I need fast and long ram previews… :/

[Walter Soyka]

4 GB is not very much RAM for After Effects.

AE itself is 32-bit, which means it can access up to 4 GB of RAM; however, through multi-processing, it can launch multiple instances (one per core) and each of those processes can access up to 4 GB of RAM.

You can really speed up your previews and renders by adding RAM and enabling multiprocessing. You want to aim for 2 to 4 GB of RAM per core; in your case, you’d want 8 to 16 GB of total system RAM. This requires a 64-bit operating system, which you already have.

RAM previews are limited in length by free RAM available (up to 4 GB) to the main instance of After Effects.

Of your 4 GB of total system RAM, your operating system is probably eating up a gigabyte or two, and that only leaves AE 2-3 GB of RAM, when it could potentially access 4 GB. Depending on your comp and actual RAM usage, you might be able to increase the length of your previews by maybe 50% or so.

When AE goes 64-bit in CS5, the preview length limitation will evaporate, because the main process will be able to access much, much more RAM than 4 GB.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Jako Krull]

Are you crazy? 32 GB?! Do you know how much that would cost me?I’m only 15 and I live in Estonia ( a very poor country) so 32 GB would only be a dream here. I will problaby get core i7 in the future when the price drops. 🙂

[Jako Krull]

Okay 🙂 Sorry if I got you wrong… I might upgrade to 8 GB-s soon, it wont cost me that much… I have 2 RAM slots empty, so I could simply buy two 2 GB RAMs and I would have a total of 8 gigs 🙂

I do use the render multiple frames, but Im still a little confused with the interface… There is a slider that lets me pick between longer ram preview and faster rendering… so what is the difference?
ohh also could you tell me what would be the best settings for me there, If I would wanna have a RAM preview as fast as I can get and as long as I can get? Right now Ive set it so that each core uses 1 GB and that there are two cores working on after effects.

Thanks for the fast reply by the way!

[Walter Soyka]

[Jako Krull] “I do use the render multiple frames, but Im still a little confused with the interface… There is a slider that lets me pick between longer ram preview and faster rendering… so what is the difference? ohh also could you tell me what would be the best settings for me there, If I would wanna have a RAM preview as fast as I can get and as long as I can get? Right now Ive set it so that each core uses 1 GB and that there are two cores working on after effects. “

You should probably turn Multiprocessing off. You don’t have enough RAM right now to really make use of it. See Todd Kopriva’s great blog post on RAM requirements for multiprocessing for more information, and my COW post on how RAM starvation slows down your system.

If your performance is limited by your hardware, you might need to adjust your workflow to get better preview. I do have 32 GB of RAM, but a lot of my work is ultra-widescreen at above 4K frame sizes, so even though I have more RAM than you or Dave, I have to make some compromises in my workflow just the same.

I am constantly adjusting my work area, and I use Shift-RAM preview for a super low resolution preview that skips every other frame. I use proxies all the time; I pre-comp related elements, get them locked down, then render it out so I can see my previous work when I move to the next set of layers.

You might also look into the region of interest feature.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events