Shake on 2011 MBP

Question

Level 4

3,041 points

Shake on 2011 MBP

I just did a quick test of Shake 4.1 on a 2011 15" 2.0GHz MBP,
using the defocus filter. Seemed to render 3 times faster than
my 2.4GHz C2D iMac.

maxthread = 8, which seems really cool, except that
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1101

Any other experiences out there?

MacBook Pro 2.33GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM, 500GB HD, Mac OS X (10.6.3), FCP 6.0.6, Shake 4.1.1, Max 5.1.5, Live 8.1.5

Posted on Mar 3, 2011 1:19 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

Patrick Sheffield

Level 7

29,175 points

Mar 3, 2011 9:26 PM in response to stuckfootage

I do not...

Patrick

Reply

Answer 2

stuckfootage Author

Level 4

3,041 points

Mar 15, 2011 6:14 PM in response to stuckfootage

My 2011 quad-core 2.2GHz 15" MBP arrived! Against all advice, I just used Migration Assistant
(I'll do a real install later) and I have these test results. Basically I just pasted this script:

shake -checker 1600 1600 2 -turbulate 1 1 10 10 10 10 -nocache -cpu 8 -fo /shaketemp.tga -v

into a Terminal window, changing the number after -cpu to change the number of threads used.
So here is the number of seconds required to render one frame of this script:

1 thread 10.99
2 threads 5.75
3 threads 4.27
4 threads 3.97
5 threads 3.43
6 threads 3.05
7 threads 2.74
8 threads 2.53

This pattern of diminishing returns as the thread count goes up is typical
of multicore processors I've seen running this test. I also did some tests with
a bunch of nodes rendering to ProRes 422. No problem.

Reply

Answer 3

shanshui

Level 1

5 points

Mar 30, 2011 10:28 AM in response to stuckfootage

Are you running SHAKE for arch i386 or x86_64?

I have a SDK package for another app. the .dylib in the SDK are built for arch=x86_64.

So, I am thinking about to change the arch of my system from i386 to x86_64. otherwise, even if I can built the plugins/apps, I cannot run them.

I need to make sure the aged SHAKE 4.1 can work for arch=x86_64. all other apps in my system, MAYA2011, Photoshop cs5, AFE cs5, ..., have no problem to run for x86_64.

Thanks in advance!

ZZ

Reply

Answer 4

stuckfootage Author

Level 4

3,041 points

Mar 30, 2011 11:57 AM in response to shanshui

I was running the tests in 32-bit mode.
Just now I booted my iMac Core 2 Duo in 64-bit,
and Shake launches and runs fine.

I don't know how to run Shake in 64-bit mode, do you?
It would be nice to be able to use more memory.

Reply

Answer 5

shanshui

Level 1

5 points

Mar 30, 2011 10:47 PM in response to stuckfootage

if you type 'arch' in a terminal, do you get i386 or x86_64?

I boot the 64-bit kernel and extensions. but, typing 'arch', I still got i386. SHAKE has no problem to run in arch=i386, 32b/64b universal env. however, I am not sure it would still work for arch=x86_64.

when I build SHAKE plugins, the SHAKE SDK manual tells us to configure the architectue to (ppc i386), no x86_64 mentioned.

Thanks!

Reply

Answer 6

stuckfootage Author

Level 4

3,041 points

Mar 31, 2011 11:17 AM in response to shanshui

On my 2011 MBP, when I boot in 64-bit, System Profiler reports:
64-bit Kernel and Extensions: Yes
but when I run arch, it returns i386

I have no problem launching Shake when I try to force it to run 64-bit:
arch -x86_64 shake
but Activity Monitor indicates that it is actually running 32-bit.

May I conclude that upgrading to 8GB will not affect Shake's performance?

Reply

Answer 7

shanshui

Level 1

5 points

Apr 2, 2011 2:13 AM in response to stuckfootage

I am not sure if 8GB will or will not affect Shake's "performance", I have never really pay attention on this. At least SHAKE works on my i7, 8GB mem, 1TB hd, ATI 4850 system.

🙂

Reply

Answer 8

stuckfootage Author

Level 4

3,041 points

Apr 4, 2011 12:03 PM in response to shanshui

shanshui wrote:
I am not sure if 8GB will or will not affect Shake's "performance"

Well, you can measure it using this script:
shake -checker 1600 1600 2 -turbulate 1 1 10 10 10 10 -nocache -cpu 8 -fo /shaketemp.tga -v

Change the -cpu 8 and run it for 1, 2, 3, ..., 8 cores,
then post the results here. (See how I did it in a previous post on this thread?)
With 4 GB, the performance increase per gigabyte of RAM starts to level off.
You can measure whether 8GB RAM makes a difference.

Reply

Answer 9

shanshui

Level 1

5 points

Apr 7, 2011 8:26 AM in response to stuckfootage

CPU= 8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1:

info: frame 1 rendered in 2.8s
info: frame 1 rendered in 3.13s
info: frame 1 rendered in 3.55s
info: frame 1 rendered in 3.81s
info: frame 1 rendered in 3.91s
info: frame 1 rendered in 5.42s
info: frame 1 rendered in 6.44s
info: frame 1 rendered in 12.12s

🙂

*Hardware Overview:*

Model Name: iMac
Model Identifier: iMac11,1
Processor Name: Intel Core i7
Processor Speed: 2.8 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 4
L2 Cache (per core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 8 MB
Memory: 8 GB
Processor Interconnect Speed: 4.8 GT/s
Boot ROM Version: IM111.0034.B02
SMC Version (system): 1.54f36

Reply

Answer 10

stuckfootage Author

Level 4

3,041 points

Apr 11, 2011 10:59 PM in response to stuckfootage

I increased my RAM from 4GB to 8GB in my 2011 quad-core 2.2GHz 15" MBP.
As might be expected with a 32-bit application, there was only a tiny increase in speed:

1 thread 10.43
2 threads 5.68
3 threads 4.26
4 threads 3.26
5 threads 3.27
6 threads 3.00
7 threads 2.68
8 threads 2.42

Reply

Answer 11

Jul 29, 2011 8:48 AM in response to stuckfootage

Hi, seems like you've migrated your Shake to a new MBP. I just bought a 2011 17" model, and want to de-/reinstall my Shake 4.1 from my "old" early 2008. I've searched through tons of information, to no avail. How on earth is it possible to deinstall the app on my old and reinstall it on my new MBP. Seems like I have only two install possibilities, so I don't want to lose one, if possible. Anyone out there who can help?

MacBook Pro 2.2GHz Quad i7, 8GB RAM, 500GB 7200 rpm HD, Mac OS X (10.6.7), Media 100 Suite 1.5.1, FCP 7.0.3, Shake 4.1.1

Reply

Answer 12

stuckfootage Author

Level 4

3,041 points

Jul 29, 2011 12:21 PM in response to rayfromnorway

Deinstalling is mostly a question of removing the Shake folder from the /Applications folder

and removing the nreal folder from your home directory.

To remove the authorization, delete this file:

/Library/Application Support/ProApps/Shake System ID

If you install Shake on your new MBP *without* deinstalling from the old,

you will not be able to run both copies at the same time while they are connected on a local network.

Enjoy the fun speed increase!

Les

Reply

Answer 13

Jul 29, 2011 12:30 PM in response to stuckfootage

Thanks a lot, Les. I'll try it out.

Raymond

Reply