Render times when Mac is inactive

[BJT_DAVE]

Has anyone got a foolproof method of keeping Keyshot running at full speed overnight while rendering? Despite turning app nap off, screen sleep to 'never'' etc etc Keyshot render speeds just drops dramatically as soon as I go home from work. For example I am rendering a video along with  the 811 individual frames. While I am at the computer it renders a frame in less than a minute continuously, but as soon as I leave the building the render times drop. I left work at 17.01 yesterday and if you look at the screen grab you can see up until then every frame was a minute or less then from 17.02 it drops to 10 minutes for the next frame and then to 20 minutes a frame for the rest. Same thing when I got into work this morning, as soon as I started using the mac the render speed went straight back up to 1 minute as normal?! Its like it goes to sleep but it cant. It has now taken three days to do a 30 second video at 800 pixels.

Is Aphetamine for Mac the answer? Shouldn't have to resort to these lengths.

[mattjgerard]

When the boss is away your computer is slacking off eh ?

Do you have any network backups, like CCC running at night? Any other scheduled activities? Is there anything under that pesky "Schedule" button in the Ebergy Saver Preference? I had a utility (Onyx) that scheduled something without me knowing it to run overnight (back when permissions repair was still a thing and would take FOREVER) and that would slow down my renders from Cinema 4D.

Just some ideas, not sure what the problem is unless you can sit there and watch it until it happens. Can you screenshare from home to peek in and see whats happening?

Try unplugging any peripherals that aren't needed, spare HD's, etc to see if that is doing anything.

[BJT_DAVE]

There is nothing under the schedule so even more of a mystery, no peripherals either. We are connected to a network server that gets backed up but I am rendering onto my local drive, so there is nothing I can think of that is interferring with it. Im going to try it again tonight with Amphetamine set up to stay awake while Keyshot is running

[TGS808]

I've seen this happen as well. The only thing I've found that stops it is to just leave the Mac running. I see you already have your energy saver settings to never sleep. That's good. It shouldn't matter but I've noticed that if I even use a hot corner to put the display to sleep this happens. So I just leave it running and turn the screen brightness down. The settings that you have shown should work.

[BJT_DAVE]

Well, I tried Aphetamine and was full of hope when I came in this morning to see my displays were still on but was quickly shot down when I looked at Keyshot. A job that should have taken 5 hours was still running 10 hours later and was only at frame 50 of 285 frames. Same thing as before, as soon as  stop using the Mac Keyshot just goes into lazy mode and takes 20 minutes to render a frame that normally takes less than a minute. I think I am going to have to try a mouse jiggler next to make it think Im still here. We need to render overnight as there aren't enough hours in the day and we need to use background rendering so we can carry on preparing the next scene. This really is a problem as this video was needed this morning and I now have to wait another 3 hours for it and it is going to be sapping all the processor power  now when I need it for other programs

[TGS808]

we need to use background rendering so we can carry on preparing the next scene. This really is a problem as this video was needed this morning and I now have to wait another 3 hours for it and it is going to be sapping all the processor power  now when I need it for other programs

Do you not have the option of network rendering? If not, you may want to consider looking into it.

[BJT_DAVE]

MD is reluctant to spend any more money on it, but it may have to be done as we have a lot of video to create and since Keyshot has no camera transitions I need to render every camera view separately and do cross fades in Premiere Pro.

Mouse Jiggler has worked though...810 frames in 4 and a half hours, every frame rendered in the expected time of less than a minute instead of 20 minutes

[TGS808]

Keyshot has no camera transitions I need to render every camera view separately

Look into camera switch events in KeyShot. Of course any fades would have to be done elsewhere.

[BJT_DAVE]

Thats what I meant. In effect you end up rendering the whole video from each camera and assembling it in Premiere Pro. Keyshot isnt really up to producing quality edited video. Takes a long time to render a 2 minute video from 5 different camera angles.

[toddbrous]

I am having the same issue with Keyshot8.  Were you ever able to fix this issue?
My render basically stops calculating when Keyshot is not the foreground application.  CPU utilization goes to zero.  Render never finishes.  When using the the Background Render, the window must be the foreground app, the computer must never sleep, run screen saver, or do anything else.  If I switch to any other app while rendering, then the CPU drops and the render no longer is calculated.

MackBook Pro (2015), MacOS, High Sierra, 10.13.6.

Thanks!

[TGS808]

In effect you end up rendering the whole video from each camera and assembling it in Premiere Pro...

.....Takes a long time to render a 2 minute video from 5 different camera angles.

Yes, it's called editing and it's how all films (animated or live action) are made.

Keyshot isnt really up to producing quality edited video.

In fairness, KeyShot is not a video editor and it isn't marketed as one. That being the case, I'm not sure why you would expect it to output finished, edited videos.

[DMerz III]

Because your problem seems too specific to the timing of when you leave, it probably isn't related to temp throttling, right?

For instance, if you're thermostats are set to a very different setting when you leave, maybe things get too hot, and the CPU throttles itself without the ambient air being cool enough? Weird, weird outside though, but it's always a consideration when CPU performance suddenly drops.

[mattjgerard]

I am having the same issue with Keyshot8.  Were you ever able to fix this issue?
My render basically stops calculating when Keyshot is not the foreground application.  CPU utilization goes to zero.  Render never finishes.  When using the the Background Render, the window must be the foreground app, the computer must never sleep, run screen saver, or do anything else.  If I switch to any other app while rendering, then the CPU drops and the render no longer is calculated.

MackBook Pro (2015), MacOS, High Sierra, 10.13.6.

Thanks!

That sounds like an app priority issue. I had that problem a looooong time ago with early versions of premiere pro exporting videos in the background, and I had to go into the terminal to change the "assertivness" of the app to grab CPU time. There was a setting that needed to be changed and after that it worked fine. It was way back on the early versions of OSX, so I can't recall what it was, but might be something to look at. Also, for something this specific, email support and see what they say as well.

[PhilipTh]

Hello everyone,

The issue described in this thread appears to be caused by a functionality on mac called "app nap".

A guide on how to turn this off can be found here: http://osxdaily.com/2014/05/13/disable-app-nap-mac-os-x/

[BJT_DAVE]

erm...."Despite turning app nap off, screen sleep to 'never'' etc etc Keyshot render speeds just drops dramatically as soon as I go home from work"