How to avoid render times

Hi everybody,

I'm editing a 60 sec spot with DVCProHD material and I'm adding some motion graphics which I'm creating with FCP and LiveType.
To see the result of the changes I make I need to see the video in realtime and good quality which means I have to render a lot.
And it takes up so much time.
I always thought I have a quick system (the 2008 8-core MacPro with 6GB of RAM) but I must say I'm annoyed that I have to wait 6 minutes just after changing the value of a drop shadow.

Did I skip something in my FCP education?
What are the ground rules when it comes to avoiding long rendering times while working on a project?

Thanks

Drop shadows eat up a lot of computational time- personally I wouldn't start working in massive amounts of effects work until the cut has settled. Are you using RT-Safe or RT-Extreme?

Noah

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I use unlimited RT.

Maybe I should just pre-think the visuals more. So I have less adjustments to make.

For example I resized the lower third which forced me to render the complete spot again instead of deciding on the size before I rendered the first time.

Anyway, how can I pimp my MacPro? How much more RAM would make sense?

>How much more RAM would make sense?

FCP only addresses up to 4 gigs of RAM, so pimping it won't make too much increase in RT performance.

>Maybe I should just pre-think the visuals more.

Totally. The concept is pretty much the same- offline, where you piece everything together to watch the flow, then finishing, where you fine tune your effects.


To increase the render speed for previewing your work, you can toggle your render resolution down to 25%, or even render at half the frame rate. To do that, go to sequence settings, the options are under render control.



www.strypesinpost.com

Thanks

about RAM, I have 2GB should I increase it 4GB?
would my FC be more faster????
(Sorry for my grammar)

As 'strypes' says, I think 4GB is all that FCP needs.

I also read a study recently that although the MacPro can take up to 32GB, the best bang for the buck ends at 8GB.

From what I know and experienced 2GB more would make a difference for you and the price tag is not too steep.

Are your graphics the full length of the spot? Or is the base layer one long piece? Having to render the ENTIRE spot for a change in a single graphic is odd. You should only have to render the clips that have been modified.

If you do have really long clips with just short graphics over them, try blading the long underlying clip into 3 pieces, up to the graphic, the duration of the graphic, and after the graphic. That way if you tweak the graphic you only render the shorter, changed piece.

-Vance

I need to retract the previous post. I just dropped a long shot on a timeline and piled on filters till it need to be rendered.

Then I put a short graphic over it and ONLY the section with the graphic needed to be re-rendered.

So I guess I still don't understand why a change to a lower third requires the entire spot to be re-rendered.

-V

The 4G addressing in FCP sounds suspiciously like a
32 bit app.
I wonder if the New 7 FCP can go above this?
Even Adobe is making (albiet slowly) 64 bit apps for
Windows Vista.
Just curious...


strypes Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> >How much more RAM would make sense?
>
> FCP only addresses up to 4 gigs of RAM, so pimping
> it won't make too much increase in RT
> performance.
>
> >Maybe I should just pre-think the visuals more.
>
> Totally. The concept is pretty much the same-
> offline, where you piece everything together to
> watch the flow, then finishing, where you fine
> tune your effects.
>
>
> To increase the render speed for previewing your
> work, you can toggle your render resolution down
> to 25%, or even render at half the frame rate. To
> do that, go to sequence settings, the options are
> under render control.

Final Cut Pro 7 is a 32-bit application.

Theoretical discussions of how much memory an application will address are fun and all, but way too navel-gazes. Five seconds with Activity Monitor will give empirical answers to the "do I need more RAM" question.

Quote
Five seconds with Activity Monitor will give empirical answers to the "do I need more RAM" question.

Good one!

Quote
Having to render the ENTIRE spot for a change in a single graphic is odd

I think if you change or move even a small piece of graphic the underlying layer appears and requires rendering again.
Does this make sense? Shouldn't it be rendered already from the first time?