Smoke 2013 Pre-release Performance

[Paulo Kobayashi]

The performance of the pre-release Smoke 2013 for Mac is very disappointing.

I love Autodesk post-production software and Smoke 2013 for Mac seems to be an amazing product, but unless they optimize the previews and renderers, it will be very hard for me to use it.

In comparison FCPX and Premiere CS6 are much faster in dealing with ProRes and RD3 respectively.

To have an idea I can edit realtime 4K ProRes 4444 in my MacBook Pro 17" (the latest) using both FCPX and Premiere CS6, but it is unusable in Smoke 2013. RD3 I can edit in realtime using 1/4 preview in CS6, and in Smoke the whole system gets jammed to a point that you almost can't quit it. And to transcode it before importing will require an endless render.

I hope they put ALL their effort in increasing the performance.

 

[Sven Seynaeve]

the software is pretty amazing, but yeah , this is 2012, where we all got used to different approaches and clever intermediate codecs, and after all we have clients waiting

 

[Kwan Khan]

Free Pre-Release Trial
http://www.dexigner.com/news/25235

 

[Mark Toia]

Yep... agree. I was really keen for this as well. But after testing it. It's just to clunky and RENDER heavy

 

[Ivan G]

The app was lagging and freezing while I was at NAB watching a demo. Pretty lame to release the app at such an early stage.

 

[jake blackstone]

It is baffling to me, that Smoke uses so little of GPU acceleration. Even simple video level change in CC or CW requires a full render. This is just so strange, because at least three years ago Lustre was using GPU acceleration already. Three years ago!!!
From what I see, this is a cool app, if you're planning to only use Prores. R3D? Forget about it...

 

[shashbugu]

Lol, this Pre release version is slower than Smack 2012. but! big but! the new reworked efx interface, and ability to pull up Action and baby batch nodes plus its OSX right click everything feature set is just amazing. Sad, for some strange reason there almost zero R3d playback. its really strange, even on my new superbly Hackintosh its stuttering. Worse than AE...

I guess this is an Apple forum,

 

[Paulo Kobayashi]

There's still hope. This is what the Smoke Team answered me at Facebook.
"As this is the first pre-release of Smoke 2013, things are still being optimised so please be patient and test performances in a later pre-release builds... thanks for your feedback"
Grant Kay
Autodesk

 

[jake blackstone]

I have no doubt, that performance will be optimized and features will be enabled. What I don't understand is the wisdom of releasing the beta version (actually it feels more like an alpha) so early for public testing. At this point Smoke 2013 is only good for getting familiar with the new interface. I happen to think, that the first impression is most important. Current state of Smoke 2013 isn't helping...

 

[Björn Benckert]

I have no doubt, that performance will be optimized and features will be enabled. What I don't understand is the wisdom of releasing the beta version (actually it feels more like an alpha) so early for public testing. At this point Smoke 2013 is only good for getting familiar with the new interface. I happen to think, that the first impression is most important. Current state of Smoke 2013 isn't helping...

What features are you missing? except for the not complete XML module.

To me it seams to have all the stuff that the old smoke had and or better...

Speed is not good, but to me 12bit or 10bit uncompressed is the only way to work in such program and then it will be slow not comparable to FCP process renders and such. The way you work in Smoke would not do well if you go with a compressed format.

 

[jake blackstone]

What features are you missing? except for the not complete XML module.

Oh, just a couple:laugh:


Project archiving
Interim Conform Workflow
 Only drag and drop conform of XML and AAF is supported
 conform from EDL
 conforming troubleshooting tools
 unlink/relink
 reformat
Video I/O however broadcast monitoring is not included
Proxy workflow is not operational however controls are accessible Backward playback on Long‐GOP formats such as H264
Resizing and LUT on Import
Export Capabilities are not implemented fully
 No timeline publish
 No Audio AAF/OMF export
 No format/device export presets
 RGBA export requires Matte Containers
Trim View
Track based Ripple extract and trimming
Vectorscope and some player controls for stereo
The Menu bar is not implemented fully
Partial keyboard shortcut implementation
Selection order of clips in the workspace is not visible
Limited search capabilities
 timeline search is not included
 Only basic search capabilities available in Workspace and MediaHub

 

[Björn Benckert]

Oh, just a couple:laugh:


Project archiving
Interim Conform Workflow
 Only drag and drop conform of XML and AAF is supported
 conform from EDL
 conforming troubleshooting tools
 unlink/relink
 reformat
Video I/O however broadcast monitoring is not included
Proxy workflow is not operational however controls are accessible Backward playback on Long‐GOP formats such as H264
Resizing and LUT on Import
Export Capabilities are not implemented fully
 No timeline publish
 No Audio AAF/OMF export
 No format/device export presets
 RGBA export requires Matte Containers
Trim View
Track based Ripple extract and trimming
Vectorscope and some player controls for stereo
The Menu bar is not implemented fully
Partial keyboard shortcut implementation
Selection order of clips in the workspace is not visible
Limited search capabilities
 timeline search is not included
 Only basic search capabilities available in Workspace and MediaHub

I guess it was a while back I used smoke/fire...

