\chapter{Performance and other Tips}%
\label{cha:performance_tips}
-Performance of Cinelerra is related to the software and video format being used in conjunction with your computer system hardware -- the number of CPUs and its speed, I/O bus speed, graphics card, and amount of available memory. A basic, less powerful system will be sufficient for users working with audio only or lower resolution video formats. Higher end computers will be needed when playing and working with higher resolution formats, like 1080p or 4k. Adding effects and multiple tracks will require more cpu, memory, and various other resources to
+Performance of \CGG{} is related to the software and video format being used in conjunction with your computer system hardware -- the number of CPUs and its speed, I/O bus speed, graphics card, and amount of available memory. A basic, less powerful system will be sufficient for users working with audio only or lower resolution video formats. Higher end computers will be needed when playing and working with higher resolution formats, like 1080p or 4k. Adding effects and multiple tracks will require more cpu, memory, and various other resources to
perform at an acceptable level.
Perhaps the easiest method for determining if your performance could be improved is to look at the numerical value displayed as \textit{Framerate achieved}. Good performance means that when \textit{Play every frame} is set
Some computer hardware factors to consider for better performance are listed here:
\begin{itemize}
- \item Multi-core and more SMP processors greatly improve Cinelerra speed by making use of threads.
+ \item Multi-core and more SMP processors greatly improve \CGG{} speed by making use of threads.
\item A large amount of free memory available can help speed up operations by avoiding unnecessary disk
swaps and keeping videos easily accessible in memory.
\item Video editing is almost always I/O intensive. To create longer running videos at high resolution
you will want to have a lot of disk space available on fast access disks.
- \item Cinelerra benefits from OpenGL hardware acceleration. A good graphics card is worthwhile to have.
+ \item \CGG{} benefits from OpenGL hardware acceleration. A good graphics card is worthwhile to have.
\item Multiple monitors really come in handy to increase productivity as you can see more information and
in bigger windows so you do not have to keep moving windows around.
\end{itemize}
\section{Hardware video acceleration}%
\label{sec:hardware_video_acceleration}
+\index{hardware!acceleration}
-With certain newer, more powerful graphics boards and newer device drivers, there is the potential for enhanced \textit{decode} and \textit{encode} performance. Decode refers to loading and playing video in Cinelerra. The GPU, Graphics Processing Unit, on the graphics board is accessed via one of the following libraries: vdpau or vaapi. The hardware acceleration done by the graphics card increases performance by activating certain functions in connection with a few of the FFmpeg decoders. This use makes it possible for the graphics card to decode video, thus offloading the CPU. Decode operations are described here next.
+With certain newer, more powerful graphics boards and newer device drivers, there is the potential for enhanced \textit{decode} and \textit{encode} performance. Decode refers to loading and playing video in \CGG{}. The GPU, Graphics Processing Unit, on the graphics board is accessed via one of the following libraries: vdpau or vaapi. The hardware acceleration done by the graphics card increases performance by activating certain functions in connection with a few of the FFmpeg decoders. This use makes it possible for the graphics card to decode video, thus offloading the CPU. Decode operations are described here next.
Encode refers to rendering video and is described at the end of this section
under \hyperref[sub:gpu_hardware_encoding]{GPU hardware encoding}.
VA-API, Video Acceleration API, is an open source library which provides both hardware accelerated video encoding and decoding for use mostly with Intel (and AMD) graphics boards.
-Currently only the most common codecs, such as MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, and H.264 /MPEG-4, are accelerated/optimized by the graphics card to play these particular video formats efficiently. The other formats are not optimized so you will see no performance improvement since the CPU will handle them as before, just as if no hardware acceleration was activated. There are many different graphics cards and computer systems setup, so you will have to test which specific settings work best for you. So far this has been tested at least with Nvidia, Radeon, and Broadwell graphics boards on some AMD and Intel computers; depending on the graphics card, two to ten times higher processing speeds can be achieved. However, most graphic operations are single-threaded so that
-performing the operations in the hardware may actually be slower than in software making use of multiple CPUs, which frequently multi-thread many operations simultaneously.
+
+Currently only the most common codecs, such as MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.264 /MPEG-4 and h265 (hevc), are accelerated/optimized by the graphics card to play these particular video formats efficiently. The other formats are not optimized so you will see no performance improvement since the CPU will handle them as before, just as if no hardware acceleration was activated. There are many different graphics cards and computer systems setup, so you will have to test which specific settings work best for you. So far this has been tested at least with Nvidia, Radeon, and Broadwell graphics boards on some AMD and Intel computers; depending on the graphics card, two to ten times higher processing speeds can be achieved. However, most graphic operations are single-threaded so that performing the operations in the hardware may actually be slower than in software making use of multiple CPUs, which frequently multi-thread many operations simultaneously.
\subsection{GPU hardware decoding}%
\label{sub:gpu_hardware_decoding}
+\index{hardware!decoding}
\begin{enumerate}
\item Verify that you have installed \textit{libva-dev} or \textit{libva} on your operating system.
\item Verify that you have installed \textit{libva-intel-driver} on your operating system
\item Verify that you also have \textit{libvdpau-dev} or \textit{libvdpau} installed.
\item Verify \texttt{Settings $\rightarrow$ Preferences, Playback} tab, Video Driver is set to\textit{ X11} -- or \textit{X11-OpenGL} if that produces better results for your configuration.
