AE CS6 and render Multiple Frames Simultaneously

[Kevin Camp]

i don’t have cs6 to test, but all previous versions of ae that have the ‘render multiple frames simultaneously” option have to start up background renderers, one for each core that will be used. so that part sounds normal… also, it should only happen once after starting ae.

as for performance with or without that option, it does depend a lot on the project. some will benefit more from mp, while other may not.

personally i would always have it on, unless i was having issues. however, there are some things that you should know about when enabling mp in ae and you should take a look at this (although it is from the cs5 manual, i think it still applies to cs6):

https://help.adobe.com/en_US/aftereffects/cs/using/WS9F936D13-E76A-41e4-BF8F-577132AB4723a.html

and there are links to several other tips to help render performance here:

https://forums.adobe.com/thread/543440

Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW

[David Tunnell]

Thanks,

Very good info!

Thanks,

David Tunnell
TunnellVision Productions

[Roland R. kahlenberg]

Rendering RAM Previews with MP does seem to ‘hang’ on occasions. Purging memory or emptying the cache folder doesn’t help. If I find RAM Previews taking too long to get started, I will switch it off. After a few RAM Previews without MP, I’ll switch it back on and hope that it works. More often than not it does.

I’m on a PC and when MP is in a stuck-y mode, the Info Panel will show Rendering Frame 2 of XXX.

BTW, let us know how much total RAM you have and you you’ve allocated them in the Prefs Panel. The link Kevin provided includes lots of info on optimizing memory settings but they are general guidelines with no specific recommendation for the different types of system setups that abound.

HTH
RoRK

Intensive AE & Mocha Training in Singapore and Malaysia
Adobe ACE/ACI (version 7) & Imagineer Systems Inc Approved Mocha Trainer

[David Tunnell]

I have maxed out the ram for this motherboard at 16 gigs. I have 8 cores, I assigned 4 cores to AE with 2 gigs each and left the remaining ram to other functions.

Thanks,

David Tunnell
TunnellVision Productions

[Roland R. kahlenberg]

With CS6, Photoshop and I think Illustrator share the same memory allocation as AE,PPro, Encore and AME. Therefore, you will want to set aside more than the 8GB of RAM in the Memory & MP prefs.

Instead of 2GB per core, increase it to 3GB per core. This will leave 4GB to other apps (1GB per core), which should be sufficient unless you intend to run a ‘high-end’ app concurrently with your Adobe production apps.

Another permutation is to set AE (and other related Adobe apps) to use 5 cores with 2.5GB per core. The drop-down menu doesn’t provide for setting 2.5GB but you can open up the Prefs Text file to allow for this.

The bottom of this page contains instructions on how to change the values contained in the afore-mentioned drop-down menu – https://help.adobe.com/en_US/aftereffects/cs/using/WS9F936D13-E76A-41e4-BF8F-577132AB4723a.html

Take note that the list maxes out with 6 items. Therefore, you will need to change the values after the “=” sign instead of adding a new line.

HTH
RoRK

Intensive AE & Mocha Training in Singapore and Malaysia
Adobe ACE/ACI (version 7) & Imagineer Systems Inc Approved Mocha Trainer

[David Tunnell]

Thanks, that is great information. I tried the 4/3 and got a tad better performence. It is strange, when I do 3D in AE 6, I get faster previews using the nVidia GPU.

Thanks,

David Tunnell
TunnellVision Productions

[Roland R. kahlenberg]

You’re welcome David. But take note that AFAIK, Memory & MP settings will not solve issues related to background processes which seems to have a mind of its own.

Cheers
RoRK

Intensive AE & Mocha Training in Singapore and Malaysia
Adobe ACE/ACI (version 7) & Imagineer Systems Inc Approved Mocha Trainer

[David Tunnell]

I understand, it always has been. I once had Nucleo Pro which was an attempt to do what AE is doing now with multi frame rendering using multi copies of AE. It never worked very well either.

One of the problems is that the more they improve the preview renders the more demands we put on the software and the platform with larger files and more complex projects.

I and many of my associates do entire commercial projects completely in AE. It can become a challenge when trying to work out timing and often you have to render out the project to confirm the real timing and then make adjustments.

Thanks,

David Tunnell
TunnellVision Productions

[Roland R. kahlenberg]

[David Tunnell] “One of the problems is that the more they improve the preview renders the more demands we put on the software and the platform with larger files and more complex projects. “

To me, it’s part of evolution and how the entire ecosystem evolves – us wanting more and them giving us more; creating an endless cycle of knowledge and innovation. We shouldn’t forget the hardware peeps too. To this end AE CS6 has made a huge leap. It is however unfortunate that not all users will be able to enjoy the hardware acceleration BUT Global Performance cache is HUGEly awesome AND all can leverage its benefits!

On the side of hardware acceleration, there is now great possibility that hardware accelerated DOF, scale, Motion Blur etc etc will be available in future offerings. Do send your feature requests to the folks on the AE Team.

[David Tunnell] “I and many of my associates do entire commercial projects completely in AE. It can become a challenge when trying to work out timing and often you have to render out the project to confirm the real timing and then make adjustments.”

Global Performance Cache should provide a huge productivity boost. On my end, I try to leverage on PPro for previews and timing as often as I can – not always possible but when AE and PPro work together in a dedicated workflow system, sweetness abounds!

Cheers
RoRK

Intensive AE & Mocha Training in Singapore and Malaysia
Adobe ACE/ACI (version 7) & Imagineer Systems Inc Approved Mocha Trainer

[David Tunnell]

Global performance cache rocks! Now, I am forced by my business to operate in two environments. I have a PC that has a massive nVidia card and the 16 gigs of ram and 4 fast drives. I get relly good performance there.

Then I sometimes have to use a 17″ MacBook Pro running Parralells and the graphics card isan ATI card. It has 16 gigs of ram, but windows can only use 8 gigs of it. I can legally use my copy of CS6 on both, but not at the same time. But it seems that I can only get either Mac or Windows licenses so, I have to run CS6 on the mac under Win7.

But, unless I am doing 3D, which is impossibly slow on the mac, I get pretty good performance. I just throw the resolution down to half and it works pretty good.

CS6 is really a sea change for the the suite.

Thanks,

David Tunnell
TunnellVision Productions