SU upgrade to 8.0.4811 (Maintenance 1)

Gaieus

I also have the 3Gb switch "installed" in my boot.ini file (but I also kept the normal boot, too). I generally do not boot that way but I will make some tests if it helps with RAM-hungry operations in SU (say exporting large images with AA on).

Al Hart

Thanks Gai - it would be nice to see if LAA let SketchUp grow larger for XP users who have 3GB or 4GB RAM and could make use of it.

Gaieus

Al, iRender has been LAA for a while irrespective of SU running behind it, hasn't it? (Or is there a 64 bit version? I can't remember...)

Al Hart

When we render, we jump out of the SketchUp process and run a stand alone .EXE, and we are able to have a 64-bit version. However, when extracting the model from SketchUp we are in the SketchUp process - running ruby code and DLLs which share the SketchUp process space. We have to be careful not to use to much RAM, because some of our clients send us models which can just barely fit in SketchUp even without loading our stuff and using it.

I think the answer to one question I am asking is "Is there something 32-bit XP users can do do let SketchUp have more address space" A by product of the answer will be that Render Plus Apps will run better on top of SketchUp as well.

The other question I am asking is "Do you have to do something to the operating to take advantage of LargeAddressAware? For all SketchUp users, that would be nice to know.

@gaieus said:

Al, iRender has been LAA for a while irrespective of SU running behind it, hasn't it? (Or is there a 64 bit version? I can't remember...)

Gaieus

Ah, OK, thanks, I understand the difference now. As I said, I am (also) planning to test this on my 32 bit OS (I have some pretty heavy models with over a million polys and such - even without entourage)

Bob James

@spence said:

So, I just installed DivX and gave it a whirl, awesome, it worked so slick and the export was very fast. It looked super good.
If anyone would like to try, check out the difference between codecs like the default (I thinks it's Sorenson) and DivX. DivX is so much smoother, no where near as much jitter. http://www.divx.com/DivX

Which DivX codec: MEV, H264, AAC, AVI ?

Al Hart

Regarding using LargeAddressAware on 32 bit machines.

I found out how to do this, See: LargeAddressAware Thread

Stinkie

Mmm ... LAA + Vray ... Exporting large images fixed ... Looks like a useful update.

spence

@bob james said:

@spence said:

So, I just installed DivX and gave it a whirl, awesome, it worked so slick and the export was very fast. It looked super good.
If anyone would like to try, check out the difference between codecs like the default (I thinks it's Sorenson) and DivX. DivX is so much smoother, no where near as much jitter. http://www.divx.com/DivX

Which DivX codec: MEV, H264, AAC, AVI ?

Bob,

Not entirely sure. I just downloaded the free DivX (Not the Pro) and installed the Codec Pack 1.0. I set it to export an .AVI, but I'm not sure which codec it uses. I don't believe I'm able to change what codec because I'm not using the Pro version. I hope that answers your question.

Bob James

Thanks, Spence: I'll give it a try

honoluludesktop

Doesn't DivX require a DivX player? Will it work with the WinMedia Player?

Pixero

List of default codecs in Windows media player: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/899113

Everything else will need a special codec download.
As of DivX there is also the free Xvid. Still a codec is needed to play.

Gaieus

@spence said:

I don't believe I'm able to change what codec because I'm not using the Pro version.

There's absolutely no difference between the free and pro versions in this case (since version 6, they can export animation exactly the same way).

If it does not work, there must be something else. To check if it does work, set the codec to something else than Cinepack. Export something (just a couple of frames) and open the export options again. If it did not change back to Cinepack, it works.

(I still like to export as image sequence better. I generally export at a double size then I batch resize them with some better antialiasing than what SU has and make the movie of the images - more control, more options, nicer output - but double/triple as much time to accomplish)

Pixero

@gaieus said:

I still like to export as image sequence better. I generally export at a double size then I batch resize them with some better antialiasing than what SU has and make the movie of the images - more control, more options, nicer output - but double/triple as much time to accomplish

Plus, if anything goes wrong, like a crash, with images you can just continue where you left of while for a movie export you'd have to start from the beginning.

Gaieus

Yes, exactly. And although not an excellent movie, this technique also allows me to use some special effects between the different parts like below.

Phases of an excavation
[flash=450,380:4adfvfw1]http://www.youtube.com/v/bKsEpF1Neh0?fs=1&hl=en_US[/flash:4adfvfw1]

Khai

@honoluludesktop said:

Doesn't DivX require a DivX player? Will it work with the WinMedia Player?

for all your video playback needs - http://www.videolan.org/ small, powerful, free, plays just about anything.

Pixero

Yes VLC Player is great, but what if you want to send a movie to a client?
Then you must use something that can be viewed on any computer.

Khai

@pixero said:

Yes VLC Player is great, but what if you want to send a movie to a client?
Then you must use something that can be viewed on any computer.

then all bets are out the window. you can't even guarentee they have the same codec's you do anyway.

at that point, your better off boiling your work down to DVD format. that can be played on more than just a computer then...

Bryan K

I'm still using 7 (free). Is there any compelling reason to go to 8 (free)?

I'm seem to vaguely recall that someone mentioned some features had been removed from 8?

Can anyone fill me in?

Gaieus

DWG/DXF import was removed from 7.0 and substituted with a plugin in the free version. AFAIK it does not work in SU 8 (free) but I am not sure.

However you can always keep your old version 7 (I have 6, and and can even run them together at the same time. If nothing else, the shadow bug fix is worth upgrading to v.8 M1.