Skip to content

Main Navigation

Puget Systems Logo
  • Solutions
    • Recommended Systems For:
    • Content Creation
      • Photo Editing
        • Recommended Systems For:
        • Adobe Lightroom Classic
        • Adobe Photoshop
      • Video Editing
        • Recommended Systems For:
        • Adobe After Effects
        • Adobe Premiere Pro
        • DaVinci Resolve
        • Foundry Nuke
      • 3D Design and Animation
        • Recommended Systems For:
        • Autodesk 3ds Max
        • Autodesk Maya
        • Blender
        • Cinema 4D
        • Houdini
        • ZBrush
      • Real-Time Engines
        • Recommended Systems For:
        • Game Development
        • Unity
        • Unreal Engine
        • Virtual Production
      • Rendering
        • Recommended Systems For:
        • OctaneRender
        • Redshift
        • V-Ray
      • Digital Audio
        • Recommended Systems For:
        • Ableton Live
        • FL Studio
        • Pro Tools
    • Engineering
      • CAD
        • Recommended Systems For:
        • Autodesk AutoCAD
        • Autodesk Inventor
        • Autodesk Revit
        • Lumion
        • SOLIDWORKS
      • Photogrammetry
        • Recommended Systems For:
        • ArcGIS Pro
        • Agisoft Metashape
        • Pix4D
        • RealityCapture
    • Scientific Computing
      • Recommended Systems For:
      • Data Science
      • Machine Learning / AI
      • Scientific Computing
    • More
      • Recommended Systems For:
      • Compact Size
      • Live Streaming
      • NVIDIA RTX Studio
      • Quiet Operation
      • Virtual Reality
  • Products
    • Intel Core i7 & i9
      Workstations with 13th Gen Intel Core i7 & i9 processors on Z690 and Z790 chipsets
    • AMD Ryzen 7 & 9
      Workstations with AMD Ryzen 7000 Series processors on B650 and X670 chipsets
    • AMD Threadripper PRO
      Workstations with AMD Threadripper PRO 5000 WX processors on the WRX80 chipset
    • Intel Xeon W
      Workstations with Intel Xeon W 3300 processors on the C621E chipset
    • Rackmount & Server
      Servers and workstations in rackmount chassis
    • Custom Computers
      Customize a desktop workstation from scratch
    • Custom Servers
      Customize a rackmount server from scratch
    • QNAP Network Attached Storage
      Check out our external storage options as an authorized reseller for QNAP
    • Recommended Third Party Peripherals
      View our list of recommended peripherals to use with your new PC
  • Publications
    • Articles
    • HPC Blog
    • Blog Posts
    • Case Studies
    • Podcasts
    • Press
  • Support
    • Contact Support
    • Support Articles
    • Warranty Details
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Press Kit
    • Testimonials
    • Careers
  • Talk to an Expert
  • My Account
  1. Home
  2. /
  3. Hardware Articles
  4. /
  5. Metashape 1.6.1: Running Simultaneous Instances

Metashape 1.6.1: Running Simultaneous Instances

Posted on April 29, 2020 by William George
Always look at the date when you read an article. Some of the content in this article is most likely out of date, as it was written on April 29, 2020. For newer information, see our more recent articles.

Table of Contents

  • Introduction
  • Test Hardware
  • Benchmark Details
  • Benchmark Results
  • Analysis
  • Can you run multiple instances of Metashape at the same time?
  • Is running multiple instances of Metashape a good idea?
  • Closing Thoughts

Introduction

In our past testing of Metashape, we have found that it only effectively uses around 8-16 cores. More than that doesn't help, and so the focus for best performance is on high clock speeds within that range. What if you were running multiple photogrammetry jobs at the same time, though? Would that end up better utilizing a high core count processor? We did just that to find out.

AMD Threadripper 3990X Running Agisoft Metashape
Image
AMD Threadripper 3990X Running Agisoft Metashape

As a first foray into running multiple instances of an application in our testing, we started small on the software side but big on the CPU – using AMD's Threadripper 3990X. This 64-core beast certainly has enough threads to run two (and maybe more) instances of Metashape at the same time, and also supports enough RAM to make sure that we weren't limiting performance on that side.

Test Hardware

Here is a list of the hardware components that made up the test configuration, along with the OS and application versions we used:

Test Platform
CPU AMD Threadripper 3990X
CPU Cooler Noctua NH-U14S TR4-SP3
Motherboard Gigabyte TRX40 AORUS Pro WiFi
RAM 8x DDR4-2933 16GB (128GB total)
Video Card 2x NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11GB
Hard Drive Samsung 970 Pro 1TB
Software Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
Windows 10 Pro for Workstations 64-bit
Metashape 1.6.1

Benchmark Details

For testing photogrammetry applications we now have four image sets that we own the rights to, covering both smaller and larger size Model and Map projects. All of these image sets are available in our public Metashape benchmarks, split up to allow quick or extended tests, which you can download and run if you want to compare your system's performance to what we measured for this article.