To me the batch nodes is what you want the rest is nice to have but could be done in just about any other editing program. But a good timeline with batch in all the clips for free is crazy I think. We used to think that the smack was for free... this one is actually for free and it almost got the same batch as my 400k USD flame.. But the big difference to me is that the flame feels like cutting trough butter where as this smoke 2013 is like hitting a brick wall..

 

[Erich Ocean]

What I don't understand is the wisdom of releasing the beta version (actually it feels more like an alpha) so early for public testing.

Well, that's easy: to give people a chance to give feedback about the UI early.

I don't think anyone here doubt's Autodesk's ability to add the missing features, improve performance, etc.

But the UI changes are HUGE, and in particular, they are trying to broaden the market, so getting the product early, at least for us, is huge. It's clear they want feedback.

I love the idea of Flame (light) + FCP, and I'm willing to bug Autodesk enough, and more importantly, try it out and hit on it, to make it happen.

 

[jake blackstone]

Well, that's easy: to give people a chance to give feedback about the UI early.

I don't think anyone here doubt's Autodesk's ability to add the missing features, improve performance, etc.

But the UI changes are HUGE, and in particular, they are trying to broaden the market, so getting the product early, at least for us, is huge. It's clear they want feedback.

I love the idea of Flame (light) + FCP, and I'm willing to bug Autodesk enough, and more importantly, try it out and hit on it, to make it happen.

Eric.
If you read my entire post again, you'll see that you're arguing my original point almost verbatim
The difference being, I happen to think, that it had been released a bit premature.
See my other post right under this one

 

[jake blackstone]

I guess it was a while back I used smoke/fire...

To me the batch nodes is what you want the rest is nice to have but could be done in just about any other editing program. But a good timeline with batch in all the clips for free is crazy I think. We used to think that the smack was for free... this one is actually for free and it almost got the same batch as my 400k USD flame.. But the big difference to me is that the flame feels like cutting trough butter where as this smoke 2013 is like hitting a brick wall..

Agreed!
Still it doesn't change the fact, that another month or two delay in beta release would have been better call, I think...

 

[Mike Halper]

I have no doubt, that performance will be optimized and features will be enabled. What I don't understand is the wisdom of releasing the beta version (actually it feels more like an alpha) so early for public testing. At this point Smoke 2013 is only good for getting familiar with the new interface. I happen to think, that the first impression is most important. Current state of Smoke 2013 isn't helping...

This is a new interface? I'm not that familiar with Smoke, but the GUI feels like 10+ years old.

 

[BRANDON JAMESON]

OK, this is a pre-release to get feedback and continue development of what promises to be a very unique and usable program.

Let's all take a week or two and really kick the tires to get a full dose of what does and does not work.

In concept the idea of an all-inclusive SMOKE work-flow could be a real game changer.

Hey, we gave ADOBE a chance to develop Premiere into somethig that's actually usable..and who would have EVER thought THAT could happen!!!!


Perhaps an Autodesk developer could start a thread here quickly and allow us to add our builds and requests, as well as get updates on the progress of the program as it is honed and re-created as a result of our feedback.

At NAB it was so clear that Autodesk is truly invested in making this work and they sure have the pedigree to pull it off, so let's help them to get it right and have a unique piece of software we can call our own.

 

[jake blackstone]

http://forums.creativecow.net/autodesksmoke2013

 

[Björn Benckert]

This is a new interface? I'm not that familiar with Smoke, but the GUI feels like 10+ years old.

I disagree...
I found it to be super slick... Considering that it got more stuff under the hood than, fcp, RCXP, AFX, premier and Avid combined... it's quite cool that there is hardly any buttons.. anywhere.

The one super big feature missing on this pre release is a hotkey popup helper / list in each module / above all buttons etc.

 

[Erich Ocean]

The one super big feature missing on this pre release is a hotkey popup helper / list in each module / above all buttons etc.

You can hold down the '/' key and get help on pretty much anything in the UI, info on clips in the timeline, etc.