Render Analysis – the search for the bottleneck

[Brian Charles]

You can alter the Log settings which will produce a text file showing how long it took to render each frame etc which may indicate where the bottlenecks are.

From After Effects Help:

“You can choose how much information After Effects writes to a render log file. If you choose Errors Only, After Effects only creates the file if errors are encountered during rendering. If you choose Plus Settings, a log file is created that lists the current render settings. If you choose Plus Per Frame Info, a log file is created that lists the current render settings and information about the rendering of each frame. When a log file has been written, the path to the log file appears under the Render Settings heading and Log menu.”

Here is where you change the settings:

[Roger Maus]

Thank you! This does help a little. With this, I get this kind of information…
0:00:13:09 (335): 11 seconds
0:00:13:10 (336): 17 seconds
0:00:13:11 (337): 5 seconds
…for every singe frame.

With the help of Excel I got this:

Not bad, but in a 50+ layer comp it’s still quite hard to make out the effect/layer which is the root of the trouble.

Ain’t there anything handier?

[Walter Soyka]

[Roger Maus] “Not bad, but in a 50+ layer comp it’s still quite hard to make out the effect/layer which is the root of the trouble. Ain’t there anything handier?”

Nope. Just experience. What effects are you using?

Another thing I’d try is watching the performance monitor (Windows) or activity monitor (Mac) to see how effectively your CPU usage is. If CPU usage isn’t consistently high, but RAM usage or disk activity is, then you probably have a system bottleneck.

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

[Roger Maus]

Thanks for your response, Walter.

I am searching for a general solution regarding my projects, as I am pretty sure that I don’t build them efficiently.

But in this very case it’s a full hd animation project. I use only scanned drawing and large textures. Regarding effects there’s only “set matte” (lots!), “fill matte” (lots!), “simple choker” a little “drop shadow”, a little “keylight”…

Will observe my performance monitor for sure!

Thanks again!

[Adam Lewen]

Hello there!
I am “bumping” this post in hope that in the 3 years since the original post there’s something new…
I am also in need of finding the bottleneck(s) in a render…
Is there any script or somewhere to get more clues? Other that the methods suggested above?

Thanks for any input!
Adam

[Walter Soyka]

[Adam Lewen] “I am “bumping” this post in hope that in the 3 years since the original post there’s something new… I am also in need of finding the bottleneck(s) in a render… Is there any script or somewhere to get more clues? Other that the methods suggested above?”

Nothing new, but there is something old I neglected to mention. Click the disclosure triangle next to the words “Current Render” in the Render Queue for more information about what Ae is doing during render:

[image]

That can tell you WHAT Ae is bottlenecking on; to figure out WHY it’s bottlenecking, you still need to explore your system’s use of resources and know a bit about how that may impact Ae.

Walter Soyka
Designer & Mad Scientist at Keen Live [link]
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
@keenlive   |   RenderBreak [blog]   |   Profile [LinkedIn]

[Adam Lewen]

Thanks Walter!