Computing Decision for TVPaint project?

[pcoates]

Hi!

I'm looking into purchasing a copy of TV Paint and a computer for a project, and I have a few questions about processing speed, and making sure I have the necessary hardware. Any help and advice is massively appreciated!!


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I'm looking into purchasing an iMac, and have a choice of a 2.7 GHz quad core, and a 3.1 GHz quad core. Both have i5 with a 6MB chip and 4GB (two 2GB) of 1333MHz DDR3 memory and 1 Terabyte of space.

My TV Paint project will ultimately run for about 25-30 minutes, although I will be breaking it down into smaller bits in TV Paint and then edit those renders in Final Cut Pro. I can store files on external drives if I go over the terrabyte.

I'll be using some video for rotoscoping, probably no more than 1 minute per clip.

My question is whether or not the iMac should be suitable for such a project with TV Paint? This will be my first time using the software, and I am not too knowledgeable about processing speeds, what to expect, or whether or not I will be pulling hair out waiting for things to render or move to the next frame. The processing time for my project will be important and so I want to be sure I purchase the right machine, but also not purchase the unnecessary if it is fine as is.


I'd like to know also whether this iMac should be fine, and whether there will be a big advantage from the 2.7 GHz quad core to the 3.1 GHz, and whether I should upgrade some of the other specs.


If I go with the 3.1, I can upgrade the following:

Processor: from 3.1GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5 to 3.4GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7

Memory: 4GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x2GB to 8GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x4GB

I imagine the processor is more important than the memory since I can turn off other softwares while painting, but if it's important then I would like to know.

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Also important because I imagine the video-rotoscoping process to weigh down the speed a bit and I wanted to ask. I may also integrate some short 3D bits into the project as well.

Since I have not used TV Paint before, I thought I would seek out some answers before I make the plunge. I realize there's some generalities in the question, but any guideline ideas for making sure I get the right machine would be most helpful and I'm grateful for the knowledge.

Thank you so much to the community for any help and for the patience in answering someone new to this.


-PC

[slowtiger]

Have a look at my signature, I've got roughly the same machine as you, and TVP works fine here with all HDTV projects. I recommend to restrict project files to a maximum of half a minute, if possible, it's just easier to manage then. If you plan to rotoscope, delete the video layer as soon as you don't need it any more, this will greatly reduce file size.

[idragosani]

Hopefully the 64-bit OSX version of TVPaint will be available soon!

[ematecki]

I imagine the processor is more important than the memory since I can turn off other softwares while painting, but if it's important then I would like to know.

TVPaint uses a lot of memory !
Get rather the max RAM you can afford rather than the 3.4Ghz processor.

Otherwise the iMac is just a fine computer, it is the computer we use (well, an older one...) for all our demos on shows.

[slowtiger]

Just for the record: I was able to work in HDTV even on my old PowerPC Mac G5 with only 1,5 GB Ram.

[artfx]

Any current iMac is more than enough. I am still working on my 2.2 Ghx Core 2 Duo Macbook Pro. I do HD projects with 200% extra space for camera. I have done 10 minute projects in a single file, though it does start to get really slow at that point. Also Slow Tiger is spot on about deleting any roto or reference video the moment you are done with it. It makes everything take longer.

[D.T. Nethery]

Any current iMac is more than enough. I am still working on my 2.2 Ghx Core 2 Duo Macbook Pro.

I do HD projects with 200% extra space for camera.

That brings up an interesting point : When you allow 200% extra space for planning camera moves within a 1920 x 1080 HD size project that increases the project size to a non-standard size. I like the idea of having the over-sized project (200% larger) to allow for camera movement within the scene , but don't you find that TVPaint does not react well to using a non-standard project size ?

It's been my experience that sometimes TVPaint starts to slow down to the point where it is unusable when the project size is larger than standard HD 1920 x 1080 or standard 2K film resolution , especially when applying effects from the FX stack to layers .

I'd be interested to read if others don't have that problem.

(by the way, I'm on Macbook Pro , OS 10.7 , 2.4 GHz Intel Core i7 , 8GB of memory )

[artfx]

I've had slow downs, but I never considered it related to the project size. I always assumed it was based on what I was doing. Heavy FX work does seem to be one culprit. When it happens I just restart my computer and keep on drawing.

[Paul Fierlinger]

Hmmm... I use all sorts of sizes and shapes, such as long backgrounds that include all the animation rendered within it, and I see no unexpected slowdowns from the odd shapes, but some degree of slowdown has to be expected if a project is 120% of 1080p plus 4 or 5 times its standard length.

But once Sandra gets the project to fill with colors which easily doubles or even triples the amount of layers, that's another story. So in our experience it is not so much the shape but the amount of layers that slows our projects to a crawl. What proves this is that once Sandra merges many of the layers into one -- the project comes back to life. This is among many of the reasons why I render and downrez to 720p every project as avi files to playback in Vegas. I'll do this typically dozens of times in the course of a day -- it takes just seconds for the transition.

[pcoates]

cool thanks so much guys.