Thanks for your answers.
It is probably true that I could make a more efficient patch in which my usb webcam functions as a motion detector. (I use pix_movement followed by pix_blob to check for movement, and there might be a way of using just one pix object instead. I just didn't figure that out yet. Suggestions?) ((Note that I am not texturing the gemlist of the webcaminput into the gemwin. I just want it to supply me with 1 or 0 each cycle))
However, my main problem of cpu overload lies with pix_movie / pix_film (i.e. I experience the same when I just make a simple play movie patch). The cpu-load commences when I create a Gem window of course. And that is why I was puzzled, I thought that creating a texture on a rectangle in a gemwin was handled by the graphics card, if powerful enough.
Any further ideas?
Thanks again Andrew and jjbarrows
Klaas
From: "Andrew Cavers" andrew.cavers@gmail.com To: "klaas de Baas" kdebaas@hotmail.com CC: pd-list@iem.at Subject: Re: [PD] Gem - CPU usage 98% Date: Thu, 8 Jun 2006 13:05:00 +0100
Klaas,
I suspect that it will be the motion detection part of your patch that will be eating the CPU most. If the video input is only being used to detect motion and the live video is not being displayed then setting the camera to it's lowest resolution will be more than adequate and will drastically reduce the load on the CPU. Also decrease the number of frames per second being analysed for movement. The speed of the GPU will certainly not help you in this instance.
My "mution" project used motion detection with PD/PDP/PiDiP from 160x120 resolution webcam input at 15fps which gave very reliable results and produced a load of only 20-30% on a 600mhz machine (running Linux).
Of course, the codec of the file you are playing will also hit the CPU (again, not the GPU) but I am not the best person to advise about that.
Good luck,
Andrew.
Hi, the problem is probably the web cam input i have had a lot of CPU load with USB cameras jjbarrow
On 6/8/06, klaas de Baas kdebaas@hotmail.com wrote:
Hello,
I am working on a patch, in which I use a webcam as a motiondetector, to drive another video (AVI, DV). (Every detected motion forwards a frame of the movie playing in pix_movie). I want this patch to be playing fullscreen in an exhibition for two months, non-stop. The problem is that I am worried about the CPU load - it hovers above 90% in Task Manager. (OS=WinXP) My concern is that the computer will not hold out on that load for that long.
I had hoped to solve this by buying a new graphics card, which I thought would have taken over the processing load. I have been experimenting with the Asus n6200 256 MB (a Nvidia Geforce 6200 card) and the Hercules ati Radeon 9000 128 MB. I'm aware that my Mobo does not support 8X AGP bus speed, but since I am mainly looking for 2d acceleration I hoped it would be ok.
CPU utilization is still high. My questions:
- was I wrong in supposing that the GPU would take over processing tasks
of the CPU?
- what would be a realistic cpu load for 24 hours a day, 2 months?
- Does anyone on the list have experience with running fullscreen
gem-patches with specs such as pentium III, 800Mhz, 384 Mb, and do they have any pointers on how to optimize (such as using a different size video, codec, etc..?)
I am also working on another computer (faster pIV, 512MB etc, etc...). I noticed that playing a video in mediaplayer requires less than half the cpu load of playing it in pix-movie or pix-film.
- Can anyone explain why this is?
Looking forward to hear from you.
Klaas
windows XP, pIII 800Mhz, 384 MB, Abit VL 6 Mobo, Hercules ATI Radeon 9000 128Mb
PD-list@iem.at mailing list UNSUBSCRIBE and account-management -> http://lists.puredata.info/listinfo/pd-list
--
Andrew Cavers andy@mution.com www.mution.com