Render Timing Benchmarks

Expected Render Times

Onset Engine’s render times depend heavily on the selected visual style preset, the output resolution, and the active render quality (Draft vs. High).

The following table provides approximate relative render times per minute of output. Note: Actual times will vary based on hardware.

Preset / Mode	720p (Draft)	1080p	4K
Draft Mode (FFmpeg Concat)	Fastest (< 30s)	N/A (Forced 720p)	N/A
RAW / STANDARD	~1x baseline	~2x baseline	~6x baseline
AGGRESSIVE / AMV	~1.5x baseline	~3x baseline	~8x baseline
PRESTIGE / TRAILER	~2x baseline	~5x baseline	~12x baseline

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Factors Affecting Render Speed

Four things dominate how quickly your video finishes rendering:

CPU Cores

Frame extraction, scaling, and compositing are CPU-bound and run across multiple cores. A modern CPU with 8+ cores will significantly accelerate STANDARD and PRESTIGE renders.

GPU Hardware Acceleration (Encoding)

Onset Engine detects your hardware encoder automatically.

• NVIDIA: NVENC (h264_nvenc), CUDA-accelerated.
• AMD: AMF (h264_amf).

Note: GPU acceleration is used for the final H.264 video encoding step, but the frame-by-frame visual effects processing remains CPU-bound.

VFX Complexity

The style_preset chosen dictates the complexity of per-frame operations:

• Lightweight: RAW applies no color grading and relies solely on hard cuts.
• Moderate: STANDARD applies subtle zooms, transitions, and minor color adjustments.
• Expensive: PRESTIGE and TRAILER use intensive processing, such as:
  • AI depth estimation driving depth parallax and focus breathing.
  • Heavy color grading (e.g., teal_and_orange or warm_film).
  • Luma-matte transitions and speed ramps.
• Cutout Pop Transitions: Runs AI background removal on every transition, drastically increasing render time.

Smooth Motion (60fps Interpolation)

If Smooth Motion is enabled, Onset Engine performs a post-render pass to double the framerate (e.g., 30fps to 60fps) using optical-flow motion-compensated interpolation. This can add significant overhead, often doubling the total render time.

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Tips for Faster Renders

1. Use Draft Mode: Draft mode skips the VFX pipeline entirely and stitches the clips together directly. It is extremely fast, which makes it the right way to review beat-sync and pacing before committing to a final master render.
2. Lower Output Resolution: If 4K is not required, 1080p will render up to 3x faster while retaining excellent quality.
3. Choose Simpler Presets: Opt for RAW or STANDARD instead of PRESTIGE if you don’t need cinematic depth parallax or heavy color grading.
4. Disable Expensive Extras: Uncheck “Cutout Pop Transitions” and “Smooth Motion” in the GUI to save massive amounts of processing time.

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Hardware Recommendations

Onset Engine gracefully scales based on available hardware, but performance thrives on better specs:

• Minimum Specs:
  • Memory: 8GB RAM minimum.
  • CPU: Quad-core processor.
  • Note: If VRAM is below 6GB, Onset Engine enforces a 1080p safety cap to prevent out-of-memory crashes during NVENC encoding.
• Recommended Specs:
  • Memory: 16GB+ RAM.
  • CPU: 8-core processor or higher.
  • GPU: Dedicated NVIDIA GPU (for NVENC) or AMD GPU (for AMF) to accelerate the final encoding step.