What GPU assisted workflow solutions are there out there for Red?

[Wayne Morellini]

I'm looking at getting a basic fixed Scarlet, and as realtime editing system as I can afford, based on a PC or upcoming Imac.

I can't afford a Red Rocket card, so I want to find out about cheaper GPU accelerated solutions.

If anybody can help?

Thanks.

 

[Charles Angus]

If you're talking about de-mosaicing, AFAIK, there are none. All debayering is done on CPU or Rocket.

There are GPU-accelerated effects systems, like Mercury (from Adobe in Premiere), or accelerated colour correction, like in Resolve.

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

On the PC, your best options are Adobe CS5 or Sony Vegas. Both work in real-time with 4K R3D clips. Obviously not at full resolution, but they work very well. Even the old Adobe CS4 on a 2.33GHz C2D Macbook Pro w/2GB RAM was usable for cutting 4K. I cut several short form projects with that system while on the go in '09.

All my current systems, including the 3.06GHz C2D MBP I have for sale, plow through 3K shot on the RED without a hitch and without the Rocket. In fact, R3D is LESS CPU INTENSIVE than H.264. People just don't think of it that way because R3D files usually have much higher resolution than 720p or 1080p H.264 o AVC files.

Adobe has the best GPU acceleration at the moment, but like Charles says, it's only for GPU-accelerated FX and a few other functions. And only in Premiere. After Effects and other Adobe Apps don't have GPU acceleration.

 

[Tom Lowe]

Is there anything preventing Adobe from using CUDA to speed up demosaicing? Or is demosaic simply a CPU task? With these big new 5K files, it sure would be nice.

I could be totally wrong, but didn't Deanan also mention possibly using CUDA to accelerate RCX?

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

RED SDK is not GPU accelerated for now. In the past it was said that the demosaic or debayer process wasn't very GPU-friendly. And I do see where that could be the case, but there's a lot going on that only Graeme and some of the others at RED know about.

There's still lots of things for the GPU to accelerate after the demosaic takes place though. In apps like Premiere, a lot of the GPU effects, color functions, scaling, etc.. can all still put a load on your GPU. Same with color grading in Resolve.

Best thing to look forward to is the 8 and 10 core CPUs on the horizon for later this year.

 

[Ben Brainerd]

One of the other things to be aware of is that Apple's in the process of switching back to ATI video cards, so Adobe's Mercury Engine won't be as effective on upcoming versions of the iMac or Mac Pro. Just a thought.

 

[Wayne Morellini]

Thanks Guys.

So, the Apple solutions are not suitable? It is said that Apple has a fold down touch version of the Imac, which is very suitable for some of the work flow solutions I thought about in the 90's. They are also talking about a higher resolution and new form factor. But I don't know if that is this year or the major revision last year.

Have done inquiries about Microsoft surface to develop new display hardware, but am getting the run around. The Samsung 42inch model will be FullHD and $7640, not really suitable.

On the PC, your best options are Adobe CS5 or Sony Vegas. Both work in real-time with 4K R3D clips. Obviously not at full resolution, but they work very well. Even the old Adobe CS4 on a 2.33GHz C2D Macbook Pro w/2GB RAM was usable for cutting 4K. I cut several short form projects with that system while on the go in '09.

All my current systems, including the 3.06GHz C2D MBP I have for sale, plow through 3K shot on the RED without a hitch and without the Rocket. In fact, R3D is LESS CPU INTENSIVE than H.264. People just don't think of it that way because R3D files usually have much higher resolution than 720p or 1080p H.264 o AVC files.

Hmm, I remember I had opinion on how slow it was when Red originally released it compared to the competition. But obviously it has improved. For comparison, which resolution and data rates are you comparing between the two formats?

About the GPU acceleration. GPU architecture and capabilities have varied a lot over the years. I don't know how good the general purpose processional functions on DX10 level GPU's were for this, but ATI, and now NVIDIA have DX11 support, and Open CL I think, which fills out processing functionality. This was one reason I was waiting for last years Imac, because they were to have DX11 level GPU's. Unfortunately the Imac was an otherwise minor upgrade and no scarlet in sight.

They could program alternative processing functions in OpenCL, which can automatically try to use whatever processing hardware is available (CPU's, DSP, GPU's etc) ATI or Nvidia, Apple or PC. Alongside whatever priority formats they want to support (nvidia or ATI).

 

[Stephen Gentle]

One of the other things to be aware of is that Apple's in the process of switching back to ATI video cards, so Adobe's Mercury Engine won't be as effective on upcoming versions of the iMac or Mac Pro. Just a thought.

It's almost certain that Adobe will eventually support OpenCL as well as (or possibly instead of) CUDA in the future because it supports both AMD and Nvidia. But that may not be until CS6.