretty high resolution for real-time rendering and beam syncronization. When you work with a projector, you typically have a resolution of 800x600 or 1024x768 and a refresh rate of 50 or 60HZ. The refresh rate is critical for Modul8 because the rendering and the effects are syncronized on it. If you have a too high res./rate you may have slow downs pretty easily. Please note that they are not necessary related to Modul8 (or to the speed of your graphic card), they may come from a backgroung OS X service for example.

You won't have these problems, if you work with a second output connected to a projector or to a video monitor. If you really need to output in full screen on your flat screen, you may have to lower the resolution or change the refresh rate (which is not always possible unfortunately).

[vjfj]

You won't have these problems, if you work with a second output connected to a projector or to a video monitor. If you really need to output in full screen on your flat screen, you may have to lower the resolution or change the refresh rate (which is not always possible unfortunately).

i tried various lower screen resolutions to 800 x 600 and it still changed nothing...

thx for the answer - ok, then my next question is, since it is possible to "record to disk" this animation as a Quicktime file, will this jerkiness be removed from such a final output? and if so, what would be the best resolution to record at?

thx again.

fj