[Jimmy Brunger]

Hi Nils,

Thanks for explaining…sorry if my post came across a bit harsh. All sounds fair enough!

We don’t use render machines anyway – just skip frames and render on all workstations at once overnight. 8-core machines have meant we don’t need to run separate render machines just yet. There will no doubt be a bigger job around the corner needed that bit faster and we’ll need to buy more machines though I’m sure…Better try push the move to CS4 soon I guess!

AE7 Pro – Nucleo – Mocha v1.2.3 – PS CS3 – FCP 5.1.4
MacPro Quad 3GHz / ATI 1900XT / 8GB RAM / OSX 10.4.11
30″ ACD / Decklink SP / SONY PVM-20M4E/ Wacom Intuos 3 A4 / XServe / United Digital RAID
———————————
Production Studio CS2 – Combustion 3 – Mocha v1.0.1
Win XP Pro 32 / Intel Core2Quad Q6600 / 2GB RAM / NVidia Quadro570 / DeckLink Pro / Roland DS-5s / Sony BVM-20G1E / 2 x Dell 2007FP / Wacom Intuos 3 A4 / 320GB boot/800GB RAID-0

[Jimmy Brunger]

Seems to me a bit off that a plugin you get included with AE CS4 doesn’t let you use it to it’s full potential with the s/ware it comes included with. I mean if AE has the option to render over several machines as standard then anything that ships with it as standard should work too…no?

Not trying to be tight or anything here (I’m always telling friends to pay for what they’re using!) but it just seems a bit incomplete as a package otherwise. I’ve had a similar problem with CC plugins not working on our Intel machines with AE7 Pro (which we still need to use for various reasons) You need to purchase a patch/update to get the included plugins to work!

AE7 Pro – Nucleo – Mocha v1.2.3 – PS CS3 – FCP 5.1.4
MacPro Quad 3GHz / ATI 1900XT / 8GB RAM / OSX 10.4.11
30″ ACD / Decklink SP / SONY PVM-20M4E/ Wacom Intuos 3 A4 / XServe / United Digital RAID
———————————
Production Studio CS2 – Combustion 3 – Mocha v1.0.1
Win XP Pro 32 / Intel Core2Quad Q6600 / 2GB RAM / NVidia Quadro570 / DeckLink Pro / Roland DS-5s / Sony BVM-20G1E / 2 x Dell 2007FP / Wacom Intuos 3 A4 / 320GB boot/800GB RAID-0

[Jimmy Brunger]

You can use a maximum of 3GB RAM per core on a Mac (as opposed to 2GB on Win/Vista32, 3 with 3GB/switch or 4GB with Win/Vista64)

After Effects is still only a 32-bit application, therefore the only way to maximise your extra RAM is when preview/rendering to supply any extra cores/processors you have…using the method I mentioned above.

AE7 Pro – Nucleo – Mocha v1.2.3 – PS CS3 – FCP 5.1.4
MacPro Quad 3GHz / ATI 1900XT / 8GB RAM / OSX 10.4.11
30″ ACD / Decklink SP / SONY PVM-20M4E/ Wacom Intuos 3 A4 / XServe / United Digital RAID
———————————
Production Studio CS2 – Combustion 3 – Mocha v1.0.1
Win XP Pro 32 / Intel Core2Quad Q6600 / 2GB RAM / NVidia Quadro570 / DeckLink Pro / Roland DS-5s / Sony BVM-20G1E / 2 x Dell 2007FP / Wacom Intuos 3 A4 / 320GB boot/800GB RAID-0

[Jimmy Brunger]

Are we on the same page here…..what do you class as a reference monitor and what it’s used for? When you say CRT, do you mean a CRT computer monitor (VGA, etc) , a CRT consumer TV, or a professional grade SDI/component monitor?

If you’re doing broadcast work you should definitely go for the latter so you can see EXACTLY how it will look when broadcast. If it’s corporate stuff then you might get away with a consumer TV via composite cable.

AE7 Pro – Nucleo – Mocha v1.2.3 – PS CS3 – FCP 5.1.4
MacPro Quad 3GHz / ATI 1900XT / 8GB RAM / OSX 10.4.11
30″ ACD / Decklink SP / SONY PVM-20M4E/ Wacom Intuos 3 A4 / XServe / United Digital RAID
———————————
Production Studio CS2 – Combustion 3 – Mocha v1.0.1
Win XP Pro 32 / Intel Core2Quad Q6600 / 2GB RAM / NVidia Quadro570 / DeckLink Pro / Roland DS-5s / Sony BVM-20G1E / 2 x Dell 2007FP / Wacom Intuos 3 A4 / 320GB boot/800GB RAID-0

[Jimmy Brunger]

OK, this should really be in the AE basics forum, but it’s simple – just adjust in your memory & cache prefs. Also to really take advantage of your RAM make sure you’re running multiprocessing in AE CS3 or 4. Or if you’re still using AE7 then buy Nucleo to do thew same job.

AE7 Pro – Nucleo – Mocha v1.2.3 – PS CS3 – FCP 5.1.4
MacPro Quad 3GHz / ATI 1900XT / 8GB RAM / OSX 10.4.11
30″ ACD / Decklink SP / SONY PVM-20M4E/ Wacom Intuos 3 A4 / XServe / United Digital RAID
———————————
Production Studio CS2 – Combustion 3 – Mocha v1.0.1
Win XP Pro 32 / Intel Core2Quad Q6600 / 2GB RAM / NVidia Quadro570 / DeckLink Pro / Roland DS-5s / Sony BVM-20G1E / 2 x Dell 2007FP / Wacom Intuos 3 A4 / 320GB boot/800GB RAID-0

[Jimmy Brunger]

Do you mean as a reference monitor or a computer GUI monitor?

