Tips for speeding up "compiling"

[stevehoyt]

@MattBrown

Now that I have some time to address housekeeping issues, I am wondering if you have any tips for cleaning/speeding up my sequences.

I have about 25 sequences that have evolved over many years to their current S6 iteration. 

If you look at them, I have multiple views with hundreds of entries that some how got there while changing things. 

i.e. importing different channel configs, adding views etc. Much of it was done when I was learning and had no ideas what was going on "behind the scenes"

I purchased 3 new songs this year, that were preprogrammed by LOR and imported them. I noticed that the "compile time was much faster than my old sequences. 

So do you, or anyone else, have any tips on what I might do to speed things up.

Some things come to mind such as 

1) Delete all archived props.

2) Delete unused views. ( I don't think it would help as it just a view. )

3) Use some of the sequence options such as manage rgb aggregates, delete grid rows, 

4) I noticed in my purchased sequences that in their grid definitions it was often split into 4 parts. Maybe that is why they are faster.

Thanks

 

[Steven]

First, back up your sequences to a "2023" directory, so you can go back if you ever wonder: "What did I do in 2023?"

Then, delete all the archived props, unless you plan to add them back

You're probably right about the unused views, but they are in the way, so it wouldn't hurt to remove them.

If you have sequences that have a lot of events, such as 100%, 95%, 90%, 85%,... when it could have been just a fade, this could speed things up.

I suspect the "compile" time is related to file size. Look to see if this is the case. If so, then whatever you can do to reduce the file size would make it faster. One example is if you had a prop with 50 bulbs that were sequenced at the channel level, doing it with a motion effect would make the sequence much smaller.

[MattBrown]

The 3 things that I find make the most difference:

1. For props with a custom shape that you have imported from Boscoyo or GE or EFL: go into Prop Def > Custom Layout, then use the Shrink by 50% function. Use it multiple times if you can.
2. For Groups that use the Preview arrangement, go into Group Def and lower the resolution slider. The total size is shown at the top of this screen and should be less than 200x200 for Preview groups. The lower the resolution, the faster it will calculate.
3. For Picture and Movie effects, reduce the resolution of the source picture/movie. A 4K movie takes much, much longer to load into a movie effect than one at 320x200, and they will look the same on your pixels.

 

[gsmith37064]

2 minutes ago, MattBrown said:

The 3 things that I find make the most difference:

1. For props with a custom shape that you have imported from Boscoyo or GE or EFL: go into Prop Def > Custom Layout, then use the Shrink by 50% function. Use it multiple times if you can.
2. For Groups that use the Preview arrangement, go into Group Def and lower the resolution slider. The total size is shown at the top of this screen and should be less than 200x200 for Preview groups. The lower the resolution, the faster it will calculate.
3. For Picture and Movie effects, reduce the resolution of the source picture/movie. A 4K movie takes much, much longer to load into a movie effect than one at 320x200, and they will look the same on your pixels.

 

Option 1 - keep in mind that it will screw up the animation in the preview. You will need to delete the prop in SE and re-add it back... if I recall correctly.

Option 2 - I seem to have pixel issues if I lower it to use low res settings. It starts to miss pixels in the preview when I play it. So I have to put it back to hi res. I have not tried it on live props though.

Option 3 - I don't use a lot of video so I can't really say much on this one.

[PhilMassey]

I have found that when I change the resolution slider, the pixels selected in a custom MR shift or deselect in the prop window and have to be reselected. I have noted this on several occasions. Playback reflects the missing or moved  pixels. Once I fix the selected pixels any existing Motion effects are fine