Hi!!, I’m using a 2018 MacBook Pro 13-inch with an i5 processor and 8GB of RAM. Even with just two lasers, the fans start spinning easily. Would the new MacBook Air M4 be enough to handle 2, 4, or more lasers?
Thanks!
Hi @Alem_Sanchez!
Liberation uses as much CPU as it can to hit the highest possible framerate, so it’s normal for older machines like the 2018 Intel MacBook Pro to spin up the fans quickly. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s struggling - check the framerate indicator in the top right of the top bar. The left number is the actual framerate, and the right is the target. Anything over 30 fps is generally fine.
Even if it’s making noise, your current setup can probably handle more than two lasers - four or more should be totally workable. And if it is dropping framerate, it’s usually the visualiser that’s slowing things down, so try removing some lasers from that view.
For what it’s worth, I’ve run quite a few shows on a 2020 MacBook Air (Apple silicon) with no performance issues at all. I’m not sure of the exact laser count, but probably somewhere between 10 and 20. So the new M4 Air should be even better - faster, cooler, and more efficient.
Also, make sure you’re on the latest version of Liberation - there was a big macOS optimisation update a few versions ago (0.9.4? check the changelog).
Hope this helps!
Seb
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I’m running 0.9.6 on a MacBook Air M3 and just sitting idle with the 3D visualizer, Liberation is using 39.6% CPU. My machine is holding up fine, and the app is still responsive, but that does seem kind of high?
On my iMac M3, while paused and idle in the clip editor, I was hitting 98% CPU. I had 3D and the preview panel open.
Hi @jason.sanjose, thanks for letting me know!
That’s pretty similar to what I see with other creative apps - Blender and Resolume use about the same CPU when they’ve got a viewport open.
On the M3 Air you’ve got 8 CPU cores, right? And Activity Monitor’s % is per core, so ~40% usually means just one of them is working hard - overall the machine still has plenty of headroom.
Safari or Pages will sit at 1-2% when idle because they can fully pause when nothing’s happening, whereas Liberation’s 3D view (and interface) keeps rendering frames constantly (although there are some optimisations)
At some point I could add a “sleep” mode that caches the render when nothing’s changing, but it’s a fair bit of work and not top of the list right now.
Best
Seb