Using Performance Monitoring

These functions requires a Vioso License or higher. See also Licenses and functions.

Performance Monitoring can be used to record the parameters listed below in order to analyze performance problems.

1. Click   Options in the function bar below the main menu and select Project Options - Performance Monitor on the left. Unless Performance Monitoring has already been enabled, check the box Enable performance monitoring.

2. In the list below you can see the parameters that are displayed in red, yellow or green in the timeline when certain value ranges are exceeded. There are three profiles available for evaluation, i.e. the point where the colors change:

   • Tolerant evaluation  ...colors change first to yellow and then to red if performance fell drastically and is no longer sufficient.

   • Normal evaluation  ...default setting, balanced evaluation that is suitable for most cases.

   • Critical evaluation  ...colors change from to yellow or red when there are first signs of a performance problem. This profile points at possible problems at an early stage.

   • User defined  ...allows changing of parameters and value ranges in the list. It is also possible to add further parameters. This is how you add parameters...

     Right-click some free space in the list window and select Add... Click column Parameters for the new entry, click and select the required parameter (for explanations see below). Click the Range column and enter the value range that is still ok (color green). Click column Name and enter a meaningful name. Add further entries likewise for the indicator ranges yellow (= not quite OK) and Red (= critical). To choose the color, click on Green in column Color followed by clicking on    and select the required indicator color.

      

3. Close the Options and start the presentation by hitting the F5 key. At the top of the timeline a colored bar appears which is the performance indicator. All parameter values are recorded once every second.

4. At the end of the presentation stop playback and click on   Performance monitor in the bottom right program window. If you move the locator with the mouse the recorded parameters are indicated. As long as the colored line in the timeline remains green all parameters have remained in an uncritical range.

5. In order to find the yellow or red areas in a longish show very quickly click on to compress the display and show a larger time portion. If you move the Locator into a yellow or red area the critical parameters are also indicated in red or yellow in the Preview window. Click to resume normal time display and you will be able to see the critical areas in more detail.

The parameters and their meaning are as follows:

• Refresh rate  ...specifies the set refresh rate for the graphics card. Note: This parameter is only visible when enabled in the Options.

• Dropped FPS  ...defines the number of frames that were dropped during a period of one second of graphics output.

• Render time  ...specifies the time it takes to render a frame. This time should be as short as possible. Note: This parameter is only visible when enabled in the Options.

• Display time  ...specifies the period of time a frame is displayed. The ideal value for 60 f/s is 16 ms. The longer the render time gets the shorter will the display time and the frames may under certain circumstances no longer be displayed, i.e. the frame rate decreases. Note: This parameter is only visible when enabled in the Options.

• Incomplete pictures  ...defines the number of pictures within a periond of one second that was loaded incompletely to the graphics memory and displayed incompletely.

• Skipped pictures  ...defines the number of pictures within one second that could not be loaded and were skipped (only visible when enabled in the Options).

• Dropped video frames  ...specifies the amount of video frames that could not be displayed. Every video file is considered for this.

• CPU - Wings  ...specifies the main processor capacity utilization by Wings Vioso an. Critical values depend on the processor used. For a modern 4-core processor 50 percent are highly critical, whereas for a DualCore processor 80 percent are still ok.

• CPU - Total  ...specifies the total capacity utilization of the main processor. If this value is distinctly higher than Wings Vioso, this is an indication that other parallel processes affect the performance.

• Wings Memory  ...specifies the RAM capacity utilization as a percentage of 3.5 GB.

• If one of the parameters in the list moves into an unfavorable (yellow) or critical range (red) the bar in the timeline displays that area in the corresponding color.

• Any problems in loading images are only indicated for one second in the colored line, i.e. only the failure in loading is indicated. If the line turns green again afterwards this is no indication whether the image can be seen or not. Information about the images affected can be found in the log window. See also Displaying log information.

• When you got an error message about dropped video frames you can look at the log window to find out which video is affected. See also Displaying log information.

• Performance parameters are also determined when the presentation is paused. This is quite useful for playback of asynchronous loop videos or live player videos as the values are updated every second on tab Performance Monitor.

• Performance Monitoring causes only minimal overhead. After determining the parameters your can disable this function for critical shows so that full performance is available during the presentation. See Project Options - Performance Monitor.

• When displays (monitors, projectors) are duplicated and one of them is scaled down the value for Dropped Frames may not be displayed correctly.

See also

Performance test for videos