Suggestions for next Arena Update

[Ghost_Train]

As regular Arena user, these are a few very needed feature Suggestions (in my opinion):


-Save UI Preference option or inlcude UI state in 'saved Project' file
(for example: option to keep "Time" and "Voice Notification" off by default.)

-add scroll bars for each pane. One of the biggest UI problems I've experienced is there are no ways to resize panes or scroll down to setting options that are out of view. This is mainly a problem when using older or smaller res monitors.

-Add the option to edit/refine a skelleton after it has already be created. The option appears to exist but any changes made to the skelleton do not stay. If this feature already exists, it might help to make it more obvious or user friendly. Maybe give it its own window (For example, maybe add "Edit Skelleton" to the Skelleton Wizard)

-When editing numbers in a field (Example: the FPS field while exporting bvh) Please get rid of the annoying pop-up "Please enter an integer." About 99.99% of the time I am in the process of changing the integer. The pop-up inturpts this extremely simple procedure just to tell me something that should be common sense for anyone who is smart enough to use Arena...or smart enough to use a keyboard.

That is all I can think of at the moment. Just some little changes that could go a long way. Thank you for reading.


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There are a few bugs I keep running into as well. Is there any way I could assist in helping to iron them out? For example, submitting error log or bug report.

-Arena crashes if I change too many settings when getting read to start wanding. I usually have to restart Arena and start all over.

-The more Arena is used, the slower it seems to become. It has bogged down to very low frame rates. After restarting the computer it seems to run perfectly fine again.

-After Tredjectorizing, I cannot get my recorded motion data to appear in the Edit tab unless I click back on the Capture tab, then on the Edit tab again.





NOTE: I apologise if there is a designated feature suggestions area that I failed to find.

[NaturalPoint - Mike]

Hello -

Thanks for the great suggestions!

Could you elaborate a bit on the slowdown you're seeing? Over how long of a period does it occur? What does the memory usage for arena look like when it slows down? How many takes are loaded?

What settings are you changing in the calibration tab that cause a crash?

[Ghost_Train]

The slowdown does not seem to happen very consistently. I will have to get back to you next time I am experiencing it. I will check what you asked.

As far as crashing from setting changes, it seems to happen when I am adjusting the camera settings. Mainly exposure and threshold. If I make too many changes, sometimes 5-10 changes, the cameras displays will become gray and no longer give live feedback of what they see. I usually have to restart Arena in order to get camera visuals back for calibration.

Also if I have trouble with wanding results, I would click Reset and start over. But it tends to crash at that point if I make another attempt at wanding. I need to restart Arena in order to make another pass at wanding.

[NaturalPoint - Mike]

Okay so by crash in calibration with settings, you're referring to the camera screens going grey not an error window coming up saying "Arena has stopped working", correct?

[Ghost_Train]

The camera's go gray first, then it crashes if I go ahead and try to start wanding again.

[NaturalPoint - Mike]

Okay, just to make sure, what type of cameras are you using and how many? If they are V100R2 cameras, are you using OptiHubs for synchronization? How many?

[Ghost_Train]

[quote=NaturalPoint - Mike]Hello -

Thanks for the great suggestions!

Could you elaborate a bit on the slowdown you're seeing? Over how long of a period does it occur? What does the memory usage for arena look like when it slows down? How many takes are loaded?
[/quote]

Tonight I am experiencing slowdown again.
The computer has been on all day (it is usually left on).
I think for this session Arena has been open for about 4 hours.
The cameras were not live though. They are off.
I took a screenshot of the Task Manager.
This is not the slowest it has been but it's running at 15-16 fps.
It has been way lower in the past.
I am pretty sure I've hit 5 fps before.
There is only one 2D data file and 1 Trajectorized file open.




Uploaded with ImageShack.us

I tried restarting Arena and it does not seem to change the speed it is running.
I am pretty sure if I restart the computer it will return to normal speed.

Computer info:
Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601)
HP-Pavilion
System model: AW018AV-ABA e9210t
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q9300 @ 2.50GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.5GHz
Memory: 8GB


I am going to restart the computer now because I need to get some animation work done. I will have to wait till next slowdown session if you have more questions. I hope this info is enough to help you figure something out.

[Ghost_Train]

[quote=NaturalPoint - Mike]Okay, just to make sure, what type of cameras are you using and how many? If they are V100R2 cameras, are you using OptiHubs for synchronization? How many? [/quote]

I am using 24 FLEX: V100R2 cameras, with 4 OptiHub 2 boxes.

[Ghost_Train]

After restarting my computer Arena is now back to normal. Roughly running at 58 fps.

Here is a screenshot:



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

[NaturalPoint - Mike]

Try running something like GPU-Z in the background and monitor temp and mem/gpu usage on your video card. Take a few readings and average them right after startup with arena running, use that as a baseline, and compare to readings as you use it and once it begins slowing down. This will either confirm or rule out the display adapter as being the issue.

You can do this with CPU-Z as well and monitor temp/speed of the CPU, too.