- \item Before starting CinelerraGG, you can set an environment variable that can be easily reversed and
- then, to run from the Cinelerra installed directory, key in:
+ \item Before starting \CGG{}, you can set an environment variable that can be easily reversed and
+ then, to run from the \CGG{} installed directory, key in:
\end{enumerate}
\begin{lstlisting}[numbers=none]
It might be more difficult to analyze problems as a result of using the GPU because of the wide variation in hardware. When you do not set the \texttt{CIN\_HW\_DEV} environment variable, the code will work exactly as before since this feature is self-contained.
There is also a \texttt{Settings $\rightarrow$ Preferences, Performance} tab, \textit{Use HW device} flag
-with a pulldown to set up \textit{none, vdpau, vaapi,} or \textit{cuda}. To ensure it takes effect, it is best to set it the way you want, quit out of Cinelerra and then restart. Its current purpose is for flexibility, but there is a possibility that it might eventually take the place of \texttt{CIN\_HW\_DEV} -- both are not needed.
+with a pulldown to set up \textit{none, vdpau, vaapi,} or \textit{cuda}. To ensure it takes effect, it is best to set it the way you want, quit out of \CGG{} and then restart. Its current purpose is for flexibility, but there is a possibility that it might eventually take the place of \texttt{CIN\_HW\_DEV} -- both are not needed.
Precedence of the decode hardware acceleration settings are:
-- preferences \textit{Use HW device} settings is of the lowest priority
-\subsubsection*{Hardware decoding in Cinelerra GG}%
+\subsubsection*{Hardware decoding in \CGG{}}%
\label{ssub:hardware_decoding_cinelerra}
-There are 4 phases during Cinelerra’s handling of hardware acceleration. These first 2 steps occur just \textit{before} the first read.
+There are 4 phases during \CGG{}’s handling of hardware acceleration. These first 2 steps occur just \textit{before} the first read.
\begin{enumerate}
\item Check to see if Hardware Acceleration is enabled, usually indicated by \texttt{CIN\_HW\_ \_DEV} being set to
can not convert the data, you will see the error message of \textit{Error retrieving data from GPU to CPU}.
\end{enumerate}
-Due to variations in user’s computer hardware configuration, it is often suggested that you refer to your startup window to check for error messages. Since your situation is unique, the error may not have been seen by anyone else and is probably unknown/undocumented.
-\textcolor{red}{For debugging problems, modify in the Cinelerra ffmpeg subdirectory, the file: \texttt{decode.opts} by temporarily changing the line from \textit{loglevel =fatal} to \textit{loglevel =verbose} and restarting Cinelerra}.
+AppImage does not provide this capability. Due to variations in user’s computer hardware configuration, it is often suggested that you refer to your startup window to check for error messages. Since your situation is unique, the error may not have been seen by anyone else and is probably unknown/undocumented.
+\textcolor{red}{For debugging problems, modify in the \CGG{} ffmpeg subdirectory, the file: \texttt{decode.opts} by temporarily changing the line from \textit{loglevel =fatal} to \textit{loglevel =verbose} and restarting \CGG{}}.
\subsubsection*{Possible improvements or differences}%
\label{ssub:possible_improvements_differences}
\subsubsection*{Special .opts file}%
\label{ssub:special_opts_file}
+\index{hardware!special opts files}
The situation may arise where you have enabled hardware acceleration and after loading several files for a project, you find that a file had some kind of error resulting in a black video instead of an image or you see an error message pop up which states something like \textit{Error retrieving data from GPU to CPU} or \textit{err: Unknown error occurred}. Because the \texttt{CIN\_HW\_DEV} environment variable is either all or none, ordinarily in order to correct the non-working video you would have to turn off hardware acceleration for the entire project/session. However, there is a way to continue working on your project without having to reload all of your files. You still use the environment variable and it will be effective for all of the formats it is able to handle, but you make an exception for any of the files that erred out. To do this you simply create a file in the same directory with the same name as the erring file with the different extension of .opts. The contents of this .opts file would just be the one line of:
For example your file, \texttt{test.mp4}, would have a side-kick called \texttt{test.opts} that will use the GPU for decoding/playing and the other files will just use the software. This is of some advantage because the ones that can not use the GPU if the environment variable is enabled, will not have to even check which saves a minuscule bit of time.
-It is important to note that if using the .opts file to override the default \texttt{ffmpeg / decode.opts} file, you will most likely see more warnings (not really errors) in the Cinelerra startup window because the standard \texttt{decode.opts} file has \textit{loglevel = fatal} whereas the default is \textit{loglevel = error}. To avoid seeing all of the extra warnings, you can simply add the line \textit{loglevel=fatal} to your .opts file.
+It is important to note that if using the .opts file to override the default \texttt{ffmpeg / decode.opts} file, you will most likely see more warnings (not really errors) in the \CGG{} startup window because the standard \texttt{decode.opts} file has \textit{loglevel = fatal} whereas the default is \textit{loglevel = error}. To avoid seeing all of the extra warnings, you can simply add the line \textit{loglevel=fatal} to your .opts file.
