Moho fails on render

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7cassandra
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Moho fails on render

Post by 7cassandra »

Hello. I have an older laptop that still runs my graphics software just fine, but now that I'm trying to use Moho, it fails when rendering. I'm almost certain it is because my screen resolution is too low, as that is the only Moho system requirement it doesn't meet (I have 2x the recommended processing speed and RAM) and when I rendered on another machine that has no graphics card but a higher screen resolution, it worked. So I don't think the problem is my graphics card (Intel(R) HD Graphics). My current screen resolution (max) is 1366x768 while the recommended reso is 1920x1080. Before I buy a new computer for $1K - $2K just so I can run this software, I want to see if anyone has information about whether there's a way Moho can work effectively with my screen reso setting. Are there certain types of rendering that need higher reso than others? Moho failed when I was rendering an animated image file, not a vector file created in Moho (I scanned a painting, separated it into pieces and corresponding layers in Photoshop, imported the layers, then animated them). Going forward, I will probably use vector files and create artwork in Moho so maybe the rendering requirements will be different?

Thanks for reading my long question and potentially answering. :-)
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Greenlaw
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Re: Moho fails on render

Post by Greenlaw »

I used to run ASP 9 - 10 on an HP tm2, a small laptop convertible which had a screen resolution of only 1280 x 800. I animated Scareplane and the HLF titles with this computer. It's not exactly the computer you describe but the specs are probably not too far off.

At the time, my one complaint was that the screen could get cluttered with all the separate panels, but that didn't affect rendering. I think HLF had some rendering issues on this laptop and I'm sure it's because HLF was a 1080p production and I only had 6GB or RAM. (Final comps and renders with motion blur had to be done on my desktop at home.)

FYI, Scareplane was mostly vectors and rendered at 720p; I think only the BGs were painted bitmap layers, and I don't recall having any render issues on that project. HLF may look like it was all bitmap but it was actually vectors with texture fills. I found this approach was more efficient to work with and allowed for better deformations than using bitmaps by themselves. (This was long before we got Smart Meshes.) Also, I think my early all-bitmap tests were too slow to render and I couldn't afford wait for long renders, while the vector/bitmap hybrids rendered more quickly.

Anyway, I haven't tried to run Moho 12 on the tm2 as I no longer use it for serious work, but Moho is more demanding than ASP was so I wouldn't be too surprised if the computer had some problems with.

Make sure you have the latest graphics driver...I'm sure that will affect performance.

I'm not sure how helpful the above is but maybe it will give you an idea of what to expect with an older computer and small screen.

P.S., I think you can still run Moho on a lower res screen but, IMO, 1920 x 1080 is just a barely-comfortable minimum. I currently have my mobile tablet computer set to 1920 x 1080 to make the UI look correct (for Moho and other programs I use,) but I avoid leaving multiple panels open while working because the display can still get pretty cluttered. Higher display res is much better so long as the display itself isn't physically too small like with my tablet computer (about 13".)
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slowtiger
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Re: Moho fails on render

Post by slowtiger »

Screen resolution doesn't inflict Moho's ability to render larger formats.
AS 9.5 MacPro Quadcore 3GHz 16GB OS 10.6.8 Quicktime 7.6.6
AS 11 MacPro 12core 3GHz 32GB OS 10.11 Quicktime 10.7.3
Moho 13.5 iMac Quadcore 2,9GHz 16GB OS 10.15

Moho 14.1 Mac Mini Plus OS 13.5
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Greenlaw
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Re: Moho fails on render

Post by Greenlaw »

Oh, yeah...I meant to add that. :)

I was mostly commenting how the UI worked at lower than recommended resolutions, but I should have noted that the screen res shouldn't have any effect on rendering.

However, you should still make sure the graphics driver is up to date. A dated driver could affect system stability and increase the likelihood of a crash, even during rendering. (In my case, the occasional crashing I had with HLF's 1080p renders had more to do with low RAM availability, 6GB.)
7cassandra
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Re: Moho fails on render

Post by 7cassandra »

I checked the driver and apparently it is the most updated version. If my system meets the software requirements (except screen reso which per the 2 responses prob isn't significant), it makes me wonder if maybe there are some other driver/update issues I need to resolve on my computer. I'll try that in the meantime.
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Greenlaw
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Re: Moho fails on render

Post by Greenlaw »

Just to be sure, you're running 12.4? The latest version is much more stable than the first releases.

If it's always crashing with the same project at the same place, it could be something about the project file Moho doesn't like. Make a copy of the project and try systematically disabling things. For example, hide half the layers and test render. If it crashes, the problem may be somewhere in that visible half. If it goes through, show the hidden half and hide the other and render. If you get a crash then, start narrowing it down from there. Try that for starters.

If it randomly crashes, try rendering the project with multi-threading turned off. This used to be a problem with the Batch Render (now called Moho Exporter) in ASP 10; it was supposed to be fixed back in version 11, but maybe there's a specific situation you've stumbled upon that causes a problem. If that's the case, definitely report it. (FWIW, I haven't seen this bug in version 12; just putting it out there since it was a pretty bad one back in version 10.)
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