Memory and RAM Cache settings CS3

[Kevin Camp]

here’s a link to some good stps to follow to avoid image buffer errors:

https://generalspecialist.com/2006/11/avoiding-after-effects-error-could-not.asp

it’s a little old, but the settings will still apply to cs3… one other thing that you should do for cs3, is try disabling multiprocessing (preferences>multiprocessing, uncheck the option to render mulitple frames simutlaneously). with only 4gb of ram you won’t be able to effectively use multiprocessing anyway, and this will give more ram to the forground process, which is what you need.

also, with 32-bit windows, there is a 4gb switch that needs to get set for windows to utilize all 4gb of ram. i don’t know the specifics, but search the the cow or the web for ‘windows 4gb switch ini’ and i’m sure it will turn something up.

Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW

[Jeff Blasczyk]

Thanks for all the info. I beleive all the RAM that AE can use is 3GB but the rest can be used for background processes. I finally figured out how to do a command prompt for a 3 GB switch in Vista.
I tried rendering out last night but am still getting the image buffer error for an image 5001 by 3336. Hopefully messing with those settings mentioned in the link you provided will help.

[Kevin Camp]

[jeff blasczyk] “I beleive all the RAM that AE can use is 3GB but the rest can be used for background processes”

that’s correct

[jeff blasczyk] “I tried rendering out last night but am still getting the image buffer error for an image 5001 by 3336. Hopefully messing with those settings mentioned in the link you provided will help.”

even with the memory & cache settings, you may have to break up large images to get them to render without the image buffer error (the link mentions this, but i just wanted to reinforce that settings may not overcome this problem).

you can also try to pre-render as much as you can by grouping layers into precomps (select the layers then choose layer>pre-compose, usually choose move all attributes) then, with the pre-comp open, choose composition>pre-render. set your render settings and render the pre-comp. a e will automatically import the render and replace the precomp in what ever comps are using it. this can reduce how much memory is needed to render the final comp, thus leaving more ram for the image buffer… how effectively you can utilize precomps and pre-rendering really comes down to your comp, though…

Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW