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chrisjohannesbauer
Participant
August 6, 2020
Question

Low CPU usage when applying „unsharp mask“ effect.

  • August 6, 2020
  • 4 replies
  • 1802 views

Hi everyone. 

As soon as I apply the unsharp mask effect to a clip or a adjustment layer and try to export the sequence, my export time multiplies drastically. 

For example:

sequence unsharp mask effect turned off: 2 minutes export time. 
same sequence but with unsharp mask effect turned on: 50 minutes or more. 

I did realize, that CPU usage is extremely low when the effect ist turned on (hovers around 30%). Without the effect CPU usage is pretty much always over 90%.

 

Is this a common problem? Is there a easy fix for this? 

Thanks in advance,

Chris 

This topic has been closed for replies.

4 replies

A
Anonymous
April 26, 2024

Four years later, similar question. 😉

I was wondering why I couldnt get smooth playback of my simply UHD Prores HQ timeline when the unsharp mask is applied, now I know why.

AND I couldnt use the advantages of the unsharp mask. I am shooting UHD LOG on the FX3 and so I have to post sharpen a little but even the slightest adjustment of the "threshold" slider makes everything unsharp again. I cannot make it sharpen only parts in focus. My lenses are all new original sony ones and quite sharp - but there is no in-camera-sharpening applied. 

As I am only outputting HD - or even worse 50i - and working in a UHD timeline with UHD Footage, I guess sharpening everything with the lumetri effect and then downsampling on export to HD is the best way to go, isnt it? 

R Neil Haugen
R Neil Haugen
Legend
April 26, 2024

Perhaps.

 

But if you really need sharpening on professional media, there are plugins that can probably help. Most colorists I know work in Resolve, which has a lot of effects ... but the colorists typically have Boris and other things like that also installed. A LOT of plugins.

Everyone's mileage always varies ...
A
Anonymous
May 26, 2024

Thanks Neil, maybe there is still no way around resolve for post production..

florenth5065547
florenth5065547
Participating Frequently
April 17, 2021

Hi. 

Me too same problem. And it's very annoying cause it's MUCH longer with the Unsharp mask (which is pretty much vital to use, for social medias...)

Also I have 32 Gb, 3200Mhz of Ram, and it goes arund 50% while exporting. My AMD Ryzen 7 CPU goes to 100%. 

 

Plus, in the monitor I can clearly see that the Unsharpen makes a colour shift towards the green tint. This remains when the video is exported. I don't know which is more annoying...

 

Please help from the technicians.

thank you in advance.

 

 

B
basil1891
Inspiring
April 17, 2021

@florenth5065547 Unsharp mask is a non-accelerated, i.e. "CPU-only" effect. To make render/export faster, follow these rules regarding order of effects:

 

- Ideally don't use CPU-effects at all (keep a timeline "yellow"). This is maximum speed mode. 

 

If you can't avoid using CPU-effects:

- Don't mix CPU- and GPU- effects in the same adjustment layer. Doing so will cause rendering in "software only" mode (very slow). Instead separate GPU and CPU effects in two different layers. Put "GPU-layer" on top of a "CPU-layer". This way GPU-acceleration will actually work.

 

- In case of applying effects directly to a clip without adjustment layers: organize effects in a way that all GPU-effects are applied after CPU-effects.

 

Here 

"GPU-effect" means any GPU-accelerated effect; when added it makes/keeps the timeline "yellow".

"CPU-effect" - any that makes the timeline "red"

    R Neil Haugen
    R Neil Haugen
    Legend
    August 7, 2020

    And the CPU?

     

    I'm trying to puzzle a bit here ... applying Unsharp on my laptop (not even my desktop) ... doesn't even add any notable time to a render & replace to say Cineform.

     

    Neil

    Everyone's mileage always varies ...
    R Neil Haugen
    R Neil Haugen
    Legend
    August 6, 2020

    What's your RAM on that system, and how heavily is that being used?

     

    Neil

    Everyone's mileage always varies ...
    C
    chrisjohannesbauerAuthor
    Participant
    August 7, 2020

    I have 32 GB of 3200mhz DDR4 RAM. 

    During rendering it hovers around 40% usage. 

    But it's the low CPU usage when using the Unsharp mask effect that irritates me. 

    It feels like my CPU is using only one core to render when activating the effect instead of all eight...could this be the case? 

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