\subsubsection*{To verify hardware acceleration}%
\label{ssub:verify_hardware_acceleration}
HEVC with NVIDIA, VDPAU driver is buggy, skipping
\end{lstlisting}
-If you would like to see more information on what is occurring, you can modify in the Cinelerra ffmpeg subdirectory, the file: \texttt{decode.opts} by temporarily changing the line from \textit{loglevel =fatal} to \textit{loglevel =verbose} and restarting Cinelerra. Then you will see messages in the startup window like:
+AppImage does not provide this capability. If you would like to see more information on what is occurring, you can modify in the \CGG{} ffmpeg subdirectory, the file: \texttt{decode.opts} by temporarily changing the line from \textit{loglevel =fatal} to \textit{loglevel =verbose} and restarting \CGG{}. Then you will see messages in the startup window like:
\begin{lstlisting}[numbers=none]
[AVHWDeviceContext @ 0x7fc9540be940] Successfully created a VDPAU device
\subsection{GPU hardware encoding}%
\label{sub:gpu_hardware_encoding}
+\index{hardware!encoding}
-Encoding using hardware acceleration of your graphics board GPU is included in CinelerraGG but it is of limited availability and works only with a specific set of hardware graphics boards, a certain level of graphics driver versions and only with certain ffmpeg formats. The encoding is done via vaapi (libva installed), which is known to work with Intel HD graphics boards and some others or via nvenc as developed by Nvidia for Nvidia graphics boards.
+Encoding using hardware acceleration of your graphics board GPU is
+included in \CGG{} but it is of limited availability and works only
+with a specific set of hardware graphics boards, a certain level of
+graphics driver versions and only with certain ffmpeg formats. The
+encoding is done via vaapi (libva installed), which is known to work
+with Intel HD graphics boards and some others or via nvenc as
+developed by Nvidia for Nvidia graphics boards.
\subsubsection*{Broadcom, Intel HD, AMD}%
\label{ssub:broadcom_intel_amd}
+\index{hardware!vaapi}
To use hardware acceleration for rendering (that is, encoding) you do not have to set a preference or an environment variable, as was required for decoding. To use this feature you use an ffmpeg render options file which specifies a vaapi codec, such as h264\_vaapi. You must include this line in that options file to trigger the hardware probe: \qquad \texttt{CIN\_HW\_DEV=vaapi}
\item[mjpeg\_vaapi.mp4] error message of \textit{open failed with mjpeg\_vaapi$\dots$} on above computer
\item[hevc\_vaapi.mp4] error message of \textit{open failed with hevc\_vaapi$\dots$} on above computer
\end{description}
-Other option files can be added as needed for your specific hardware if it is known to work for you, such as VP8 and VP9. An example of the included Cinelerra’s \texttt{ffmpeg/video/h264\_vaapi.mp4} file (figure~\ref{fig:render-vaapi}):
+Other option files can be added as needed for your specific hardware if it is known to work for you, such as VP8 and VP9. An example of the included \CGG{}’s \texttt{ffmpeg/video/h264\_vaapi.mp4} file (figure~\ref{fig:render-vaapi}):
+\begin{figure}[htpb]
+ \centering
+ \includegraphics[width=1.0\linewidth]{render-vaapi.png}
+ \caption{Render menu setup to encode using GPU with vaapi}
+ \label{fig:render-vaapi}
+\end{figure}
\begin{lstlisting}[numbers=none]
mp4 h264_vaapi
profile=high
\end{lstlisting}
-\begin{figure}[htpb]
- \centering
- \includegraphics[width=0.7\linewidth]{images/render-vaapi.png}
- \caption{Render menu setup to encode using GPU with vaapi}
- \label{fig:render-vaapi}
-\end{figure}
-
According to an online wiki, hardware encoders usually create output of lower quality than some software encoders like x264, but are much faster and use less CPU. Keep this in mind as you might want to set a higher bitrate to get output of similar visual quality.
Results of a particular test case performed on a Intel, 4-core computer, with Broadwell Graphics using an mp4 input video/audio file with dimensions of
\subsubsection*{Nvidia graphics boards}%
\label{ssub:nvidia_graphics_card}
+\index{hardware!nvenc}
To use hardware acceleration for rendering (that is, encoding) you do not have to set a preference or an environment variable, as was required for decoding. To use this feature you use an ffmpeg render options file which specifies the nvenc codec, either \texttt{h264\_nvenc.mp4} or \texttt{nvenc.mp4}. There are several requirements in order for this to work on your computer as listed here:
390.25 or newer. You will see error messages on the startup window if you are on lower versions.
\end{enumerate}
-If you try to render using\texttt{ h264/h265\_nvenc.mp4} formats and do not have an Nvidia graphics card or this feature was not built in, you will see in the window from where you started Cinelerra, the error message: \qquad \textit{Cannot load libcuda.so.1}
+If you try to render using\texttt{ h264/h265\_nvenc.mp4} formats and do not have an Nvidia graphics card or this feature was not built in, you will see in the window from where you started \CGG{}, the error message: \qquad \textit{Cannot load libcuda.so.1}
A small test using 2 minutes from the 4k version of Big Buck Bunny shows using nvenc can be about 4 times faster. The test was done on a 4 core Intel laptop with an Nvidia 950M graphics board.
\subsection{Effects (OpenCL, Cuda)}%
\label{sub:effects_opencl_cuda}
+\index{openCL}
+\index{CUDA}
CUDA® is a parallel computing platform / programming model developed by Nvidia that provides big increases in computing performance through use of the GPU. It was first introduced in about 2006 for applications in computationally intense fields such as astronomy, biology, chemistry, and physics.
-At the time this was written, the use of Cuda is not going to improve the playing and rendering of video in Cinelerra except in the case where you use a specific Cuda-enabled plugin that is computationally intense -- sadly, most of what Cin does, Cuda will not help. Cuda is mostly a \textit{block oriented algorithm} which works well for such things as \textit{a flock of birds all flying next to each other}.
