video card for after effects…?

[Jimmy Brunger]

Do you mean graphics card? If so then a decent one with full OpenGL support will help a bit in AE.

If you mean video I/O card like a Decklink or AJA then that won’t speed up AE, but it will enable you to monitor your comp window live on a TV or broadcast monitor. You will also be able to capture/output uncompressed video through the card aswell if your processor/drives are fast enough.

[Erin Shelby]

I mean graphics card. Isn’t OpenGL kinda comon? The thing is I’m seeing cards with 512mb of onboard memory and ones with just 128. Will that make a difference?

[Sean Maloney]

https://www.adobe.com/products/aftereffects/opengl.html

I can only imagine that Adobe will continue to develop the OpenGL capabilities of the software as it develops new versions, so I would say get the best card you can afford. The NVidia QuadroFX line would probably be ideal.

[Rhett Robinson]

OpenGL will matter a lot (and the memory size/speed of the card) if you use it for previewing, or you can even render that way if it gives a satisfactory result. Most of the gain you will see while doing a 3D comp, with lights, shadows, etc., or at least it has been for me. It’s definitely worth getting at least a decent video card, even if you don’t break the bank and get the best. Many times there’s an off-brand that uses an ATI or Nvidia chipset for a lot less.

[Jimmy Brunger]

What gains will I see in AE using an nVidia Quadro over say an ATI Radeon X1900 XT?

I ask becuase on the apple site for the Mac Pro it only suggests the Quadro for scientific use. What are the Quadro’s benefits in realspeak to your average AE user? Cheers.

I’m not using mac, but I’m currently looking at elements needed to build a robust and fast PC workstation to run uncompressed HD and get the most out of AE possible (without spending ‘BOXX’ type of money!) Will be using Blackmagic HD Extreme or Pro for I/O.

I’d be using Production Studio/Combustion & possibly Zaxwerks ProAnimator plugin. Any ideas for a good config would be most appreciated.

[Sean Maloney]

I can’t speak from personal experience, since I’ve never used an ATI card with AE, but if you look at the chart on the Adobe website you’ll see that the Radeon X1000 Series has an asterisk next to the check mark for high-fidelity support, indicating that it doesn’t support OpenGL previews of anti-aliasing and 2D motion blur. I just think you’ll have better luck with an NVidia card – Adobe (and many other video equipment manufacturers) seem to prefer them over ATI. You may want to browse the Decklink forum, I think they also recommend NVidia. You don’t have to get the biggest, baddest card. The FX1500 looks like a great deal at around $500 (Newegg.com).

If you’re serious about working in uncompressed 10-bit HD, don’t skimp on any components in your system. You may want to look into the AJA Xena LHe as an alternative to the Decklink. I have a Kona LH in my Mac and I love it. It’s been rock solid. Whichever card you go with, make sure you check the manufacturer’s website for “certified” motherboards or search the forums to see which boards are working for people. Get quality RAM and a lot of it (2gb bare minimum). Get as many processors as you can afford – a single quad-core or 2 dual-cores. You’re going to need a monster RAID array – at least 8 drives and I’d highly recommend some kind of redundancy (RAID 5). You can build it yourself to save some $.

You can contact me at sean(at)pix(dot)eliri(dot)us if you’d like me to share my experiences and thoughts on building an “affordable” HD system.

[Jimmy Brunger]

Good points there, cheers Sean. OpenGL wise – my old Nvidia card supports everything except a/a and 2d moblur. Might look into the Quadro 3000…

Hopefully getting a massive central XSERVE RAID for our facility, so I could hopefully feed off/to that with a fibre channel or something.

*Production Studio Premium / *Combustion 3
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Win XP Pro SP2 / Intel P4 3GHz / 2GB RAM / GeForce FX5200 / DeckLink Pro / Sony BVM-20G1E / DVS SDI Clipstation / 110GB boot/80GB media/600GB RAID-0