Windows 10 - RAM upgrade increased Blender render by 275%

[Bob Eisenman]

While MeepMeepMayer was exploring the limits and unfortunate consequences of riding a Gotway EUC up long steep hills I delved into a little Blender 3D animation tutorial. The twofold objective was

1- make a modern looking room interior

2- make the curtain look as if the wind was blowing the cloth fabric

The tutorial took about an hour of learning per 10 minutes of tutorial video (>1_hr). When I was done with the scene and the wind on cloth effect I wanted to create a smooth looking video from 250 rendered frames of blowing cloth.

My new Windows 10 laptop (no GPU only CPU) was taking almost ten minutes to render a single frame(480 pixels wide). The required time was ridiculous and at times the demands made on the unit left the mouse unresponsive.

Upgrading the laptop from 4GB to 8GB resulted in an almost threefold increase in rendering speed. Jobs requiring continuous rendering of consecutive frames stopped for unexplained reasons until I ran the Blender 3D program in compatibilitu mode for Windows 8, as directed by the troubleshooting program. Now the program churns through renders without stopping at 275% of the speed with only 4GB RAM.

With some additional work I created a music overlay on LMMS grom midi and repeated (20x) the curtain loop.

 

I think I'll pass up on the idea of upgrading to an SSD despite great deals on the 250 GB size.

I feel 'happy' like the people in the 'Happy in Omsk' video (and other Pharrell Williams 'happy song' videos. Maybe I should look into buying a used Roomba for added joy.

 

 

[Bob Eisenman]

I wonder what it's like to make a world wide hit like the Pharrell Williams tune?

 

[Hunka Hunka Burning Love]

I have got the perfect Dell dual CPU 1U rack server for you!  

Adding in some SSD's in RAID 10 really speed up throughput.  Feed it a lot of ram, and you'll be Blending up rendered smoothies in no time flat!  Also works well as a secret porn stash server!

Maybe you can just render a Roomba vac cleaning your virtual room with the blowing curtains.  

[Bob Eisenman]

On 3/18/2017 at 3:10 AM, Hunka Hunka Burning Love said:

Maybe you can just render a Roomba vac cleaning your virtual room

Broke my arm on Saturday plus 4 stitches in eye from the faceplant. Crashed going around a corner after hitting a rut. X-rays, cat scan.

[Hunka Hunka Burning Love]

  Oh man sorry to hear that!  With one wheel things can go from good to bad so quickly.  Wish you a speedy recovery, and hope you're back on the wheel (on smoother ground) in the future.

[who_the]

21 hours ago, Bob Eisenman said:

Broke my arm on Saturday plus 4 stitches in eye from the faceplant. Crashed going around a corner after hitting a rut. X-rays, cat scan.

OUCH! Sorry to read this. Get better Bob!

[Bob Eisenman]

I'm seeing an orthopedic surgeon. The main issue (anatomically) is a 'broken shoulder', rehab and the prospect of a 'fix it' type of surgery weeks down the recovery path to alleviate impaired movement in the injured shoulder. Most of the discoloration is gone. I'm out of the sling. Lifting the arm to shoulder height is becoming possible again. Physical therapy starts at about six weeks after the injury. It takes 6 months to a year to recover. 

Uber is a great service for someone like myself.

[Bob Eisenman]

I recently animated a 3D model using the 'Trepaning method' to dance to a short clip from the tune 'Happy'. 

 

 

[meepmeepmayer]

Uh that looks bad!!! Really bad!!!!!!!  Hope it gets better fast, but looks complicated. So this is why you weren't posting the last few weeks, I never noticed this thread before (barely visit offtopic).

[Bob Eisenman]

Hey...yes it was pretty serious to deal with on the day of and several days after. My aversion to using public transportation has vanished. Uber fills in the void of not owningva car. The last Uber driver was (I think) Ukrainian.

Marty Backes tale of men on EUCs in the mountains East of Los Angeles paint s a new picture of riding long distances in hard to find places on the EUC.

I'm off to go food shopping and drinking coffee at Dunkin.

Summer heat is coming, a reason last year to ride but perhaps a reason to invest in AC for this year.

Thanks

 

[meepmeepmayer]

Hope this does not sour you on electric unicycles, they are still awesome. From your photos/videos it seemed you always use a bike helmet, but nothing else (if I remember correctly)? Maybe some more protection will make you feel better. Maybe even shoulder pads or an armored motorcycle jacket or something like that. Here's a good thread with neat suggestions hidden between all the pages.

 

[Bob Eisenman]

1 hour ago, meepmeepmayer said:

 you always use a bike helmet, but nothing else (if I remember correctly)?

Just got back from food shopping (an Uber ride with Tatiana from Connecticut + another passenger).