+At the time this was written, the use of Cuda is not going to improve the playing and rendering of video in \CGG{} except in the case where you use a specific Cuda-enabled plugin that is computationally intense -- sadly, most of what Cin does, Cuda will not help. Cuda is mostly a \textit{block oriented algorithm} which works well for such things as \textit{a flock of birds all flying next to each other}.
The same as for vaapi and vdpau, you can enable Cuda in the:\\
\texttt{ Settings $\rightarrow$ Preferences, Performance} tab, \textit{Use HW Device}\\
-but it will not affect anything unless you have Cuda installed on your system and have built Cinelerra yourself with Cuda build enabled. To install it on your computer, you will need to do the following:
+but it will not affect anything unless you have Cuda installed on your system and have built \CGG{} yourself with Cuda build enabled. To install it on your computer, you will need to do the following:
\begin{enumerate}
\item Make sure you have the Nvidia proprietary library drivers for your graphics board already installed and up to date.
\item Also, install the Fusion repo, although it is unknown if necessary or not.
\end{enumerate}
-There is a very good set of directions on the website to just follow. Once you have installed the Cuda software on your computer, you must build Cinelerra yourself -- the default flag for a build in the configure script for cuda is \textit{auto}. For Arch, and possibly other distros, you may have to supply the CUDA\_PATH if it is not in the standard place. This would be
+There is a very good set of directions on the website to just follow. Once you have installed the Cuda software on your computer, you must build \CGG{} yourself -- the default flag for a build in the configure script for cuda is \textit{auto}. For Arch, and possibly other distros, you may have to supply the CUDA\_PATH if it is not in the standard place. This would be
something like:
\begin{lstlisting}[numbers=none]
env CUDA_PATH=/opt/cuda
-#OR if using the bash shell:
+OR if using the bash shell:
export CUDA_PATH=/opt/cuda
\end{lstlisting}
For all distros you will need to add to the ./configure line in your build script, the following:
\begin{lstlisting}[numbers=none]
--with-cuda
-#so your configure line will look something like this:
+so your configure line will look something like this:
./configure --with-single-user --with-booby --with-cuda
\end{lstlisting}
There are currently 2 available plugins for \textit{show and tell} that take advantage of the hardware acceleration of Cuda -- \textit{N\_Body} and \textit{Mandelbrot} (see \nameref{sec:cuda_plugins}).
-An error you may see on your Cinelerra startup window when you have Cuda installed and try to run one of the 2 plugins is \textit{cudaErrorInsufficientDriver}. This indicates CUDA 10 (the current version at the time of this writing) is not compatible with the driver version on your computer. You can either:
+An error you may see on your \CGG{} startup window when you have Cuda installed and try to run one of the 2 plugins is \textit{cudaErrorInsufficientDriver}. This indicates CUDA 10 (the current version at the time of this writing) is not compatible with the driver version on your computer. You can either:
\begin{enumerate}
\item Upgrade the driver if your board supports newer nvidia builds.
\section{Optimized Playback -- X11 Direct}%
\label{sec:optimized_playback}
+\index{playback -X11 direct}
-Normally, when Cinelerra reads a video frame, it is copied into a \textit{Vframe}. This frame may also need other actions performed on it, such as a color model change. In addition, ffmpeg and libzmpeg \textit{can\_scale\_input}. So the read can be color transformed and scaled just by asking the library to do that. This means that if the compositor is in a \textit{good} state with no zoom, the VFrame read can be done in the fastest render color model, and already scaled to the correct size for the compositor. In reality, this is not what you need for editing, but quite often the \textit{virtualconsole} is not used because the render is media only -- that is \textit{just data}. If no data transforms are needed and the input scaling can be done, the vrender program detects this, and tells the codec to transmit the data in a compatible way to the compositor canvas. This is the \textit{X11 direct} data path.
+Normally, when \CGG{} reads a video frame, it is copied into a \textit{Vframe}. This frame may also need other actions performed on it, such as a color model change. In addition, ffmpeg and libzmpeg \textit{can\_scale\_input}. So the read can be color transformed and scaled just by asking the library to do that. This means that if the compositor is in a \textit{good} state with no zoom, the VFrame read can be done in the fastest render color model, and already scaled to the correct size for the compositor. In reality, this is not what you need for editing, but quite often the \textit{virtualconsole} is not used because the render is media only -- that is \textit{just data}. If no data transforms are needed and the input scaling can be done, the vrender program detects this, and tells the codec to transmit the data in a compatible way to the compositor canvas. This is the \textit{X11 direct} data path.
With the X11 video driver choice, large format files such as 4K, will playback faster than either X11-XV or X11-OpenGL. However, you still have the option to turn off the X11 direct data path if you use
\texttt{Settings $\rightarrow$ Preferences, Playback A} tab set video driver to X11 and uncheck \textit{use direct X11 render if possible}.
\section{Proxy Settings and Transcode}%
\label{sec:proxy_settings}
-Working with videos that have large image geometry can greatly impede editing. Instead you can substitute \textit{proxies} which will create smaller video image files from the original file that can then be edited more quickly. When you are done working on this smaller scale, you will need to bring up the Proxy settings menu again, and change the Scale factor back to the Original size so that all of your edits/work take affect on that original higher quality video on the timeline.
