Tutorial Patch: "Round Robin" recording with the Capture Stage to Movie Actor

[mark]

Dear All,

If you're creating a long running installation using that repeatedly uses the Capture Stage to Movie actor, you need to ensure that you overwrite previous movies so that you don't end up with a totally full hard drive. I created this patch to help out a user that was having this issue. It explains the issues at play, and shows an elegant method for recording the Stage while simultaneously playing the last capture while ensuring that old movies are erased.

Enjoy,
Mark

Round Robing Recording Example

[Lauri]

@mark Thank you for your tutorial patch! I've been testing it but have had some problems with it, and I believe it is to do with AV capture codecs (at least ProRes422 that I've been using).

I changed your patch so that (instead of pushing keys on the keyboard) it records automatically files in 40sec intervals (Pulse Generator actor gives trigger pulses to Counter actor every 40 secs). But otherwise the patch is similar. I noticed that sometimes (after an hour or so) this patch creates files that are about 55 times longer (36min27sec instead of 39,8sec). 

I will make a support ticket.

Thanks,

Lauri

[Lauri]

@mark 

Thank you again for the advice and the tutorial patch. 

I’ve tried to follow your instructions. However, my aimed patch will be far more complex than “Round Robin Recording Example” patch provides. Therefore, I can follow this patch only up to a point. 

So, could you kindly tell how long time is needed between:

- end of capturing and start of play the same file (for example ending capturing file1 and starting play file1)?

- end of playing and start of capturing the same file (for example ending playing file1 and starting capturing file1)?

- end of capturing and starting again capturing the same file (for example ending capturing file1 and starting again capturing file1)?

This info is essential in getting ahead with my project.

In your patch you stop capturing and after 0,2seconds start capturing the next file. So, would that 0,2seconds apply to my question, or is there needed a longer time between?

Thanks in advance!

[mark]

@lauri said:

So, could you kindly tell how long time is needed between:

For the item "end of playing and start of capturing the same file (for example ending playing file1 and starting capturing file1)?" - this should be nearly instantaneous, and should not vary too much from machine to machine. 0.1 s is probably safe.

For the other two, the exact figure is entirely dependent on the speed of your computer, the speed of your hard drive, and the codec you use. So I cannot say exactly. 

I used 0.2 seconds on my machine, which is quite fast and has an SSD drive. That was a safe value that always seemed to work for me.

If you wanted to be really safe, I'd say 0.5 seconds. But probably it is much less than that. The only way to tell is to try it.

Best Wishes,
Mark