  • Rock Model – A small model project taken with a smartphone camera at 20 megapixels
  • School Map – A small drone mapping project using photos that are 18 megapixels each
  • School Model – A medium size model using images that are each 18 megapixels
  • Park Map – A large drone-captured map project with photos that are 18 megapixels each

Given the focus of this article, however, I opted to use only the larger two image sets. I wanted the processing time to be long enough to ensure good results, and to really demonstrate whether this attempt to improve performance is effective. I found that the public version of our benchmark, available at the link above, worked better with two instances going at the same time than our internal tool. That test was run in two configurations:

  • One instance by itself, with the full power of the system available to it (all 64 cores, with SMT disabled as it doesn't help this application, 128GB of RAM, and dual GPUs)
  • Two instances running at the same time, but sharing system resources (each instance of Metashape was specifically assigned one of the two video cards in the Preferences -> GPU menu)

Benchmark Results

Here is a gallery showing the results, in seconds, for processing each image set by itself ("single project") as well as the longer of the two times from our concurrent testing ("parallel"). I also included a third result, which is just the single project time doubled up to show how long it would have taken to process it twice back to back ("serial") instead of at the same time.

Image

Here is the same info, but shown as a percentage of time taken compared to the single project by itself:

Image

Analysis

The results speak for themselves, and are quite impressive! Yes, it takes 10-26% longer to process two projects simultaneously on this system compared to one by itself… but if you have multiple projects to work on, that is a much more efficient approach than processing them just one at a time. This may well extend further, beyond just two instances of Metashape – but multitasking like this would eventually be limited by either the CPU core count, RAM capacity, or number of video cards within a single workstation.

Can you run multiple instances of Metashape at the same time?

Yes, you can – at least with the Metashape Professional license we have access to. It is worth noting that you cannot control how many CPU cores or how much RAM Metashape will use, at least from within the application, but you can select which GPU(s) are to be used. Out of an abundance of caution, and until I can test things further, I would advise setting each instance to run on a different GPU.

Is running multiple instances of Metashape a good idea?

That depends on your hardware and workflow. If you have a lot of projects that you could process at the same time, and a system with >16 cores, at least twice the amount of RAM you need for a single project, and multiple video cards – then yes, this is a way to improve overall performance. If you don't have a backlog of projects, though, or if your PC isn't that powerful, then I would stick to one at a time.

Closing Thoughts

Despite this experiment having been quite a success, I am not sure how widespread the need for running multiple photogrammetry projects at the same time really is. Our recommended systems are still set up with the expectation that folks will be processing one image set at a time, but if you know that you want to push beyond that just call or email our consultants and they can help tailor a more powerful system to your exact needs.

I would also love to hear in the comments below if this is something you have tried, or are interested in! If enough users want to go this direction, we could easily add a recommended system built for this – and potentially even do expanded testing on 3 or 4 instances at the same time.

CTA Image
Looking for a Metashape Workstation?

Puget Systems offers a range of powerful and reliable systems that are tailor-made for your unique workflow.

Configure a System!
CTA Image
Labs Consultation Service

Our Labs team is available to provide in-depth hardware recommendations based on your workflow.

Find Out More!

Related Content

  • Puget Systems Hardware Trends of 2022
  • Intel Xeon W-3400 Content Creation Preview
  • Intel NUC 13 Extreme Content Creation Review
  • Intel Core i9 13900KS Content Creation Review
View All Related Content

Latest Content

  • Puget Systems Hardware Trends of 2022
  • Guide To Removing Instapak Foam
  • Basic Guide to Identify and Remove Malware
  • Should I Upgrade My Gpu
View All
Tags: AMD, AMD Threadripper 3rd Gen, CPU, Metashape, Multi-threading, photogrammetry, Processor, Software, Threadripper 3990X

Who is Puget Systems?

Puget Systems builds custom PCs tailored for your workflow

Extensive in-house testing
making you more productive and giving you more performance for your dollar

Reliable workstations
with fewer crashes and blue screens means more time working, less time waiting on your computer

Support that understands
your complex workflows and can get you back up and running ASAP

Proven track record
check out our customer testimonials and Reseller Ratings

Get Started

Browse Our Workstations

Fractal Design Define 7 Chassis with Puget Systems Logo

Select your workflow:

Content Creation
Engineering
Scientific Computing
More

Latest Articles

  • Puget Systems Hardware Trends of 2022
  • Guide To Removing Instapak Foam
  • Basic Guide to Identify and Remove Malware
  • Should I Upgrade My Gpu
  • Case Study with Lost Boys Interactive
View All

Post navigation

 Premiere Pro (BETA) – H.264 NVIDIA Hardware Encoding PerformanceRevit 2020 GPU Performance 
Puget Systems Logo
Build Your Own PC Site Map FAQ
facebook instagram linkedin rss twitter youtube

Optimized Solutions

  • Adobe Premiere
  • Adobe Photoshop
  • Solidworks
  • Autodesk AutoCAD
  • Machine Learning

Workstations

  • Content Creation
  • Engineering
  • Scientific PCs
  • More

Support

  • Online Guides
  • Request Support
  • Remote Help

Publications

  • All News
  • Puget Blog
  • HPC Blog
  • Hardware Articles
  • Case Studies

Policies

  • Warranty & Return
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Delivery Times
  • Accessibility

About Us

  • Testimonials
  • Careers
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

© Copyright 2023 - Puget Systems, All Rights Reserved.