-
-To use this feature, select \texttt{Settings $\rightarrow$ Proxy settings} and change the Scale factor from Original size to your downsized choice. You can choose ffmpeg as the File Format and a choice of various codecs associated with that. A good choice is the default of mpeg which can usually be quite fast. In addition, to modify values for that codec, click on the wrench icon. When you have completed your choices, just click OK, and then the video tracks will be rendered. This may take some time, but previous proxy renders will be reused.
-The proxy videos will be added to your assets in a separate Proxy folder, and the video track edits will use the proxies.
-The assets in both the Media folder and Proxy folder will look proxied when dragged to the Viewer although the scale may be different.
-Proxy downsizing renders all loaded tracks, but only work on the $1^{st}$ video layer of any multi-layer media. Rendered proxy media is saved in the same directory as the original media.
-However, if you proxy your session, the clips do not get proxied to the Proxy folder, but if you Drag and Drop the clip from the Clip folder to the Viewer or the Timeline, you will see that it too is proxied.
-As usual, you can delete proxy files from the project or disk in the Resources window if you no longer want to retain them.
-And you can save your project either as proxied or not.
+Information on proxies to reduce required CPU for less powerful computers is in the section \nameref{sec:proxy}.
-You can also nest clips while in a proxied state, but you can not drag the proxied nested clips
-to the viewer or the timeline.
-If you create proxies for Nested clips they will be saved in \texttt{\$HOME/Videos} unless you modify that in
-\texttt{Settings $\rightarrow$ Preferences, Interface} tab, \textit{Nested Proxy Path}.
+Information on transcode which is used to provide keyframes to make the video seekable is in the section \nameref{sec:transcode}.
-There are two ways that the proxy files can be used, with or without input scaling. When the proxy is done without rescaling, the Mask, Camera and Projector automations are re-scaled accordingly. In this situation, the entire project will be re-sized so that the session is in the resized geometry. Not all plugins are useful when the project is rescaled, because the keyframe data must be in the original geometry. In this case, you can use the rescaler, by enabling \textit{Use scaler (FFMPEG only)}. This has the added advantage that the project size does not change and the proxy media is down-scaled as usual and up-scaled on read-in, which means the project editing is done in full scale. Since decoding is done on smaller video, there is a time savings, but all rendering is done full scale. The main reason for using \textit{scaler} is that it does not change the image coordinate data, so that automation and plugin parameters will be in the original project geometry. This is not as fast as the first option, but is a performance gain, and may be needed if you are using plugins that need coordinate data such as the Title plugin. As noted, the scaler only works on ffmpeg video formats.
-
-In the upper right hand corner of the main window, there is a toggle button to easily switch back and forth when you have a proxied file on the timeline. The icon is to the left of the FF icon. It will have the letter “P” as the icon for Proxy or if \textit{Using Scaler}, the letter “S”. \quad \includegraphics[height=\baselineskip]{images/proxy-01.png} \quad This quick switch is especially useful when editing and you need to see a better image temporarily.
-
-Screencast in figure~\ref{fig:proxy-02} shows the Use scaler checked so you can still use plugins and the original project size is kept. The Scale factor pull-down gives you available size options. Note the new media dimensions shown (partially covered). If the size is an odd number, 1 is added to make the dimensions both even numbers.
-
-In the case of the scaler checkbox, it will retain that setting for ease of use.
-
-\begin{figure}[htpb]
- \centering
- \includegraphics[width=0.6\linewidth]{images/proxy-02.png}
- \caption{Proxy settings dialog}
- \label{fig:proxy-02}
-\end{figure}
-
-There is also a convenient \textit{Beep on done volume} dial included so that you can work on other tasks until there is an audible notify of completion. The default volume is set to 0 for no audible notify.
-
-A good choice for proxy settings with 1080p source video is:
-
-\begin{lstlisting}[numbers=none]
-Scale Factor: 1/4
-Use Scaler: unchecked
-File Format: FFMPEG - mpeg
-Video Preset:
-Compression: mpeg.mpeg
-Bitrate: 1800000
-Quality: -1
-Pixels: yuv420p
-\end{lstlisting}
-If you get errors for some videos, such as those with strange variable bit rate or some types of files made on a smartphone, a usually reliable alternative is to change the following parameters:
-
-\begin{lstlisting}[numbers=none]
-File Format: FFMPEG - mov
-Video Preset:
-Compression: mov.mov
-\end{lstlisting}
-
-Or if you want small files with high image quality, a File Format of m2ts is optimal. For example a 1 GB file can be reduced to 50 MB with scale $\frac{1}{2}$.
-
-Checking the \textit{Auto proxy/scale media loads} results in any additional media loads to be automatically proxy scaled. However, single frame media such as PNG or JPEG \textit{stills}, can not be scaled to \textit{stream} media. If this type of media exists, you should \textit{use scaler}.
-
-If you get error messages when creating proxies, check the Video wrench settings. These usually default to values that are expected to work correctly for the \textit{File Format} and codec you selected but they can be changed and may result in errors. If you get an error message of \textit{check\_frame\_rate failed} followed by \textit{Error making proxy} in the popup Errors window, do just that and check the Frame rate value by going to the Resources window, Media folder, and use the right mouse button for the Info option for that specific media in question. You can change the frame rate in this window to a more codec acceptable value. Different codecs may have different legal values.
