CS3 Multiprocessor rendering problems

[Mike Procunier]

This problem only happens with MP enabled.

[David Franklin]

I have not had this particular problem, but I continue to struggle with the multiprocessing function in CS3.

I tried your trick of installing Nucleo Pro 2 (okay, I installed the free trial version). But not only did it seem to make no difference to the speed of my RAM previews when I tried to use it, but when I disabled it, installing it didn’t seem to have the effect you described of also getting rid of the pesky tendency of CS3 to keep repeatedly initializing background processes every time I RAM preview using the native Multiprocessing mode.

I’ve been working on deadline on my current project and so have just been living with this stuff, but it’s starting to get very tiring.

Anybody else experiencing these delays at the beginning and end of RAM previews in Multiprocessing mode using CS3 on a MacPro tower?

I’ve got 120% of 3GB in my RAM allocation, and 45% of 1.5GB in my RAM Cache. (That’s to give enough memory from my 4 Gigs of RAM to engage all four processors independently).

When I up the RAM cache I get error messages about fragmentation. I also tried turning on the Disk cache, but that doesn’t seem to make a difference.

Maybe I just need more RAM altogether before I’ll see a benefit? But seriously, do I need 8GB? Or 16? Just to do a moderately complex AE project? It seems like I must be doing something wrong.

Any wisdom would be much appreciated.

[Ben Piercey]

Hey Mike,

The issue with intermittent color bars when referencing QT footage is a known problem with MP in AE CS3. Adobe is working on a fix. We have seen this happen with NP2 from time-to-time in CS3 also but we have put in measures to minimize its occurrence.

Hang tight, the AE team is on top of it.

Ben

[David Franklin]

Hi Ben,

Any wisdom from the AE team on our Multiprocessing RAM preview lags? Is it really necessary to 8 or 16GB of RAM before these lags go away?

And why DOES it lag both at the start and end of the RAM preview? Standard processing doesn’t have this problem at all…

https://forums.creativecow.net/cgi-bin/new_read_post.cgi?forumid=2&postid=912045&threadid=911927&pview=t

Also, is it possible to disable the function of auto-saving before each RAM preview? That adds an interminable amount of time to how long it takes to look at anything.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

[Ben Piercey]

Are you asking in the context of AE CS3 Multiprocessing or NP2? If it’s CS3 then I’m afraid any response I give would be mostly speculation. It’s probably best that someone from Adobe address these concerns.

That said, I’m not aware of any egregious lag issues with NP2’s preview so I will assume you are referring to AE CS3. If indeed NP2 is suffering from this, I’d like to get my hands on a sample project and have the problem fixed as soon as possible. Please let me know.

> Also, is it possible to disable the function of auto-saving
> before each RAM preview? That adds an interminable amount
> of time to how long it takes to look at anything.

In NP2 the project must be saved in order to ensure that background processes are providing valid frames. Imagine getting back preview results that didn’t jive with the layers and animation defined in your comp. That would certainly cause head-scratching and possibly fits of rage.

Saving the project is a necessary artifact of the multiprocessing approach. I’d guess that AE’s MP would likely suffer from this also – but there I go … speculating… 😉

Ben
GridIron Software, Inc.

[Mike Procunier]

Did you try using NP2’s RAM previews (Cmd-Shift)? If you set Performance Level to Maximum it’s just as fast or faster than AE’s MP RAM preview. Remember to turn off MP in AE’s Prefs to enable NP2.

[Henk Loorbach]

hi,
i’ve experienced the same kind of trouble with ae cs3.
i also have 4,5 gb of ram and alltho i don’t see the colorbars appear, my after effects just simply crashes. giving me the same fragmentation errors and stating i should increase max ram and decrease the other.
i’ve tried all possible combinations and it still seems very unstable.
i’m not running NP2. just the standards ae/g5 ppc combo.

i’m working on a sd project right now, trying to maintain somne workflow till the deadline,
but immediately after i’m starting on a hd project, that should cause those outbreaks of rage for sure!

[Henk Loorbach]

hi,
i’ve experienced the same kind of trouble with ae cs3.
i also have 4,5 gb of ram and alltho i don’t see the colorbars appear, my after effects just simply crashes. giving me the same fragmentation errors and stating i should increase max ram and decrease the other.
i’ve tried all possible combinations and it still seems very unstable.
i’m not running NP2. just the standards ae/g5 ppc combo.

i’m working on a sd project right now, trying to maintain somne workflow till the deadline,
but immediately after i’m starting on a hd project, that should cause those outbreaks of rage for sure!

[Marcus Lyall]

I’ve got some problems here with multiprocessing too. AE 8.

A brand new 8-core. 16 gb of ram. Completely clean install. 3 days out of the box.

Been rendering identical projects on this machine and a quad-core sitting beside it.
Quad core is creaming it, to my chagrin, because the multiprocessing works without crashing. 8-core has been crashing continuously when using multi-processing. In the activity monitor, you can often see at least 2 crashed ae processes.

Also, Can’t stop a render in progress without the machine crashing.
Processes hang around in the activity monitor until you do a full shutdown.

Without multiprocessing ticked, it behaves like a gentleman. An elderly gent. Not much faster than my old g5.

Should I be testing my ram? Or are we still in beta testing here?
Does 8.0.1. make a big difference? First thing on the agenda tomorrow.
Is it all about memory managing voodoo? Does anyone have the correct incantation?

M

[Brent Bye]

I’m yet another with the same issue of AE CS3 unexpected quits when using Multiprocessor rendering.

Second generation MacPro 8-core with 16GB of RAM.
Previously had the stock hard drive and the ATI 7300 graphics card.
Now have a faster WD hard drive and the nvidia 8800 graphics card.
New drives and graphics card made no difference other than application hangs rather than quitting and disappearing.

I’ve even gone into the Preferences file and adjusted the “Maximum Number of Processors” for the application to use. This file is found in User>Library>Preferences>Adobe>After Effects>8.0>Adobe After Effects 8.0 Prefs
After enabling Multiprocessing in the Appliction Preferences, close the app and open the above preferences file. You’ll scroll down to a block of code labeled [“MP”] which has the preferences for Multiprocessing. In the “MaxNumberOfProcesses” = “0” section you can switch the number to up to 6 I’m told (leave a couple processes available for the OS was the recommendation I received).

Even after this change however, I’m still experiencing a hanging application and have to force quit and revert to non-multiprossor renders in order to get any work done.