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After Effects CC – poor CPU usage on (“new”) MacPro
Hello forum from Munich,
I know, there are many posts about (more or less) my topic, but even after reading for almost 2 hours I can not find a proper fix.
Sorry!What I do:
rendering out some 6000 5K Canon RAW’s to ProRes4x4 5K (TimeLapseSequence)
I do such stuff since years.What I use:
MacPro (end 2013) 8core with “all-in” (64GB RAM, 1TB SSD, 2x FirePro, …)
Adobe AfterEffects CC
Latest software versions of OSX and CCreading/writing from/to:
original RAW’s on internal SSD
writing to LaCie Thunderbolt2 RAID-0
allocated DiscCache of 299GB on 2nd LaCie Thunderbolt2 RAID-0– I’m aware of Thunderbolt buses in my MacPro – all set up (connected) properly for best performance
My problem:
Before AE CC I found out some good settings (multipro., RAM, …) to get my Machine quite busy (the CPU’s). Since CC, if I observe the activity monitor for CPU usage, my machine is damn bored! I would say not even 25% of my CPU power gets used!Rendering out using “add to render queue” is ridiculous slow (12h)!
Took before CC almost just one third of the time (with the right settings, now not available anymore in CC). Using MediaEncoder, it’s better, almost 5h, but still my machine is totally bored!
Still not even 25% usage of my CPU power available.I have seen my Activity Monitor in former times (while AfterEffects renders) completely stressed, with the fans for cooling starting really to work … Nowadays my computer seems to be as relaxed as during playing back just a single HD clip in QuickTime.
Some cows out there with hints for better performance of my lifetime? (-;
Many thanks,
Emanuel
DoP/Producer/TimeLapseEnthusiast
https://www.firstcamera.deEmanuel M. Schwermer
Director of Photography, BVK
SpecialEffectsPhotography
Munich-Germany -
10 Replies
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Many thanks Dave!
I better roll back to CC2014 then!Greets,
Emanuel
Emanuel M. Schwermer
Director of Photography, BVK
SpecialEffectsPhotography
Munich-Germany -
Dave,
please allow me one last question:
Back in AE-CC2014 – should I use render-queue or media-encoder?
Again, many thanks!
Emanuel
Emanuel M. Schwermer
Director of Photography, BVK
SpecialEffectsPhotography
Munich-Germany -
Adobe’s release notes for 2015 mention that you can work in 2015 and then when you want to render you can open the 2015 project in 2014 for multi-core rendering.
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OK Dave!
But where the heck should this option be hidden in CC2015 – already back in 2015 and can’t find such an option! ???Anyway, many thanks dude!
(You helped me a lot already in the past master!)Many Thanks!
Emanuel
Emanuel M. Schwermer
Director of Photography, BVK
SpecialEffectsPhotography
Munich-Germany -
Sorry guys, this last question was -> Brad!
Thanks Brad for the hint!
You also helped me already in the past!
Thank you so much guys!
What a great – fast responding – forum!
Cheers mates!
Emanuel
Emanuel M. Schwermer
Director of Photography, BVK
SpecialEffectsPhotography
Munich-Germany -
Here’s the link:
“If you still want to use these features with your project, you can open project files saved by After Effects CC 2015 (13.5) in After Effects CC 2014 (13.2). Project files are directly compatible between these versions; you do not need to save back a version. Both versions of After Effects can be installed on the same computer at the same time.”
So you work in 2015, save, and then open in 2014 to render. Obviously, you need to reinstall 2014 if you didn’t retain it during the upgrade to 2015.
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[Dave LaRonde] “If you send to Media Encoder, I understand that you can continue to work in AE. You can set up Media Encoder to make both a lossless, archival version and one for delivery.”
Media Encoder will not use multi-processing, so use the Render Queue. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself right back in the same situation you’re in now with CC 2015.
Walter Soyka
Designer & Mad Scientist at Keen Live [link]
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
@keenlive | RenderBreak [blog] | Profile [LinkedIn] -
Sorry if I was unclear. No version of Media Encoder uses multiprocessing. I was trying to say that using AME CC 2014 to render would be like using Ae CC 2015; no multiprocessing in either.
For maximum render performance on a well-equipped machine, do final renders in Ae CC 2014 via the Render Queue with multiprocessing on.
Walter Soyka
Designer & Mad Scientist at Keen Live [link]
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
@keenlive | RenderBreak [blog] | Profile [LinkedIn] -
Fast forward to mid 2016 and it’s still the same.
Adobe have taken full fare off users for this delivered software that has very poor render performance.It’s not good enough. Resolve uses 75-80% of CPU when rendering final outputs.
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Well, here we are at AE Version 2017 and STILL no multi-threading. Major bummer. A couple points of clarification – CPU/GPU utilization in Adobe Media Encoder (at least in MS Windows) is codec dependent. Some codecs are optimized for full utilization of CPU/GPU resources (MPEG2) others, not so much (Apple ProRes).
…and forget about exporting to Encoder if you need an alpha channel. Encoder STILL doesn’t export with alpha.
Brent Watkins
Producer
https://www.rivermedia.tv
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