Rendering "while you sleep"...???

MarcoPolo wrote on 1/28/2004, 8:56 AM
Fellow "Vegas-ites",

I have always been one to keep an eye on my renders when working on a project - normally checking in every once in a while to make sure everything is cool, and I have never had an issue with my system while rendering.
Soooo, last night, feeling confident that everything would be fine, I left a project to render (to MPEG2 - not quick) while I went to bed. I turned off my screen saver just in case that might cause any quirks.
While I imagine if there was ever a problem with this, I would just realize it in the morning....however - what I guess my question is -

Has anyone had any issues doing this that became a problem? Anything I should be concerned with?

Just wonderin'!

Thanks,
MarcoPolo

Comments

AlanC wrote on 1/28/2004, 9:09 AM
No but I think most others will agree, you need to at least disable (if not remove completely) any screen savers before doing any capturing/editing/rendering with any application.

Alan
GaryKleiner wrote on 1/28/2004, 9:12 AM
I am not sure what the issue is.

If you don't render overnight (or whenever you sleep) becasue you are not sure it will go OK, then what is there to loose if you try it?

If something goes wrong, you are no worse off than if you didn't make the attempt.

BTW, I do overnight renders all the time with no problems.

Gary
GaryKleiner wrote on 1/28/2004, 9:14 AM
> you need to at least disable (if not remove completely) any screen savers before doing any capturing/editing/rendering with any application.<

Capturing, yes.
Editing - they would not kick in.
Rendering still goes on even in power save mode. No need to disable screen savers.

Gary
johnmeyer wrote on 1/28/2004, 9:18 AM
I always render when I go to lunch, sleep, etc. Only way to go. Nothing bad will happen. And if it does, the results won't be any worse than if you are sitting next to the computer. Bad things happen in microseconds, and you aren't going to be quick enought to do anything about it, even if you are sitting there staring at the screen.

Just get a good night's sleep.
AlanC wrote on 1/28/2004, 9:19 AM
>Editing - they would not kick in<

No but they still use valuable processor resources.
Chienworks wrote on 1/28/2004, 9:28 AM
Yep, i've seen some screen savers eat up over 70% of the CPU cycles while only leaving about 30% for Vegas while rendering. This can be even worse if you do what i typically do, which is to drop Vegas' priority to below normal while rendering. Personally i don't really see the point in screen savers. Lots of them don't even "save your screen" anymore; they're just pretty eye candy. I haven't had any screen savers active on any of my computers for a couple of years now and haven't missed them a bit. I turn off the monitor if i'm not going to be looking at it for an hour or more.
MarcoPolo wrote on 1/28/2004, 9:33 AM
Gary,

I guess what I'm asking is exactly what you are asking - if anyone has had any issues leaving their system for a long time to render......didn't really think there would be any issues, just thought I'd see if anyone had ever had anything weird happen to them.

Thanks,
MarcoPolo
AlanC wrote on 1/28/2004, 9:43 AM
MarcoPolo, as long as your machine is not stuck in a cupboard somewhere, has reasonable ventilation and you turn off your monitor, you shouldn't have a problem.

Many businesses leave machines running unattended for weeks/months without problems. Modern power supplies are designed to trip out at the first sign of an overload but if this is your main concern, why not fit a smoke detector in the room. For about £8.00 / $13.00 you can sleep easy.

"Don't have nightmares. Do sleep well"

Alan
jsteehl wrote on 1/28/2004, 9:59 AM
I do this ALL the time (I'm trying to edit while I sleep but that does not seem to be working :).

I use a FREE! utility called WinOff located at ...
http://ampsoft.freeservers.com/english/Utilities.html

It will monitor the CPU and shut off the machine when it drops below a certain level. I set it and when VV is done rendering it shut down the machine. There is even an option to take a screen shot before shutting down so you can see that everything went ok.

Combined with the multiple project render scripts and this is pretty powerful stuff.

You could just leave the machine running all night but sometimes I run it while I'm gone for the weekend.

BTW, there is another great FREE! utility at this site called FontViewer which I use to view all my fonts when I'm looking for something special. Also prints our a contact sheet!

Hope this helps

-Jason S.
BillyBoy wrote on 1/28/2004, 1:42 PM
Hint: Turn the monitor off. Real simple. Real easy. The monitor is only for us humans, Vegas don't need it to render or do anything. No software does.

Just don't forget in the morning and re-bott by mistake. Just flip your monitor back on. ;-)
Jsnkc wrote on 1/28/2004, 2:22 PM
I do it all the time, have ahd many 18 hour renders I let run overnight. Just do what everyone else says, disable screensavers, make sure your system has good cooling which should be fine if you've never had a problem before. Shut off the monitor and hit the sack.
Maverick wrote on 1/28/2004, 4:10 PM
Surely, the monitor's own screen save utility doesn't take up any processor power?
Maverick wrote on 1/28/2004, 4:11 PM
I started rendering over night - the old proverb 'A Watched Pot Never Boils';-)

I've gone to bed soon after starting a render to mpeg-2 on a 40 minute project with a time left showing aroun 3 hours and got up 7 or 8 hours later still with an hour or more to go.
farss wrote on 1/28/2004, 4:25 PM
I've tried doing this and it doesn't work very well at all. The other night I slipped a decimal point 90% of the way into an encode and the whole thing was ruined. I would recommend mpeg-1 encoding over mpeg-2 though, less calcs to hold in your head.
For the moment though I've gone back to a double scotch and counting sheep as a cure for my insomnia.

Sorry guys I couldn't resist :)