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AE Playback issue – timeline is choppy
Hi all,
I’m using an AE template I bought from Pond 5 and updated it to AE2017 (which is what I’m working on). When I try to watch my timeline, it’s incredibly slow and choppy. I have tried this file on both my PC and my MacBookPro, both of which have recently and successfully worked with similar AE files, with no trouble at all.
When I play my timeline, in the Info box I get the following note:
Playing from RAM: 40 of 1041 (note that the first number changes)
fps: 03.515/24 (NOT realtime)The RAM and fps numbers are changing. My composition settins are at HDTV 1080 24 and the frame rate is 24 fps. Resolution is set to full.
Here is a link to the template I am using: https://www.pond5.com/after-effect/41314674/spheres-reveal-loop-after-effects-template.html
I’m using all stills with moves for the background. Can anyone suggest what settings I’m missing that are making this run choppy?
PC specs are:
Toshiba laptop
Windows 10
Intel Core i7-4700MQ
2.4 GHZ
16GB RAMMacBook Pro 2015
16GB RamThank you for your help!
JulieJulie Allen
Writer | Producer -
6 Replies
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It will run choppy as it creates the RAM preview. When you complete and playback a RAM preview, does it still run choppy? Are the stills very large? Try previewing at a lower resolution if you need it to render faster.
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Hi Daniel,
Thanks for your reply. And yes, viewing at 1/2 res gives the same results. I’m sure this is a setting somewhere that I’m missing which is really what is so frustrating.My photos are quite large (5506 x 3619), but I”ve used these templates with video and they ahve been fine so I can’t figure out what is going on with this particular template.
Thanks,
JulieJulie Allen
Writer | Producer -
[Julie Allen] “My photos are quite large (5506 x 3619), but I”ve used these templates with video”
And the videos you’ve been using are lower resolution compared to the photos. You could save the photos with a lower resolution before importing them to AE.
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Hmm… A few thoughts:
– Are the photos RAW as well? If you shut the photo layers off does it play smoothly?
– Have you used AE 2017 before and had it work fine? I haven’t used it yet, but heard it can be quite buggy.
– In your preview window, is the frame rate set correctly and the Skip parameter at 0?I’m not entirely convinced After Effects is behaving incorrectly. Templates often use expressions and effects that are processor-intensive. Combine that with the large photos and I think it is possible that After Effects just can’t handle realtime playback of this project on your computers, even after rendering a preview.
Hopefully some of this is helpful!
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Hi Daniel,
Yes, 2017 has worked fine for me so far, but I think 2 things were at play here. (Keep in mind I’m a novice at AE!) My photos are huge so I”m going to scale them down. They are not raw, but jpegs that are flattened. I also reduced my preview RAM to 1/4 and that worked. Once I scale down my photos I should be able to preview at a higher resolution. My machine is a couple years old so it’s possible that even this i7 processor is just a little too weak for this apparently intense template.
Thanks for all the help!
Happy New Year,
JulieJulie Allen
Writer | Producer -
Getting choppy playback issues? Even on simple animations.
If you are using 2 monitors and the 2017 version of AE then try this.Unplug one of your monitors.
Try preview (should be better)
Plug monitor back in
Try preview (should be the ok now)If ok, reboot AE. This will re-load workspace and drivers.
Hope this helps.
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