CS3 Multiprocessor problems

[Kevin Camp]

i can’t speak to cs4, but i’ve been running cs3 with mp enabled on several macs for quite some time now, and i’ve found it to be fairly trouble free. one mac i use most often is very similar to yours: 2×2.8 quad, 12gb ram, cs3 8.0.2.27 and osx 10.4.11.

to make it easier to limit the cores that ae will use, try using this script: https://aescripts.com/throttle-11/

if you have trouble installing it, follow the ‘responses’ below the download on that page.

once installed, try setting the ‘procs’ number to 5 (your ram divided by 2, so, 10/2=5). then set your memory and cache settings to the default values — maximum ram usage: 120%; maximum ram cache: 60%. if you only have internal hard drives, i’d disable disk caching for performance reasons. for stability, i’d also disable opengl in the preview pref and use adaptive resolution.

Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW

[George Tabbut]

Really appreciate the clear easy to follow instructions. Unfortunately I only had a minor improvement. I am beginning to wonder if I have mis-diagnosed the problem. With the multiprocessor preference enabled my issues are RAM previews where the video level randomly shifts during playback and the rendered output has a noticeable level shift usually within the first 30 frames of the rendered video. Turning multiprocessor off solves both issues but drastically slows down render performance.

My other thought was that I may have an issue with RAM but have experienced no problems with any other applications.

George Tabbut
Studio TMG

[Kevin Camp]

[George Tabbut] “With the multiprocessor preference enabled my issues are RAM previews where the video level randomly shifts during playback and the rendered output has a noticeable level shift usually within the first 30 frames of the rendered video.”

does this happen even if you dropped the footage into a new comp without any effects?

if so, it may be the footage type that you are using. footage that has been compressed with a codec that uses temporal compression (also called intraframe or p or b frame compression) will make after effects work much harder to render/preview (it’s good for nle’s, bad for compositors), interframe (or i frame) compression is fine.

hdv, mpeg2, mpeg4 and h.264 are some common codecs that use temporal compression. if you are using any of these, then you will want to convert them (export from an nle or other utility like quicktime pro) to a codec that does not use temporal compression. it would be best to export as lossless or uncompressed, but other codecs like photo-jpeg, dvcprohd, prores and even dv use only interframe compression and should work well in ae.

if the footage is not a problem, then it may be an effect…? auto color correction effects (auto levels, etc…) aren’t mp friendly and will disable mp when used, plus they tend to act up anyway. same with some of the cc time effects. what effects are you using?

Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW

[George Tabbut]

my workflow is as follows. standard definition green screen footage is shot on P2 or directly on the Mac (aja kona) using the dvcpro50 codec. Edited in Final Cut and exported with Automatic Duck. Primary filter is Keylight, some layers have the BCC color correction filter. pretty simple stuff. problems show up even with all effects off.

tried taking just the video into a new comp with no effects – same problems persisted – but also noticed that my video level dropped by about 10 units (measured with Test Gear) just from turning the multiprocessor capability on. Also tested some non green screen footage with the same results.

tried bringing in the footage directly from the final cut capture scratch folder bypassing automatic duck – still the same problem.

exported my timeline from final cut using quicktime conversion with ProRes 422 HQ as the compressor and this made the problem stop. So is the dvcpro50 codec the smoking gun? It would be a kind of funky work around to have to export quicktime from final cut and then have to take that back apart in AE to separate the scenes. Am I missing something?

George Tabbut
Studio TMG

[Kevin Camp]

[George Tabbut] “So is the dvcpro50 codec the smoking gun?”

it is interesting that changing the codec solved the color fluctuations you were seeing… you mentioned that you use media from p2 and captured straight to the mac. if you see a problem with any p2 media from fcp, have you tried bringing the p2 file straight into ae? cs3 8.0.2 will import them natively and bypass fcp and the transcoding to a qt wrapper.

[George Tabbut] “also noticed that my video level dropped by about 10 units (measured with Test Gear) just from turning the multiprocessor capability on.”

here is a link to a tech note from adobe on qt exports from ae that appear lighter or darker:

https://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=kb402801

i’m not sure if that is at all related to your other problem, but it will probably help the darker render issue…

i don’t have fcp (although i have used it) and i’ve never used automatic duck, so i don’t know any of the pitfalls of your workflow… i know many fcp/ae users swear by duck. a couple years ago, i had used fcp to transcode p2 files that i needed to get to ae, i found pulling the files directly from the capture scratch folder was the best for my purposes, but i wasn’t going back to fcp. the codec was dvcprohd, but i didn’t have any issues with the qt wrapped conversion…

Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW

[George Tabbut]

Kevin I would like to thank you for your help in working thru the problems. I have a break in my schedule coming up and will devote my time to some additional troubleshooting to see if I can nail this down. For some strange and wonderful reason problems tend to show up when you have the least time to solve them. I’m fairly new to FCP (less than a year) and still learning its strengths and weaknesses and realize that operator error is a potential issue. May test some of the same footage run through a different NLE and see if that is a factor.

George Tabbut
Studio TMG