Multiprocessing with a MacPro in CS3

[Darby Edelen]

[Paulo Mateus] “I’m using a MacPro (8 Core with 2 Gb Ram), and when I enable the multiprocessing option in After Effects (version 8.0.0.247), it just renders “normally”, like I never enabled the Multiprocessing option. It doesn’t render multiple frames simultaneously.”

Each core in your system has to be able to address RAM for your Image Cache. Check your Memory & Cache settings and make sure that you have the Image Cache setting low enough to allow the 2GB to be split across multiple processors.

Note that you probably don’t want to lower this value too much, so you should definitely make your next upgrade more RAM. You have 8 cores, each of which can use up to 3GB of RAM (2GB would be great too), you should try to upgrade to at least 8GB of RAM to take more advantage of your multiple cores.

Here are some good websites for memory:

http://www.datamem.com

http://www.macsales.com

Darby Edelen
Designer
Left Coast Digital
Santa Cruz, CA

[Kevin Camp]

as you adjust the max ram cache setting, you can switch back to the multiprocessing pref. in the text block bellow the setting, it will tell you how many ‘additional processors’ will be used for multiprocessing.

with 2gb of ram you probably won’t be able to get all 8 cores to work. 4 cores (3 additional cores), or less, may be a better goal so to not restrict the available ram for each core too much.

if you are working in sd, i would recommend getting 8gb of ram (1gb per core) if you want to get all 8-cores rendering. if you are working in hd you may want to get 16-24gb (2-3gb per core).

also, there are some updates to cs3. the current version is 8.0.2, and the last update fixed a few things for multiprocessing on an 8-core machine (i think it was specifically for rendering large frame sizes on an 8-core mac, but it’s still probably worth updating).

Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW

[Marek Subocz]

Hi!
I have a question concerning AE CS3 and RAM > 4GB. Does AE support more than 4GB of ram? we have a widows XP system based solution and we are wondering to switch to a 64bit system (windows or mac os), however we don’t know how AE will use xtra memory.
AFAIK AE is not a 64-bit compositing software, so how can it handle xtra memory. I’ve heard that AE somehow “sees” more then 4GB of Ram on Mac os, is it true?

Thank You for all Your answers,

cheers
Marek

Marek Subocz
VFX Compositor

reel.subocz.com
http://www.subocz.com

[Kevin Camp]

ae is 32-bit, and 32-bit applications are limited to 3gb of ram. but with cs3 (or nucleo pro), ae can use multiple render engines (one for each processing core) and each render engine can be allowed 3gb of ram.

however, to utilize more than 4gb of ram your system (os) must be 64-bit, otherwise it won’t be able to see more than 4gb of ram. so to use more than 4gb of ram, your system needs to run windows64 or mac osx.

Kevin Camp
Senior Designer
KCPQ, KMYQ & KRCW

[Leandro Nalef]

[Kevin Camp] “if you are working in sd, i would recommend getting 8gb of ram (1gb per core) if you want to get all 8-cores rendering. if you are working in hd you may want to get 16-24gb (2-3gb per core).
“

Kevin, I’m working on an HD project in an 8-core 3GHz Mac Pro with 8Gb of RAM. At the moment I can’t afford the ideal 16 Gb configuration you mentioned, but maybe an extra 2Gb of RAM, making a total of 10 Gb. My question is, with the multiprocessing option in AE, will it speed up render time a little or just enable me to RAM preview more frames in one preview? AE’s render speed is related only to the processor or the more RAM the better?

thanks!

[Marek Subocz]

Hi!

From my expierience AE is using multicore while rendering. If You set “maximum memory usage” to 1GB instead of 3GB, the “working speed” work flow and previews in AE will drop.
So the ideal solution would be setting “maximum memory usage” to 1GB only for renderings – sounds like an ideal candidate for a script:D

cheers and happy comping

Marek Subocz
VFX Compositor

reel.subocz.com
http://www.subocz.com

[Lambert Pangilinan]

Hi All,

I have an 8-Core Mac Pro 2.8ghz Intel Xeon with 16gb of Ram

What is the best setting for the multiprocessing preference on AE CS3?

Thank You,

Lambert

[Jose Gonzalez]

Hi;
I have a similar system. MacPro 8 Cores with 16gb Ram running AE CS4. It sems to run slow. So I a sure I am doing something wrong. Can anyone suggest setting for Memory and CPU Management.

Thanks

Jose G