Render problem…..deadline looming

[Walter Soyka]

You’re not using the recommended memory settings [link]. Try increasing RAM allocated to other processes to 8 GB.

If that’s still not working, you could make more RAM available to the renderers by increasing the number of CPUs reserved for other applications, or by disabling multiprocessing entirely.

I also recommend rendering to image sequences instead of movies, especially for long renders. If your render fails for any reason, you can easily pick up right where you left off with an image sequence. If you need to make a small change that only affects a limited number of frames, you can save time by only re-rendering the affected frames instead of the entire animation.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Dave Hiebert]

I tried re-rendering last night with the recommended settings. I got up this morning and it had gotten about 10 seconds further but locked up again.

I am currently trying an image sequence but same thing….it starts out okay then just completely bogs down to the point that I’m rendering 1 frame every two-three minutes. It’s not that difficult a sequence. It’s a composition (6000 by 6000) with numerous pictures on it, to look like a bulletin board. That comp is dropped into a 1280 by 720 comp with a camera that flies in and out around the pics. Nothing spectacular at all.

It makes no sense!…..I rendered this thing at least 5 times already earlier without problems.

EEEK!

[Brian Charles]

Have you tried purging every x number of frames in the secret prefs? If indeed this is a memory issue it might help.

To access the secret prefs press the Shift key as you select Preferences > General from the menu.

I see an earlier post from you relating to Motion Blur with the same project, depending on your settings this could demand large memory resources to render, particularly since the nested Comp is 6000 X 6000 pixels.

[Dave Hiebert]

Thanks for the tip….although it didn’t change anything. I am currently doing a image sequence render, but it says it will take another day or so to complete…..just crazy….its just STILLS!!

At any rate, it only renders for while and then locks up so I have to stay with it so I can restart when it hangs.

Again, I rendered this file numerous times over the week with no problems. I’m just about ready to “format c”

🙁

[Ed Blackford]

try taking the AE file to someone elses computer and render it. could be a temp fix until you figure out what is wrong w/ your computer.

[Walter Soyka]

[Dave Hiebert] “Thanks for the tip….although it didn’t change anything. I am currently doing a image sequence render, but it says it will take another day or so to complete…..just crazy….its just STILLS!! At any rate, it only renders for while and then locks up so I have to stay with it so I can restart when it hangs.”

Yikes.

What did you try setting the secret purge value to? Leaving it at 0 keeps purging off; setting it at 1 forces AE to purge its caches after rendering a single frame, and setting it to 30 should cause AE to purge its caches after rendering a second’s worth of video. The higher you set that number, the faster your machine will render, but the more likely it is to run into a memory problem. The lower you set that number (down to 1, not 0), the slower your machine will render, but the more likely you are to avoid a memory problem.

Please note that the secret preferences are hidden for a reason: they can be very helpful when you’re suffering render failures like this, but leaving them on for normal work will slow down performance considerably.

It may be too late for this, by you could work around this problem by changing your workflow. Putting everything in a 6000×6000 precomp dramatically increases memory requirements. A 1280×720 frame requires 3.5 MB at 8bpc, but each 6k square frame requires 137 MB. It’s almost 40 times bigger.

You could work with your images directly in your main comp and use parenting [link] or a camera [link] with 3D layers to achieve the same effect more easily.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Dave Hiebert]

Thanks, everyone for all your help. I managed to get an image sequence rendered and can now complete my project.

Whew!…Couldn’t have done it without ya. That being said, I am using a GTX 460 video card. How much improvement, if any, would I see going to a lower end Quadro card. Would it be worth it?

[Walter Soyka]

[Dave Hiebert] “Thanks, everyone for all your help. I managed to get an image sequence rendered and can now complete my project.”

Glad to hear it — and you’re welcome.

[Dave Hiebert] “I am using a GTX 460 video card. How much improvement, if any, would I see going to a lower end Quadro card. Would it be worth it?”

AE itself renders on the CPU, not the GPU, so it won’t matter. The GTX 460 is a good value for the money for those few third-party plugins which can render on the GPU.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events