Why Doesn't My Other Software Ask Me the Big Q?

vtxrocketeer wrote on 1/15/2012, 6:01 PM
If you don't like sarcasm, stop reading now.

I'm working on a ~1h project in build 511. I'm also doing a lot of heavy work in parallel in a gazillion layer project in After Effects, more in Photoshop, bazillion layer projects in Illustrator, and Cinema 4D, all of which I have pushed so my quad core CPU is maxed to 100% when sloshing stuff around and rendering. None of these other apps -- not even a single ONE, can you believe it -- has told me that it is very sorry, it has encountered an error, and it must close, but would I first like to view the reasons and send an error report. Do you know why? Because they haven't crashed on me.

I installed build 511 over 10.0e (what was I thinking?!), effectively breaking it, so I can't go back. I've committed to build 511. I have to finish this project. I'm afraid to go elsewhere, re-enable my GPU, or sneeze. That will just force me to answer the BIG question again: do I send an error report, or don't I?

As soon as I finish this project, I think I'm going to wipe my OS and apps drive, do a fresh install of Windows and everything else, and lead the charmed life of those who have no problems with build 511.

'K. I feel better now.

Steve

Comments

jetdv wrote on 1/16/2012, 1:24 PM
And After Effects CS 5.5 won't even START on my computer - it used to...
vtxrocketeer wrote on 1/16/2012, 2:13 PM
That's fair. I pretty much invited it, didn't I?

This morning, Vegas crashed as soon as it started, but I figured out -- after a dozen times of this -- that was because Vegas fell out of love with a nested veg having BorisFX in the nested veg. Just...ppffff. Like that. Fickle as a 13-year old. So far I've managed to find workarounds as I grind along, more or less like the whack-a-mole carnival midway game. Don't like the veg? Well, I'll render it out instead. Don't like Cineform anymore? OK, I'll use another codec. Don't like my GPU? OK, I'll turn it off. <sigh> ;)
Jøran Toresen wrote on 1/16/2012, 3:47 PM
vtxrocketeer, I hope you will report your problems to SCS.

Jøran
vtxrocketeer wrote on 1/16/2012, 6:14 PM
On a non-sarcastic note, I think I found the culprit, and I can't pin the blame on Vegas: memory.

My project is heavily laden with effects, generated media, and nested veg files, and my main veg file had swelled to over 35 MB (yes, megabytes). This caused Vegas to consume about 5 GB of my total of 8GB system memory.

Now, this afternoon, I began the audio sweetening portion of my project: I applied MANY separate instances of Izotope Ozone, RX, and Nectar as REAL-TIME audio FX. That's when all he** broke loose. I couldn't even scrub through or preview my project; it was crashopolis. So I began a meticulous reconstruction of my project and discovered that all those Izotope instances gobbled up nearly the remainder of my system memory. When I removed the affected audio events, I could edit without problems. Add them back in --> CRASH. Aha!

So then I applied Izotope as a NON-real time FX, which prompts Vegas to render a take 2, as you well know, and the rendered wav doesn't consume but a smidgen of memory. No more crashing so far.

So, what have I learned? This wasn't really a Vegas or Izotope (or any other plugin) problem. I think I just pushed my system beyond its absolute maximum, and then Vegas ran out of memory because I had no more to give it. Relatedly, I don't think I was using Izotope in the best way (i.e., many instances of the real-time FX). From now on, I'll lock down the audio and then render a take.

Crossing my fingers...