-
-More specific information on which plugins need to use scaler is provided here next. If the keyframe data uses coordinate data that is absolute, then the scaler should be used. If the data is normalized (like always $0-100\%$) then the proxy can be done without the scaler. The session geometry format, shown in \texttt{Settings $\rightarrow$ Format} as $width \times height$, is changed if the scaler is not used to cause all of the data to be in the reduced format. If this affects the plugin operation, then scaler should be used. Examples of plugins that need the scaler are: Title, AutoScale, Scale, ScaleRatio, and Translate. Most others are safe to use without scaling.
-
- This makes its so that you can save your project
-either as proxied or not.
-
-\textbf{Transcode}, an option under the Settings pulldown right next to the Proxy settings option, is a type of full resolution \textbf{1:1 Proxy}.
-The process of transcoding works directly from the resource; it is independent of the timeline.
-All of the loaded asset media will be converted, that is, rendered in the selected format and loaded onto the timeline.
-Menu choices besides the usual File Format and File Type include: \textit{Tag suffix} (to add to media filename), \textit{Remove originals from project}, \textit{Into Nested Proxy directory} (an option to have the file saved here instead of the location of the original media), and \textit{Beep on done} volume.
-
-The settings of the project have an effect, for example the dimensions are taken into account. The resulting files are also larger than if they were created directly with ffmpeg.
-Transcode works for videos with or without audio and even single frame files, like png's.
-If you have a video file that also contains audio, and you convert only the video, the original audio will stay on the timeline if do not check \textit{Remove originals from project}. Or vice versa if audio converted and not video.
-Multiple stream media will only transcode the first stream (this would be like the TV channel recordings in the United States).
-You will get an error message if you already have a transcoded file in the selected format with the same suffix name and try to transcode it again with a different selection made -- you will have to delete that file first. An example would be
-an already converted file that has both video and audio and now you request video only.
-
-The BIGGEST gain from using this is if you have media that is not \textit{seekable}, that is, you can play it from the beginning but can not move to another spot and have the audio or video play correctly. A video file with no keyframes makes seeking next to impossible, but then a Transcode generally adds these keyframes.
\section{Some Settings Parameter Values}%
\label{sec:settings_parameter_values}
+\index{cache}
-\texttt{Cache} in \texttt{Settings $\rightarrow$ Preferences, Performance} tab is used to store images on the timeline. One 1080p frame uses about 10 MB. The default setting is 256 and this is enough for testing and running. However, why not use more memory if it is available. To experiment for testing a good number tuned to the way you use your computer, set the cache to 0, start up Cinelerra, load a typical media file, play it and run \texttt{top} on the command line in another window to see how much memory is being used. In the \textit{top} display, look at \textit{free} memory. Whatever your computer is not using, is a good number to use for cache. If you start other programs, or change the design of the session so that it uses a lot of frame storage, you may need to experiment again later and resize accordingly.
+\texttt{Cache} in \texttt{Settings $\rightarrow$ Preferences, Performance} tab is used to store images on the timeline. One 1080p frame uses about 10 MB. The default setting is 256 and this is enough for testing and running. However, why not use more memory if it is available. To experiment for testing a good number tuned to the way you use your computer, set the cache to 0, start up \CGG{}, load a typical media file, play it and run \texttt{top} on the command line in another window to see how much memory is being used. In the \textit{top} display, look at \textit{free} memory. Whatever your computer is not using, is a good number to use for cache. If you start other programs, or change the design of the session so that it uses a lot of frame storage, you may need to experiment again later and resize accordingly.
-For system \textit{swap}, 1 GB seems to be more than sufficient. If the amount of memory being used by the program is \textit{close}, then swap might save you but often if swapping becomes necessary, it presents more problems and you end up killing the Cinelerra process anyway.
+For system \textit{swap}, 1 GB seems to be more than sufficient. If the amount of memory being used by the program is \textit{close}, then swap might save you but often if swapping becomes necessary, it presents more problems and you end up killing the \CGG{} process anyway.
\section{Tips for Improving Smaller Computers Use}%
\label{sec:tips_improving_smaller_computers}
\section{General Crash Handling Tips}%
\label{sec:general_crash_tips}
+\index{crash handling tips}
This section is a handy guide for describing various kinds of software computer system failures. Only some of these various lockups or crashes can be dealt with. Hopefully, it will help to have some hints to know what kind of failure it is, or to save your work or to avoid future problems. For most of this, your user name must be root, although you can certainly try to see if it works for you when not root.
\begin{description}
\item[System lockups:] When the system locks up, it is usually a system problem. Normally an application program cannot lock up the system. It is a major goal of system design to prevent an application (app) from failing a system interface. This does not mean an app can not cause a system lockup, but it is unusual.
- \item[Cinelerra crash:] This is covered in \hyperref[cha:crash_dumps_analysis]{Crash Dumps for Analysis}. Just a reminder that for best results you should be root and by providing a crash dump and as much other information as possible, you will be helping the developer to analyze the problem and fix it so that it can be avoided in the future.
+ \item[\CGG{} crash:] This is covered in \hyperref[cha:crash_dumps_analysis]{Crash Dumps for Analysis}. Just a reminder that for best results you should be root and by providing a crash dump and as much other information as possible, you will be helping the developer to analyze the problem and fix it so that it can be avoided in the future.