Well... I was wearing the full protection deal for me (helmet, knee pads, wrist guards, gloves) but for some reason the fall didn't allow for much self arrest. The route was a typical Street route but with the presence of several piles of Street salt. The rut I saw too late was encountered going around a street intersection and onto a slight  downward incline. Much salt was in and around the presumed fateful 'snowplow carved shallow rut'. I thought I had memorized  all of the street ruts on that road (there are many). The EUC went out from under me and I went sort of airborne. The dizzying impact was complicated by the immediate sensation that there was something extremely wrong with my upper arm. Oddly my thoughts of returning to my apt several blocks away were stronger than the impulse to just wait for the next motorist on the not terribly used road. The thought of leaving the EUC and walk (right hand holding the EUC rather than the injured arm at left wrist) were overcome by the distatefull thought of lugging the 30 pound EUC with my still good right arm while my bad arm hung lifeless and position sensitive. I was sure I could mount the EUC again and ride slowly and smoothly (an uppermost thought in my head) back to the apartment and that is what I did.

I arrived back at my apartment, which has a long staircase, carrying the EUC to the top with my good arm. My Fitbit HR , worn on the broken arm, has two low heart rate spikes at about that time. My guess is that the fractured humerus bled while standing and trying to mount the EUC at the accident site and the second low HR spike had something to do with mounting the steps to my apt. Fishing my apt key from my left pocket (broken arm side) to open the door was a major hurdle, reaching into my left pocket with my right hand. While the lifeless injured arm was position sensitive the nature of the wound was relatively non painful when held in position with my good hand. The blood on my eyeglasses was noticed at the site of the accident. At the apt I stripped off my protective gear and decided to walk to the nearby hospital. The thought of calling a cab seemed problematic since I had no cash on my person. Walking to the ER was sort of slow, head down and persistent since the incident left me feeling 'damaged'. You can imagine the shock in the ER staff as I walked into the ER from the street, blood on my glasses and indicating that it felt like I broke my arm.

Beung the health experts that they are they 'triaged', took x rays and a CT scan since they were concerned that the neck area and eye sockets might be injured too. For reasons not entirely clear they sent me by ambulance to the Brigham and Women's hospital in Boston(as opposed to another local hospital) , a location where I worked as a tech with a research group from about 2003-2006 before the grant was not renewed.

Arriving at the B&W there was ambiguity as to what had happened and what to do. My arrival at B&W was expected but no details of my accident and no copies of x rays or CT scan were on the ambulance with me. They (B&W) repeated x rays, CT scan and dissed authoritatively with me about my high blood pressure and my lack of taking the proper meds without doctors approval. I emailed two former associates at the medical area (Dr. C.C. Morton and Dr. Brad Quade) while waiting for x rays to let them know I was in the B&W hospital as a patient.

For upper arm fractures the health care team needs to evaluate if nerve damage occurred, a phenomena that I was fortunate not to have since my fingers were highly manipulative/ responsive (despite being sore) and both my upper and lower arms were responsive to light touch. An IV was inserted to my right hand and formed the conduit from which blood for lab tests and 1 liter of fluid was administered to counter signs of dehydration revealed by lab tests.

I spent the night on 'observation' catching moments of sleep but mostly rest. In the morning I was provided with a meal chosen from a menu. Following the lowering of my BP with a dose of high BP medication I was allowed to be discharged. A nurse walked me to the doorway nearest to the ATM, cabs and front entrance. A desk guard called a cab in that cold day after waiting on the street (Francis st) found no cabs passing by on that Sunday morning. A nine page patient discharge set of papers, read to me by a nurse minutes before discharge, detailed an evaluation of my injuries and what I should plan to do in the days ahead. A triage type of scenario had placed four sutures in my eyelid and removal of the stitches was due in four days at the location of my choice (The Salem, MA hospital ER). An $80 cab ride delivered me back to my apt that Sunday and the thought of installing Uber came to mind sometime between arriving at the B&W and four days later at the ER in Salem.

The thought of riding the EUC again comes to mind as the arm feels better and better but the events of the last six weeks are sobering in light of safer modes of getting around in a pragmatic sense.

My Ninebot One E+ looks about same as before the incident.

Ride safely.

[steve454]

On 4/26/2017 at 9:58 PM, Bob Eisenman said:

Uber is a great service for someone like myself.

Ouch that looks painful.  Hope they don't double charge you for the rehab, but I guess they have to be sure they are taking care of you.

Uber sounds good, but I always just call yellow cab.  Is Uber that much cheaper, and don't you have to set up an account with your credit card?  Lucky for me that I don't need a cab but once a year or so, I guess,  if I needed one more often I would probably use Uber or Lyft.  I've read a lot of positive reviews about them.  Tatiana, sounds Russian, did she have a Russian accent, like Natasha in the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons?  That would be value added for me!

[Bob Eisenman]

1 hour ago, steve454 said:

Tatiana, sounds Russian, did she have a Russian accent, like Natasha in the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons?

Very clear English, maybe Ukrainian. Going on to nursing school. Out OS state CT plates? Works part time for Uber. Cringed when I said another Uber driver, whose daughter called mid ride and asked if 'daddy could pick her up and take the dog for a haircut, goes 5k - 6k miles each month. Door to door service from the grocery store to the apt within 5 minutes of requesting for $3.10 (bus is $2). Getting to the adjacent towns for treatment is difficult without a car. There is a guy at the Stop and Shop who is Ukrainian. He's been working there for 16 years, owns a house and has a kid. 

