The Network Processes Tab

Owned by Marc Lievin
May 27, 2024
3 min read
The Network Processes tab in Vortex® Studio Player displays information about the processes running inside the simulation locally or on remote computers.

Overview


The Master node represents the node where the dynamics engine is running. This is the node broadcasting simulation information to the slave nodes.

A slave node is a node receiving the simulation data, often to render it in a 3D scene with the graphics module.

By default, the information is presented in Overview mode (see image above). Each line represents a SimApp process, i.e., one VxApplication configured with a node from the Setup file, running in the network with the following information:

  • Node Name: Name of the node used to configure the application.
  • Host: The machine's name.
  • PID: Process ID.
  • Type: Indicates whether this node is the master or a slave. If "local" appears after the type, this means it is the locally running process.
  • Mode: The mode of the application running in the process, e.g., Editing, Simulating, Paused.
  • Clock Time: Indicates the local time on that node.
  • Data Store: The simulation uses files located on this computer in the given path.

Measurements

Clicking the Measurements button switches to a view mode where each line also represents a SimApp process running on the network, as in the Overview mode. However, information related to the processes measurements are shown here.

Note All min/max/average values are calculated from the last 120 frames.

  • Frame Rate: Number of application frames per second.
  • Cycle Time : Time taken by the application to update one frame (16.6 ms when running at 60 Hz).
  • App Update Time: Time taken by the application update in one frame (this includes the Wait Time).
  • Wait Time: Time that the application waits in one frame to reach the requested frame rate (this is only applicable if the SW Sync is activated on the application).
  • Skipped Frames: Number of frames from the engine that were not processed and skipped on a slave process. This represents the total number of skipped frames over the last 120 frames.
  • Repeated Frames: Number of frames from the engine that were repeated on a slave process. This represents the total number of repeated frames over the last 120 frames.

Plotting

Selecting a measurement activates the Plotter button at the top-right of the window. In this way, any measurement can be selected and plotted by pressing this button. To view multiple measurements at once on the same plot, multi-selection (by holding down the Shift or Ctrl keys) can be used to select more than one cell in the table.

Debugging

Below the node list is a Graphics Debug tab, providing the user with remote controls for all nodes containing a graphics module for the following:

  • Polygon
  • Graphics Overlay
  • Overlay Metrics
  • Anti-aliasing
  • Simulation Frame Rate (only available in SW Sync mode)
  • Sync Mode