\item[X Server crash:] Keyboard does not respond, screen is frozen, caps lock may operate LED light. Sometimes using Ctrl-Alt-F1 $\dots$ Ctrl-Alt-F7 (etc.) will allow you to regain control of a VT console. You can use this to login and check logs: eg. \texttt{/var/log/Xorg.0.log}, \textit{dmesg}, \textit{journalctl} $\dots$ etc. If you have another computer, make sure a terminal server is configured (for example: rsh, ssh, or telnet), then remote login via this other computer and check the logs. Most important is to immediately note the current software state, and the very last thing that preceded the crash, i.e. last button click, last keystroke, $\dots$ or whatever.
\item[Kernel crash:] The machine goes completely dead. The keyboard caps lock LED will probably be flashing. Most likely the only way to see anything after the kernel crashes is to use a serial port console log and usually kdb, the kernel debugger, and special cabling. This requires a lot of setup, and is normally reserved for experts. Login from another computer will not work. Pinging the ip address will not respond since the network stack is part of the kernel. There are some virtual machine setups that will let you debug a \textit{guest} kernel, but this also requires a lot of setup, and affects which kernel is currently under test. The kdb route is preferable.
\item[Keyboard grabs, Server grabs, and Deadlocks:] A grab is an X-server state where all events are forced to just one window event stream. This forces the user to respond to the dialog. Things seems to be working, but no keypresses do anything useful. The system clock and other programs will still be working. The network will work for remote logins. Grabs can be canceled if the \texttt{/etc/X11/xorg.conf} X config contains special setup as shown below:
To create a specific 440 Hz tone, follow these steps. You can vary the length, use more channels, or change the frequency to a different desired value (figure~\ref{fig:aeval}).
+\begin{figure}[htpb]
+ \centering
+ \includegraphics[width=1.0\linewidth]{aeval.png}
+ \caption{Use Audio$\rightarrow$Render effect to set render parameter values and then that effect can be varied.}
+ \label{fig:aeval}
+\end{figure}
+
\begin{enumerate}
\item Make sure there is an armed audio track on the timeline, get into Cut and Paste mode, and highlight
a selection or define In/Out points where you want to insert the audio tone.
parameters.
\item Highlight the \textit{exprs} option and key in a specific audio filter expression which for 440 Hz would be:
$\sin(2\pi t\times440)$. Then hit the Apply button.
- \item Next when you hit the green OK checkmark on the Cinelerra: Effect Prompt popup, you will have
+ \item Next when you hit the green OK checkmark on the \CGG{}: Effect Prompt popup, you will have
your 440 Hz tone on the timeline plus in the select file that you chose to render it to.
\item To use 2 channels instead of 1, in the F\_aeval menu highlight the \textit{channel\_layout} option and change
that to 1C|2C instead of the usual default of 1C.
\end{enumerate}
-\begin{figure}[htpb]
- \centering
- \includegraphics[width=1.0\linewidth]{images/aeval.png}
- \caption{Use Audio$\rightarrow$Render effect to set render parameter values and then that effect can be varied.}
- \label{fig:aeval}
-\end{figure}
-
\subsection{Camera supplied LUTs}%
\label{sub:camera_supplied_luts}
+\index{LUT}
A LUT, acronym for Look-Up Table, is a mathematically precise way of taking specific RGB image values from a source image and modifying them to new RGB values by changing the hue, saturation and brightness values of that source image. In other words, LUTs are used to map one color space to another. Some high-end cameras supply a .cube file to use as input. There are several different ffmpeg plugins included with CinGG for using Lut's. These are:
\subsection{Encoding into Dolby Pro Logic}%
\label{sub:encoding_dolby_pro_logic}
+\index{dolby pro logic}
Dolby pro logic is an easy way to output 6 channel audio from a 2-channel soundcard with degraded but useful results. Rudimentary Dolby pro logic encoding can be achieved with usage of some effects.
\subsection{Improving Analog TV Quality}%
\label{sub:improving_tv_quality}
-The picture quality on analog TV is not always good but you can modify parameters in Cinelerra to make it look more like it did in the studio.
+The picture quality on analog TV is not always good but you can modify parameters in \CGG{} to make it look more like it did in the studio.
First, when capturing the video, capture it in the highest resolution possible. For Europeans this would be $720\times576$ and for North Americans, $720\times480$. Do not adjust the brightness or contrast in the recording monitor, but you might want to max out the color. Capture the video using MJPEG or uncompressed Component Video if possible; if not possible, then capture it using JPEG preferably or RGB if that is all that will work. Now on the timeline use \texttt{Settings $\rightarrow$ Format} to set a YUV colorspace, drop a \textit{Downsample} effect on the footage and set it as follows:
\subsection{Remove Interlacing}%
\label{sub:remove_interlacing}
+\index{interlacing}
-Interlacing often exists on older video sources, such as camcorders, and was previously used in broadcast television. Playing this video results in jagged images on a computer monitor, but with Cinelerra you can use deinterlacing effects to solve this. After some experimentation, it has been determined that the FFmpeg \textit{F\_kerndeint} plugin seems to produce the best results with the least amount of fiddling. But some of the parameters described next are pertinent to other potential plugin usage.
+Interlacing often exists on older video sources, such as camcorders, and was previously used in broadcast television. Playing this video results in jagged images on a computer monitor, but with \CGG{} you can use deinterlacing effects to solve this. After some experimentation, it has been determined that the FFmpeg \textit{F\_kerndeint} plugin seems to produce the best results with the least amount of fiddling. But some of the parameters described next are pertinent to other potential plugin usage.
\begin{description}
\item[Line Doubling:] done by the \textit{Deinterlace} effect when set to \textit{Odd} lines or \textit{Even} lines. When applied to a track it reduces the vertical resolution by $\frac{1}{2}$ and gives you progressive frames with stairstepping. This is only useful when followed by a scale effect which reduces the image to half its size.
