• Adobe After Effects

  AE Rendering decreasing memory/speed over time, think its due to Ext HD. Need a better way.

  Posted by Jeff Rouric on June 22, 2013 at 10:33 pm

  Ok, this is getting ridiculous.

  I’m using AE CS6 to convert MTS files to smaller files since it seems to be one of the only programs that can open/convert MTS. My client gave me an old harddrive filled with them, being connected to my Macbook Pro via a Firewire 400/800 converting wire.

  Each file is approximately the same size, and takes about 10-13 mins to render out. With all my other applications closed, and internet turned off, AE uses somewhere from 35-45% of my RAM (4GB) to render. And that’s fine, I’m fine with this speed.

  BUT I’ve noticed that the speed/memory used gradually decreases over time, regardless of not doing anything new on the computer. If uninterrupted, it will eventually get to about 10% RAM used, and the render speeds drop so much that it will get to about 40 minutes a render.

  I tried Purging memory. Nothing.
  I tried quitting AE and restarting AE. Nothing

  I tried quitting AE AND ejecting the Hard Drive, then putting it back in. LOOK! It’s like new again!

  So my solution to this problem has been to convert maybe 2-3 at a time (each taking 10 mins), then quit AE, eject the hard drive, put it back in. Resume down the list.

  But that’s such a hassle. Can anyone tell me why this is happening and what I can do to fix it? My guess is the Ext HD has a problem, but as long as it lives long enough for me to get all I need, I can deal with it.

  I tried copying the MTS over to my computer first to see if that’d process faster. Ended up freezing my computer and had to force quit Finder, and that wouldn’t reopen until I pulled the hard drive (tried to safe eject through Terminal, but nothing, so no choice) so that’s not an option.

  Thanks!

  Michael Sisko replied 12 years, 10 months ago 4 Members · 3 Replies
• 3 Replies

• 

  Todd Kopriva

  June 23, 2013 at 12:56 am

  What version of After Effects (11.0.0? 11.0.2)? Have you installed the recent updates ( https://adobe.ly/lsrkmJ )?

  My guess is that you haven’t installed the updates, so you haven’t yet installed the fix in the 11.0.2 update for working around a bug in Mac OS memory management.

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  Todd Kopriva, Adobe Systems Incorporated
  After Effects quality engineering
  After Effects team blog
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• 

  Ivan Myles

  June 23, 2013 at 1:03 am

  It is also a good idea to regularly empty the media cache. How full is the hard drive?
• 

  Michael Sisko

  June 23, 2013 at 12:32 pm

  Is the drive FireWire 400 or 800? That will affect speed greatly. If you only have 4gb of ram you will never use more then 75% give or take as the os reserves/ uses one on its own. When your rendering the amount of ram used and time remaining are not based on a true metric. If you comp has a ton of particle animation in the beginning then you will start using a lot of ram and a longer length. If halfway thru the animation gets simple the CPU/GPU will take over and the render time will change. I have seen the same thing you are, it depends on what your rendering. But a slow drive will not help. Also adding ram to your machine would be helpful.

  Sent with ipad mini, p,ease pardon any mistakes.

  Michael Sisko

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