-
Unbearably slow: Zaxwerks and CS3 on a MacPro??
I downloaded and installed the current version of Invigorator (4.3.2p_mac) to evaluate the software before making a purchasing decision. Since Zaxwerks is offering a substantial discount until the end of the year it seems like a good time to check it out.
FWIW I’m using a Mac Pro Quad 2.66 with 11 GB of RAM,OS 10.4.11.
I’m working through Serge’s DVD (bought from the COW) yet Invigorator is unbearably slow, using the ai file “eagle” which comes on the DVD.
Each time I select a tool (eg Camera Tumble) or switch modes in Invgorator, the computer stalls for 1 or 2 minutes. I can see in the Activity Monitor that AE is hogging the CPU during this delay.
I’ve disabled openGL, made sure I have no un-docked panels, cleaned my caches, reset AE prefs, disabled multi-processing, repaired permissions and rebooted several times to no avail.
Since the software is labeled p_mac I wonder whether this is an Intel or PPC version which could be the issue.
Are there any known bugs or conflicts that would cause this?
As it stands now the software is unusable on my set up — though I’m sure this is not the case for most of you.
-
7 Replies
-
Are you working in Draft Mode? Or is Motion Blur activated? Usually it’s okay, but with more complex files it sometimes takes a bit of time to update. Also, Motion Blur will really slow down previews. If it’s slow WITHIN the edit window, then somethings wrong.
Hope this helps,
kurt murphy
-
Working in draft mode, motion blur defaults. Literally just swtiching from the camera ode to the object mode can take 90 seconds with the spinning beachball. Activity monitor shows CPU at 120% during this pause.
Its wierd since the After Effects runs fast and problem free other than this.
-
Hi Brian,
Create a new AE project, DV sized comp and a comp sized solid.
Then add the Invigorator to the solid and click the Demo button.
Next click the “Create 3D text” button and type your name. Then OK.
Now you will see your name in 3D.
Try to change tool modes and see if the problem still exists.
If it’s gone then we can look at a more complicated project.
If it’s still there we can look at something about your system.Best,
Zax -
Zax, thanks for the reply.
I think the slowdown occured when I made a change to the Object Faceting setting. Perhaps I misheard Serge’s instructions but I set Object Faceting Draft setting to .01. I’m guessing that this ate CPU cycles.
I bought the Invigorator bundle today and hope the software performs well. Mea Culpa.
Thanks.
-
I’m repeating the forst tutorial on Serge Hamad’s training DVD and have encountered the same slowdown as before.
Switching modes (camera to object) grinds the application to a near standstill. Just clicking on a the camera mode button causes After Effects to use over 100% of CPU according to the Activity Monitor — and it still won’t switch to the tool.
I saved and closed the project, when I reopened it the Use Comp Camera switch was on — though I hadn’t selected it. I uncheck it, saved the closed and reopened the project and the switch was on again???!??!
-
Hi Brian,
Setting faceting to .1 can definitely slow things down. Normally, Draft faceting should be left at 3 and Final faceting is set to .5 or perhaps lower, but only when you need it. This way when the layer is set to Draft mode (set the layer quality switch to “Draft” by making the little diagonal line jaggy) the program works in near-real-time. Then when you set the layer quality to Best (either by making the diagonal line smooth, or by rendering with the option to set all layers to Best quality) then the final, high rez models are built and rendered nice and smooth.
Usually you only set final faceting to .1 on a few objects that will be very close to the camera. Once there was a user who’s renderings were taking 20 minutes per frame. I found that he had 80 curvy objects and all of them were set to .1 faceting. We set all of them back to .5 except for the 3 that flew close to the camera, which we left at .1. This one adjustment changed his rendering time to 10 seconds per frame.
Best,
Zax -
Zax,
Thank you for your reply and excellent support. In fact I had set the faceting to .01 not .1 — a factor of 10 greater.
The product is great and I look forward to mastering it.
Again, thanks for the tech support.
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up