render time

subq wrote on 10/4/2003, 12:59 PM
anyone have any good info on render times? i.e. average render time on said hardware, tips on how to speed up render time, hardware etc etc...

I am rendering some pretty basic stuff (pictures with transitions and some music) on a intel 2.8 800mhz FSB and I am getting about 3:1 on the time (this is for mpeg2 render).

I was wondering what sort of equipment to use to get render time down to around 1:1 and maybe how to do multiple renders at once.

Comments

Udi wrote on 10/4/2003, 1:26 PM
In my experience, rendering pictures takes longer than source AVI due to resolution and pixel-aspect-ratio changes. So with some transions a 3:1 seems OK.

A faster CPU and more RAM can reduce the time, but not much.

Using a HT or multiple CPU machines will allow multiple render at the same time, as vegas as not using multiple CPUs effectivly.
Multiple render will best be done on different disk drives.

Hope it helps
Udi

blk_diesel wrote on 10/4/2003, 7:26 PM
Will surfing the net while rendering affect the render time? I'm on a cable modem.
subq wrote on 10/5/2003, 11:39 AM
Yeah, my proc has HT. I am just wondering what hardware specs people are using to get close to a 1:1 render time ratio with very basic text and transitions.
riredale wrote on 10/5/2003, 12:35 PM
The MainConcept encoder is the culprit. People using CinemaCraft regularly report renders FASTER than real-time, and the CinemaCraft output is second to none. My little T'Bird 1.3Ghz machine faithfully shows renders at .72x real-time with CinemaCraft.

There was a thread on this board recently that lamented that the Adobe guys had gotten the latest (much faster) MainConcept encoder for their new authoring product. As I recall, it was stated that Vegas is slated to get it at some point.
garo wrote on 10/5/2003, 1:36 PM
But CinemaCraft doesn't render .veg files does it?
And one can't edit movies in CC can you?
johnmeyer wrote on 10/5/2003, 1:56 PM
I have the following suggestion to Sony:

Why not provide a small project that everyone could download and render using one of the various standard templates. This way, each person could know whether their system was somehow behaving "out of line."

Based on the dozens of questions that have been posted in the past months, all of which are nearly identical to this post, lots of people worry that they have done something wrong that is causing their render times to skyrocket. The first thing they suspect is their computer setup (hardware, O/S, background operations, viruses, etc.). Having a standard test that everyone could run would eliminate this problem.

Also, I strongly urge Sony to consider a suggestion I posted in the scripting forum a few days ago, namely providing a way to "audit" a project prior to rendering. It is just too darn easy to accidentally "nudge" the opacity setting, or the track level setting and end up needlessly re-rendering every frame. I have this problem all the time because I use the Alt-arrow shortcuts to move back and forward through an event one frame at a time. However, if I have just clicked on the track header and forget to click back on the event, this keyboard combination changes the track level.

vonhosen wrote on 10/5/2003, 2:45 PM
John

There is one you can download set up by DSE (SPOT on this forum) @ sundancemediagroup.com & there were comparisons of systems times with it. It is a .veg file that needs no additional media & everyone can compare times.

Here is a thread on it
http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?MessageID=170788&Page=0


The link for the rendertest download
http://www.sundancemediagroup.com/help/kb/kb_download.asp?id=8

The site has quite a few useful ideas (.veg files for download)
kentwolf wrote on 10/5/2003, 2:50 PM
I just got the latest Main Concept 1.4 MPG2 encoder.

I can render a little over 90 minutes of video in a little less than 90 minutes time.

Another nice thing; it will join seperate clips into one file if you need to.

Like I said in another thread, what used to take from 6 to 8 hours can now be done in about 2 hours with the Main Concept 1.4 MPG2 encoder.

Thank you.
johnmeyer wrote on 10/5/2003, 3:54 PM
I didn't know about this. I'll download and try it.

Thanks!