The orthopedic doctor is fairly low key in approach. You might say he is a good tissue culturist as the next x ray shows signs of connective tissue growth between the torn part and the big bone.

I'm in the awkward position of requesting medical service but having no identifiable work record for several years. Making Blender 3D as a hobby doesn't really cut it. Maybe some day I'll reconsider applying to become an Uber driver. My last car had about 250k miles in it.

Uber app is cool. Linked to your credit or debit card like a commuter rail ticket purchasing app. With a moving map display your position, the contracted drivers approach to meeting point position and your destination are in constant display. Your name and his name plus make of car are displayed. The contract price estimate is displayed before the final request is made. If a cancel results because you were not at the agreed meeting place you get a $5 bill which can be disputed.

Car ownership in this area can follow some unique norms and expectations. Driving my old car to the dealer for service would generally encounter the following after handing over the keys:

1- I can have a driver transport you back to your address and then have him pick you up or are you going to 'hang around here ?' meaning watch TV and drink coffee in the waiting room.

2- when I bought the car at 33k miles I returned it with the comment about a funny smell. The car sales person got into the car and replied (2002?) 'It smells like a used car'.

 

Salem Taxi would work too as an Uber alternative.

[meepmeepmayer]

Oh god your story sounds .... unpleasant at the very least. More like horrible. Going back to your home with the wheel and a badly injured arm (and not knowing what else)! Did you have no phone, or did you not want to call an ambulance? Maybe you were in shock a bit?

[Bob Eisenman]

3 hours ago, meepmeepmayer said:

Maybe you were in shock a bit?

Probably.

It happened on the day my older sister was travelling with her older son, daughter in law and several grand children to Quebec City. He walked the length of a trail in the US called the Appalachian trail. I've found no correlation between riding the EUC long distances and increased family communication between them and I.

I worked 6 years in a boarding school where my older sister's husband (recently deceased from cancer in about a three year period) was an administrator. I taught algebra, trigonometry, physics, BASIC programming, etc. and was the math 'chairperson' mid- 1980s.

?You can get away with doing stuff like that at the HS level in some private boarding schools.

4x + 6 = 2*(2x +3)

Old houses are houses of Angels (trigonometry sine, cosine, tangent)

Opp/hypoteneus

Adj/hypotenuse

Opp/adjacent

The older son is a Deerfield Academy and Middlebury College grad with a master's from a degree program in New Zealand. His wife was , I think, an English major who became a practising FNP (family nurse practitioner) in about two years from UCSF. 

I text messaged to them (with some difficulty) as follows :

" Broke arm off. To brigham"

"Oh no. How did it happen?"

"I'm at b&w Boston. Shattered upper arm bone and eyelid wound euc requiring stitches. Had a cat scan"

[Bob Eisenman]

Blender 3D has an 'ocean' surface modifier. It has a foam option which makes for interesting art like displays. There is a procedure setting page I followed to create this one.

http://darkscarab.com/view/62

Ship model is from BlendSwap

[Bob Eisenman]

Shoulder healing has progressed. I decided to buy a two wheeled truck, portable AC and stay cool. Physical therapy started last week.

[Bob Eisenman]

Andrew Price, the Blender Guru , posted a hair rendering tutorial using 'Sintel' as the mesh model. His tutorials (lighting and hair) plus another unrelated tutorial on 'cloth sewing' was used to improve my own mesh models look (by adding clothing). My arms were really sweating on the day I rendered the view. Despite cool ambient temps where I live the apartment was in the 80's. With new AC I hope to sweat less when performing at home physical therapy for my shoulder that broke in March during a fall to the street on my Ninebot. The Ninebot looks about the same as before the fall that occurred.

There is a method of animating a character by moving the bone armature as the audio track plays back. Repeat as needed for other 'bones' and add keyframes as needed for emphasis. It works but the motion looks somewhat loosely reactive to the music.

 

[Keith]

19 hours ago, Bob Eisenman said:

 

@Bob Eisenman, don't  go showing renders like that or you'll give @Hunka Hunka Burning Love, ideas on how to animate taking the dress off  ??

[Hunka Hunka Burning Love]

Too late my friend, too late.  What's been already done canna be undone.    I would have preferred a slightly less manly representation of a woman,  but hey beggars can't be choosers rigtht?  

[Bob Eisenman]

2 hours ago, Hunka Hunka Burning Love said:

 I would have preferred a slightly less manly representation of a woman

You and a lot of others I'm sure.  There is a tutorial for 'dynamic breasts' that this shape of a female might be most appropriate.

https://youtu.be/k5TeXW11TUw

Fret not 'BlendSwap ' has a collection.

It (the render) looks better here than on 'discord'. Conservative minded animators leave the middle torso below the clothing out completely.

What happened in Manchester, UK? Recent news.

 

[Hunka Hunka Burning Love]

Now we talkin'!    So real, so real!

[Bob Eisenman]

Is buying an new Electric Unicycle getting too expensive?

 

 

[meepmeepmayer]

Haha, you were talking how you could not get the cloth stick to the model, now she has other "clothes"