Trouble Rendering

Stonefield wrote on 5/22/2006, 8:49 PM
I was editing all day on a personal project and all was going very well. But when it came time to render out the 7 minute clip, I got an exception error. I did a little searching on the forum here and discovered it might be either a hot cpu problem or a memory problem.

So I started another render, and looked at the task manager as it was rendering it out. I noticed the memory ( page file ) ram was being eaten up. I've got two gigs of ram and about 18 percent into the render the ram get used up and stops rendering with the error message.

So what's that about ? Two gigs of memory slowly rising up an up as the render proceeds. I'm rendering from different networked sources, ext hard drives, drives on my computer thru my network , etc. That's never been an issue before. If it's a hot cpu prob, I've turn that machine off for a bit...

Any thoughts ?

Update : Now I'm getting the same problem when I'm just playin back on the timeline.....arg. The CPU seems fine as it hovers where it should be but the memory stays up there and doesn't come back down until I close this project.

Gonna save the project and see if copying all the media into a local folder might help.

Stan

Comments

Grazie wrote on 5/22/2006, 9:09 PM

Have you had the side of the PC off? Have you actually "looked" at the fan/s and can you see through the inlet grids?

Your symptoms are the EXACT same symptoms I was getting: rendering; page file; memory being eaten up .. etc etc .. Now I'm not saying this IS the issue - bad cooling - but having a look don;t take long and maybe it might just hold the solution to the problem - before getting into the area of IT - yeah?

Bottom-line here is that everything HAS been working before. Something has changed OR got worse. The latter - got worse - is, for me is the effect of a "creeping" malaise. Heat, and the accelerated failure to get rid of it, has produced this memory/page-file thing. It's a variable thing!

When WAS the last time you rendered?

Grazie

johnmeyer wrote on 5/22/2006, 10:31 PM
I am a big doubter about CPU overheating being the cause of so many problems. It sure doesn't hurt to clean out your PC once in awhile, but if you bake the CPU, things will stop.

What version of Vegas are you using? Do you have lots of large still photos? There was definitely exactly the problem you describe in most (maybe all?) versions of Vegas 5, and possibly before. The solution was to use smaller (resolution) photos, or break the project up into chunks and render each chunk separately. A hot CPU certainly isn't going to cause memory to get eaten up -- that's usually a software "memory leak" of some sort.

The latest version of Vegas 6 seem to have this problem fixed.
Stonefield wrote on 5/22/2006, 10:52 PM
UPDATE

I tried rendering out a DV AVI file and just re-rendered it. No problem there. It's seem when the render has to crunch fx and titles and transitions that it keep rising.

Weird, I can see the CPU would complain about getting hot, but why the "Page File" keep growing during a render ??? And the CPU is fine.

I'm using Vegas 5 and this is the first time this has happend in the few years I've used it. I'm not using any image files but I am quite heavy on fx and color corrections for this video. I should try rendering another project and see if it happens.

I DID manage to render out the project in like, six different chunks, re- import them to a timeline and render out that. But who wants to do that ???
craftech wrote on 5/23/2006, 6:18 AM
It sounds like a memory allocation problem. Is Windows handling your swap file or have you set it manually? And how much reserve space do you have on your target drive and your OS drive? You need some extra on both.
Number of processes running? XP seems to know no limits when it comes to the number of processes it deems necessary to run simultaneously. Did you recently install some new software?

John
Grazie wrote on 5/23/2006, 6:35 AM
John? You're not having it, are you? - I had Page growth; I had the same symptoms as Stoney. As to PageFile growth, this near on vanished after I dusted out the CPU etc. As to baking the CPU? Well I guess my PC has some thankfully hefty fail-safes. After I dusted I dropped from a screaming 1.0gb down to 300mb.

Ah go on Stoney? Just for me .. just take a squint and see what you got in there.

Grazie
fldave wrote on 5/23/2006, 7:25 PM
Stan,

It's probably the subject models you are using in your footage, smokin' the cpu !

Seriously, I first noticed this in V6, hadn't paid attention before that. Spot's "new" render test was so brutal with the effects, etc. Page file + 1GB physical RAM kept climbing to a total of 1.8GB or so.

I think when you combine multiple effects, changing gradient backgrounds, things like that, Vegas is building them in RAM but maybe not releasing properly. It's purely a factor of "what's going on in the next frame" type thing.

After enjoying your previous "sneak peaks", I would say you do a lot in a short timeline. Also, before final render, I try to at least close Vegas completely down, sometimes I reboot.
Stonefield wrote on 5/23/2006, 9:45 PM
......Success !!!

Whew !!!

I did a uninstall - reinstall and that seemed to fix the problem. Did the same render and the PF never climbed about 380 megs. On a two gig memory computer that's very comfy.

Thanks for your input on this one guys. And yes, this is a rather hot but fun compilation of me just playing with all that footage on those external hard drives. Trying new effects, filters and techniques. What came out includes something you've not seen from the girls - "outtakes" - Lotsa fun.

For those that wanna see it, just let me know.

Thanks again, and the girls thank you as well....

Stonefield
rmack350 wrote on 5/23/2006, 10:13 PM
One thing I go on about like a broken record is the size of your preview ram. Set it too high and you'll force Windows to start swapping.

I'm not saying that's what happened, but maybe...

Rob Mack
fldave wrote on 5/24/2006, 4:58 AM
Good point Rob. I think the Vegas default preview RAM is 16 after install. Very feasible that it was set very high.

Stan, of course I would love to see any video you have available!
Grazie wrote on 5/24/2006, 5:32 AM
Nice one Stoney! You reinstalled. So what ever was taxing your PC too much is now working as it should .. . and I still don't know if your PC is getting hot ' cos of fans . . dog with a bone . . dog with a bone . .

OK: If Vegas is SO responsive to our RAM preview settings - and I do concur - then why why why bury it deep within a Preference setting?? How about, at least, a Toolbar Icon with a selection of User options: 16mb > 256mbs? Come to that, how about giving me a single and 2 thread Icon too? - Does/can ALT+D+anynumber1thru9 HOLD/KEEP a Preview Setting - different from another? Might be useful?

Grazie