\item[Line averaging:] the \textit{Deinterlace} effect when set to \textit{Average even} lines or \textit{Average odd} lines does exactly what line doubling does except instead of making straight copies of the lines, it makes averages of the lines. This is actually useful for all scaling.
- \item[Inverse Telecine:] this is the most effective deinterlacing tool when the footage is an NTSC TV broadcast of a film. It is described in Effect Plugins (\ref{sub:inverse_telecine}), chapter 10.
+ \item[Inverse Telecine:] this is the most effective deinterlacing tool when the footage is an NTSC TV broadcast of a film. It is described in Effect Plugins (\ref{sub:inverse_telecine}).
\item[Time base correction:] the previously discussed three tools either destroy footage irreversibly or do not work at times. Time base correction may be a better tool to use because it leaves the footage intact. It does not reduce resolution, perceptually at least, and does not cause jittery timing.
- \item[Frames to Fields effect:] converts each frame to two frames, so it must be used on a timeline whose project frame rate is twice the footage's frame rate. In the first frame it puts a line-averaged copy of the even lines. In the second frame it puts a line-averaged copy of the odd lines. When played back at full framerate it gives the illusion of progressive video with no loss of detail. This effect can be reversed with the \textit{Fields to Frames} effect, which combines two frames of footage back into the one original interlaced frame at half the framerate. However, keep in mind that Frames to Fields inputs frames at half the framerate as the project. Effects before Frames to Fields process at the reduced framerate. The output of Frames to Fields can not be compressed as efficiently as the original because it introduces vertical twitter and a super high framerate. Interlaced $29.97$ fps footage can be made to look like film by applying Frames to Fields and then reducing the project frame rate of the resulting $59.94$ fps footage to $23.97$ fps. This produces no timing jitter and the occasional odd field gives the illusion of more detail than there would be if you just line averaged the original. It is described in Effect Plugins (\ref{sub:frames_to_fields}), chapter 10.
+ \item[Frames to Fields effect:] converts each frame to two frames, so it must be used on a timeline whose project frame rate is twice the footage's frame rate. In the first frame it puts a line-averaged copy of the even lines. In the second frame it puts a line-averaged copy of the odd lines. When played back at full framerate it gives the illusion of progressive video with no loss of detail. This effect can be reversed with the \textit{Fields to Frames} effect, which combines two frames of footage back into the one original interlaced frame at half the framerate. However, keep in mind that Frames to Fields inputs frames at half the framerate as the project. Effects before Frames to Fields process at the reduced framerate. The output of Frames to Fields can not be compressed as efficiently as the original because it introduces vertical twitter and a super high framerate. Interlaced $29.97$ fps footage can be made to look like film by applying Frames to Fields and then reducing the project frame rate of the resulting $59.94$ fps footage to $23.97$ fps. This produces no timing jitter and the occasional odd field gives the illusion of more detail than there would be if you just line averaged the original. It is described in Effect Plugins (\ref{sub:frames_to_fields}).
\item[HDTV exceptions:] $1920\times1080$ HDTV is encoded in a special way. If it is a broadcast of original HDTV film, an inverse telecine works. But if it is a rebroadcast of a $720\times480$ source, you need to use a time base and line doubling algorithm to deinterlace it.
\end{description}
\begin{figure}[htpb]
\centering
- \includegraphics[width=0.8\linewidth]{images/ringtone.png}
+ \includegraphics[width=0.8\linewidth]{ringtone.png}
\caption{Using the Compressor plugin graph to create a ringtone}
\label{fig:ringtone}
\end{figure}
\subsection{Time stretching audio}%
\label{sub:time_stretching_audio}
+\index{audio!time stretching}
It may appear that time stretching audio is a matter of selecting a region of the audio tracks, enabling recording for the desired tracks, going to\texttt{ Audio $\rightarrow$ Render Effect}, and applying \textit{TimeStretch}. In actuality there are 3 audio effects for time stretching: Time Stretch, Resample, and Asset info dialog.
\subsection{Pan and zoom: still images}%
\label{sub:pan_zoom_still_image}
-Cinelerra's powerful keyframe features allow you to use pan and zoom effects on still pictures.
+\CGG{}'s powerful keyframe features allow you to use pan and zoom effects on still pictures.
\begin{enumerate}
\item Load and create a clip from a still image. Make the clip 10 seconds long.
\item Next go to the beginning of the clip and play it.
\end{enumerate}
-You can see that the camera smoothly flows from keyframe point to next keyframe point, as Cinelerra automatically adjusts the camera movement in straight lines from point to point.
+You can see that the camera smoothly flows from keyframe point to next keyframe point, as \CGG{} automatically adjusts the camera movement in straight lines from point to point.
+
+\subsection{Video lagging behind Audio}%
+\label{sub:video_lagging}
+When there is a lag between the Audio and the Video, it can be because there are a lot of video frames
+and the computer can not display them as fast as the Audio can play the samples. However, this does
+not affect the rendered media in that the Audio and Video will be correctly synchronized. When playing
+the original media, you can alleviate the lag between the Audio and Video by disabling
+\textit{Play every frame} in \texttt{Settings $\rightarrow$ Preferences, Playback A} tab. Now frames
+will be skipped in order to keep the audio/video in synch.
projects / goodguy / cin-manual-latex.git / blobdiff