CRT is still king in the ref monitor market (unless you have £15k+ to spend on a new LED one from Barco or similar)

Otherwise for GUI I’d go for a Dell Ultrasharp or Apple ACD (they both use the same screens but Dells are cheaper) or maybe wait a month or two and see if Apple bring out their new LED backlit ACD line?)

Ref/Grading monitor wise I’d maybe try the JVC ones or TV Logic..

AE7 Pro – Nucleo – Mocha v1.2.3 – PS CS3 – FCP 5.1.4
MacPro Quad 3GHz / ATI 1900XT / 8GB RAM / OSX 10.4.11
30″ ACD / Decklink SP / SONY PVM-20M4E/ Wacom Intuos 3 A4 / XServe / United Digital RAID
———————————
Production Studio CS2 – Combustion 3 – Mocha v1.0.1
Win XP Pro 32 / Intel Core2Quad Q6600 / 2GB RAM / NVidia Quadro570 / DeckLink Pro / Roland DS-5s / Sony BVM-20G1E / 2 x Dell 2007FP / Wacom Intuos 3 A4 / 320GB boot/800GB RAID-0

[Jimmy Brunger]

I would say that if you are doing any broadcast work you should be previewing out of AE via SDI or component to a reference monitor for correct colours, jitter & field issues. Also, if you are working with fields then somesort of output to a CRT monitor would be useful for this reason. Be aware of your safe areas aswell (can be gauged in AE via the overlays, but you can see how it will really look on a CRT via a Decklink or similar.)

Though you could always output all your work to DVD and then view on a TV and then go back and adjust accordingly. Bit of a long round trip but if you want to save money then it’s an option.

AE7 Pro – Nucleo – Mocha v1.2.3 – PS CS3 – FCP 5.1.4
MacPro Quad 3GHz / ATI 1900XT / 8GB RAM / OSX 10.4.11
30″ ACD / Decklink SP / SONY PVM-20M4E/ Wacom Intuos 3 A4 / XServe / United Digital RAID
———————————
Production Studio CS2 – Combustion 3 – Mocha v1.0.1
Win XP Pro 32 / Intel Core2Quad Q6600 / 2GB RAM / NVidia Quadro570 / DeckLink Pro / Roland DS-5s / Sony BVM-20G1E / 2 x Dell 2007FP / Wacom Intuos 3 A4 / 320GB boot/800GB RAID-0

[Jimmy Brunger]

Is Fusion definitely a 64-bit app now then? I thought they were bringing out Fusion 64 a while ago…but it never surfaced. Did they just build 64-bit into the latest version then?

AE7 Pro – Nucleo – Mocha v1.2.3 – PS CS3 – FCP 5.1.4
MacPro Quad 3GHz / ATI 1900XT / 8GB RAM / OSX 10.4.11
30″ ACD / Decklink SP / SONY PVM-20M4E/ Wacom Intuos 3 A4 / XServe / United Digital RAID
———————————
Production Studio CS2 – Combustion 3 – Mocha v1.0.1
Win XP Pro 32 / Intel Core2Quad Q6600 / 2GB RAM / NVidia Quadro570 / DeckLink Pro / Roland DS-5s / Sony BVM-20G1E / 2 x Dell 2007FP / Wacom Intuos 3 A4 / 320GB boot/800GB RAID-0

[Jimmy Brunger]

We work at 7000 across quite alot…it works fine but everything takes AGES! you hit a RAM limit somewhere not far above that size, but I guess if AE went 64-bit you might have more headroom..

AE7 Pro – Nucleo – Mocha v1.2.3 – PS CS3 – FCP 5.1.4
MacPro Quad 3GHz / ATI 1900XT / 8GB RAM / OSX 10.4.11
30″ ACD / Decklink SP / SONY PVM-20M4E/ Wacom Intuos 3 A4 / XServe / United Digital RAID
———————————
Production Studio CS2 – Combustion 3 – Mocha v1.0.1
Win XP Pro 32 / Intel Core2Quad Q6600 / 2GB RAM / NVidia Quadro570 / DeckLink Pro / Roland DS-5s / Sony BVM-20G1E / 2 x Dell 2007FP / Wacom Intuos 3 A4 / 320GB boot/800GB RAID-0

[Jimmy Brunger]

That search problem sounds like a bit of a nightmare…alot of my projects have dozens & dozens of folders and the only way to keep things manageable sometimes is to have some collapsed and some open..if doing a search messes all that up I could see it getting VERY annoying.

I love After Effects and have done for quite a while, but if Adobe are not even doing point releases to fix bugs anymore then that spells ZERO product support to me and therefore NOT a professional app.

Are Apple still working on Phenomenon then?

AE7 Pro – Nucleo – Mocha v1.2.3 – PS CS3 – FCP 5.1.4
MacPro Quad 3GHz / ATI 1900XT / 8GB RAM / OSX 10.4.11
30″ ACD / Decklink SP / SONY PVM-20M4E/ Wacom Intuos 3 A4 / XServe / United Digital RAID
———————————
Production Studio CS2 – Combustion 3 – Mocha v1.0.1
Win XP Pro 32 / Intel Core2Quad Q6600 / 2GB RAM / NVidia Quadro570 / DeckLink Pro / Roland DS-5s / Sony BVM-20G1E / 2 x Dell 2007FP / Wacom Intuos 3 A4 / 320GB boot/800GB RAID-0