Jittery Animation

[John Cuevas]

When you render, what kind of file are you creating(QT, avi, wmv) and where are you watching this file.

For instance, I have a very capable computer for AE, but if I were to render a HD quicktime-animation and try to play it on my computer, it will stutter and stop…all the information will be there the CPU’s just can’t play it. Once I import the file into my NLE(Avid) it plays fine.

If you are on a PC, try rendering to a .wmv, 350kbps and see if that plays okay—.wmv’s playback in media player pretty well. If it doesn’t stutter than, it’s just your original render is probably chocking the cpu.

Johnny Cuevas, Editor
Thinkck.com

“I have not failed 700 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”
—THOMAS EDISON on inventing the light bulb.

[Walter Soyka]

I agree with Johnny.

AE’s default lossless output module generates an intermediate file that is designed for additional post-production use, not direct playback. These files are generally huge, with very high data rates, and very few computers can play them back in real time without stuttering. For more, see this Adobe FAQ [link]: Why is my output file huge, and why doesn’t it play back smoothly in a media player?

No need to re-render in AE: you can bring your lossless file into Adobe Media Encoder and use it to create a compressed WMV or H.264 movie, which should play back normally.

I generally recommend this workflow (render to lossless intermediate for separate compression), as many codecs benefit from multi-pass encoding, which the AE render queue can’t support.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
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