Preload actors

stephanegattoni

Hi everybody,

I've some questions about the preload actors, and the way the "virtual memory" is used. I'm using the "preload scene" with Izz 2.0.5, because I need a very quick jump from one scene to the next. The preload is only for the next scene. But Isadora is quite unstable with this option, sometimes freezing the medias, sometimes playing only the sound but not the image. When I watch the number of preloaded medias, it is quite big (bigger than the number of medias in the active scene and the next scene). If I make a jump before all the medias of the next are loaded, they are not at all playing.

Is it a reason for the bugs ? Is there a way to unload the medias from the memory ?
Is there a difference between the "preload scene actor" and the preload media actor" (in terms of memory usage) ?

Thank you.
Stephane

SETUP: MacPro, SSD drive, Isadora 2.0.5, 2 stages 1280x720, codec ProRes 422 lt

DusX

The is no unload feature. You will want to preload with enough time to ensure that the loading is complete. If not some media may be skipped. The preload scene feature loads the media that isadora would load just before a jump. This means that media that is set to players via patch logic will not be loaded. It is best used when you know that the scene has large media set to play on enter scene, this allows all media to be loaded. The load media actor allows loading rangers of media for programatic changes with in a patch ( when switching the media Id of a movie player via a counter for instance)

stephanegattoni

Thx DusX for your answer. Do you know if the numbers of loaded medias has an impact on performances ? And how the medias are unloaded (depend of the time ?)

DusX

Media is unloaded as it is removed from a player (so if image 12 is playing, and the player is input is set to 14, 12 will unload from memory)
I don't know if there are other factors beyond this... I do see that its not always instant.

This is true unless you use the preload actors, and set 'forever'

This forces them to stay in memory.

Does it impact performance.. yes, in that you have limited memory in your system. You may want to watch your system monitor to see what percentage of ram is being used at the peeks.
You will want to leave some buffer space.. so ensure that you are using more than 75% of you ram (for example)
These system monitors can also be useful to see if you are maxing your HDD or SSD transfer speeds during scene load etc..

stephanegattoni

Thank you DusX for your help. I'll try to monitor the system to understand my playback problems.

Have a nice day