[APG 3 A2 Linux] Memory not released after rendering

[Photonicwand]

[APG 3 A2 Linux] Memory not released after rendering

by Photonicwand » Wed Aug 29, 2012 12:51 pm

I have been using APG 3, Alpha 2 under Mint 12, which is based on Ubuntu linux.

One of the smaller issues I noticed is that APG 3 allocates a significant amount of memory when rendering a panorama, but this memory does not get released after the rendering completes. The only way to clear the memory is by shutting down APG completely and restarting it.

The impact of this issue is that you cannot have APG run in the background while working on preparing the next panorama or doing the final edit on the panorama you edited. There does not appear to be any negative impact on the usage of APG itself.

BTW, this is not a new issue in APG 3, under APG 2, this problem already existed.

The screenhots below show the memory usage before rendering a panorama, after rendering a panorama and after closing APG down.

Last edited by Photonicwand on Wed Aug 29, 2012 12:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[AlexandreJ]

by AlexandreJ » Wed Aug 29, 2012 5:01 pm

In fact, it is the way autopano is working. At startup, we reserve a big block for rendering according to user setting. During rendering, we use it, after rendering we release it ( in fact, we prepare for recycling it ).

The external memory monitor doesn't know that. The first reservation is not taken into account because not used it. So it doesn't appear. When a rendering is done, then this block is tagged used and it appears in the monitor. When the rendering is finished, it stays this way, but effectively inside autopano, we don't use it anymore, but mark it ready for next rendering ( it prevents us any external soft to steal that block ... ).

[Photonicwand]

by Photonicwand » Wed Aug 29, 2012 5:41 pm

Ok, good to know. It can be a bit of a problem because I cannot run other programs at the same time, such as opening the rendered panorama in GIMP, without slowing the whole machine down. I tend to shut down APG to avoid this conflict.

Guess it is time to start looking for a new computer :-)