slow render times at DVinfo.net

Nicholi Brossia · May 27th, 2004, 05:09 PM

I have a dual 1.25 with 1gig of ram. Normally it wizzes through renders at a nice pace, but lately has been noticibly sluggish. Renders are now taking 2-3 times as long as they used to.
I've repaired everything with disk utility and defragmented the drive, but its still not as fast as before. Any suggestions?

Jeff Donald · May 27th, 2004, 06:43 PM

How full is the drive and have you trashed the three preferences files?

Nicholi Brossia · May 27th, 2004, 09:32 PM

I forgot about trashing the prefs. I'll do that then see how everything goes. As far as the drives, that's definately not an issue. My boot drive has 142GB and my video drive has 165GB free.

The strange thing, going back to the render times, is that sometimes if it shows a really long render, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes I'll even cancel the first render that says 20 minutes, then start it right back up again and it will only need 7 minutes. Could this be processor related even though I'm not running any other programs?

Glenn Chan · May 27th, 2004, 10:03 PM

The render times are wild guesses. The timers are usually based on the first thing you render and *assume* all the footage down stream will take the same amount of time to render. That is rarely the case.

Some timers also include the initial delay so it might show something absurd like 1 hour then quickly drop down to a fairly reasonable guestimate.

2- Are you using nesting or stacked filters by any chance? Certain combinations of filters tend to be slow.

Nicholi Brossia · May 27th, 2004, 10:37 PM

What are nesting and stacked filters? They sound more complicated that what I generally use - color correction, deinterlace.

Glenn Chan · May 27th, 2004, 11:55 PM

By stacking filters I mean multiple filters on a clip.

Nesting is when you put one sequence inside another.

2- You might want to check that the opacity of all your clips are 100%. You can check the little black line that runs across the top of your clips.

Nicholi Brossia · May 28th, 2004, 12:30 AM

I actually have nested a sequence within another. I always figured that if the original was already fully rendered out, it would not effect the render times of the new sequence. I've also stacked filters, but always expected higher render times from that. It sounds like you're on the right track, Glenn. I can deal with this for now, but will hopefully have FCP-HD soon. Then, with the real-time effects, I won't have to worry about most of this.

Thank you both for the help.

May 27th, 2004, 05:09 PM	#1
Nicholi Brossia Major Player Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Oklahoma City, OK Posts: 389	slow render times I have a dual 1.25 with 1gig of ram. Normally it wizzes through renders at a nice pace, but lately has been noticibly sluggish. Renders are now taking 2-3 times as long as they used to. I've repaired everything with disk utility and defragmented the drive, but its still not as fast as before. Any suggestions? __________________ Nicholi Brossia

May 27th, 2004, 06:43 PM	#2
Jeff Donald Warden Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 8,287	How full is the drive and have you trashed the three preferences files? __________________ Jeff Donald Carpe Diem Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Where to Buy? From the best in the business: DVinfo.net sponsors

May 27th, 2004, 09:32 PM	#3
Nicholi Brossia Major Player Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Oklahoma City, OK Posts: 389	I forgot about trashing the prefs. I'll do that then see how everything goes. As far as the drives, that's definately not an issue. My boot drive has 142GB and my video drive has 165GB free. The strange thing, going back to the render times, is that sometimes if it shows a really long render, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes I'll even cancel the first render that says 20 minutes, then start it right back up again and it will only need 7 minutes. Could this be processor related even though I'm not running any other programs? __________________ Nicholi Brossia

May 27th, 2004, 10:37 PM	#5
Nicholi Brossia Major Player Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Oklahoma City, OK Posts: 389	What are nesting and stacked filters? They sound more complicated that what I generally use - color correction, deinterlace. __________________ Nicholi Brossia

May 28th, 2004, 12:30 AM	#7
Nicholi Brossia Major Player Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Oklahoma City, OK Posts: 389	I actually have nested a sequence within another. I always figured that if the original was already fully rendered out, it would not effect the render times of the new sequence. I've also stacked filters, but always expected higher render times from that. It sounds like you're on the right track, Glenn. I can deal with this for now, but will hopefully have FCP-HD soon. Then, with the real-time effects, I won't have to worry about most of this. Thank you both for the help. __________________ Nicholi Brossia

May 27th, 2004, 10:03 PM	#4
Glenn Chan Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 4,750	The render times are wild guesses. The timers are usually based on the first thing you render and assume all the footage down stream will take the same amount of time to render. That is rarely the case. Some timers also include the initial delay so it might show something absurd like 1 hour then quickly drop down to a fairly reasonable guestimate. 2- Are you using nesting or stacked filters by any chance? Certain combinations of filters tend to be slow.

May 27th, 2004, 11:55 PM	#6
Glenn Chan Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 4,750	By stacking filters I mean multiple filters on a clip. Nesting is when you put one sequence inside another. 2- You might want to check that the opacity of all your clips are 100%. You can check the little black line that runs across the top of your clips.