Magic Bullet rendering times

[Jason Bowers]

Hi Guys,
I just received magic bullet for after effects and was wondering about rendering times. I am soing a 5 minute clip into 30p and it is taking about 16hrs or more. Is this normal and how do you do a hour and half wedding. Am I doing something wrong. Also in after effects I am using only 60% of my ram is there any way to get it to use all of it?

Thanks

Jason

[Justin Tomchuk]

Hey Jason. 16 Hours for a 5 minute video? That is abnormal I think. What is your processor speed and graphics card? Also, to answer your second question, I don't believe their are any in program options. But you can hit Ctrl-Alt+Del, go to processes, right-click after effects and set the priority to real-time or high. I normally do this when something is rendering and the computer is working on it's own. It can cause instability, so I set it back to normal when it's done rendering.

[Jason Bowers]

Hi Justin,
I am using a Sony Vaio P4 3.4 with an ATI X600XT. Normally rendering doesn't take long at all. However, magic bullet at 30p is taking forever.

[Justin Tomchuk]

Well, your machine isn't the problem. Magic Bullet will generally take a while to render, but 16 hours for 5 minutes is too long. Which presets are you using? Did you create a custom one? If you created a custom one and used a lot or all of the options available, it would take longer than their presets because their presets don't use all the options but an important few to get a certain look.

Are you rendering with Magic Bullet and having other effects such as motion or blur or anything else like that?

Jason, I don't know what to say. This is standard definition and not HD right? Make sure all other power hungry programs are closed such as photoshop or virus scan etc.

Justin

[Jason Bowers]

Justin,
I am just importing a guys prep clip into AE putting it into a comp and appying magic bullet to render it 30p. No effects at all. I am running Norton anti-virus and Norton internet security, will this have a real affect on the program?

[Justin Tomchuk]

Originally Posted by Jason Bowers

I am running Norton anti-virus and Norton internet security, will this have a real affect on the program?

Not really, but it frees up some more RAM.

Have you tried using Magic Bullet itself to deinterlace the video and colour correct at the same time instead of deinterlacing beforehand? That is unless you are using already progressive full scan video to begin with. I'm running out of ideas.

I don't know Jason, it's hard to pin down. If you paid for it, you might want to return it if you can and try different methods. I'm not sure if you can return it, since it is software and most of the time software is non refundable for obvious reasons.

[Peter Jefferson]

magic bullet 2 doesnt support the ATI range of cards...so what ur doign is all softwre..
to be honest, for weddings, i think the inbuilt deinterlacer or even vegas with Smart Deinterlace would be a better option for speed alone.

MB is nice, but thats all it is.. i wodnt rely on it for all my work.
In addition, most of the presets can be made through clever use of your own filters from your NLE.. being AE ur tool of chjoice for effects thre are MANY plugins which will do u wonders and give MB a run for their money.

There was a thread not long ago about MB and render times..

[Jarrod Whaley]

Originally Posted by Justin Tomchuk

Not really, but it frees up some more RAM.

It will actually free up some CPU cycles as well, which will definitely help with rendering, at least to some extent. I always kill as many running processes as possible before either rendering or capturing.