AE CS5 is extremely slow...why?

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Phil1076

Well-known member
I'm fairly new to video editing but have been in IT for over 15 years. Anyways, I use Premiere to put together wedding videos and recently started using AE CS5 as well. My problem is that it is unbearably slow....I can't do anything....If I set all my options to the lower possible settings, I can get decent playback without any effects. As soon as I add the Timewarp effect (which is what I'm trying to play with), the playback drops to 1-2fps and I can't do anything.

This is a relatively fresh install of Windows 7 x64 and AE is updated to the latest version and patch level. AV has been disabled as well. As I'm trying to play back the footage with timewarp added to the clip, my CPU stays at about 5%, GPU load is 1%, and the hard drive doesn't even blink.......why does it play back at 2 frames per second? My system setup is as follows:

Dual Quad Core Xeon 3.0 Ghz
12GB RAM
2x15K SAS RAID1 + 4x10K SAS RAID0 hard drives on a Dell PERC 6i RAID controller
nVidia Geforce GTX 470 w/1.2GB RAM.

The system doesn't even break a sweat but AE still runs soo slow. Can anyone help?
Thanks in advance.
 
Are you doing a RAM preview or simply hitting the space bar and expecting it to playback in real time?
 
That would be my question to you as well. It does sound like your not doing a ram preview.
 
Timewarp is a complicated motion estimation effect. Compared to playing regular video, it is many times more computationally expensive. I'd be surprised if you could find any system available today which could play Timewarp back in real time at a reasonable resolution.
 
I'm hitting the space bar without doing a RAM preview.

Now, I appreciate the complexity of the timewarp effect and the strain it places on even the most modern of computers, which is why I expected my CPU to spike to 100%....this would be absolutely fine, as at least I'd know that the app is doing something.

The problem is that my box just sits there so there doesn't seem to be any "computing" taking place. I expected all 8 of my cores to spike to 100% but instead (after looking at it again) they're at about 20% or so.

The RAM preview appears to work fine but again, I expected a little more than 2fps, especially with this type of hardware.

Anyways, if that's just the way it is then I guess I just have to grin and bear it. Thanks
 
Do you have Multiprocessing on? AE is very different from Premiere. I don't know why this has to be re-explained around here so much. I feel like you can do a quick search and see what has been said about how AE works compared to NLE's, but, alas, one more time:

AE plays realtime previews by loading the desired number of frames into the RAM then playing back when the RAM is full or the desired number of frames has been reached. You can't hit the spacebar and expect realtime performance unless you have already RAM previewed and not changed anything afterwards. Whatever is green above the timeline is what has been cached into your RAM.

If you're RAM preview is playing at 2fps then it's one of two things, 1) you're doing something wrong or 2) there's something else wrong in the hundreds of different options that could pose a problem. Also, if MP (multiprocessing) is on then you need to check your RAM settings. You don't have enough RAM for a machine with that many cores and still maintaining some for the OS, other apps, etc. I have 18GB and I use only 4 of my 8 processors while reserving 8-10 GB for other apps and the OS. It takes some experimentation to find the right settings since now that AE is 64 bit it will eat up the RAM very quickly. This will leave your machine starved and end up causing nothing to happen. At least this has been my experience.

If all else fails, render. It's the only sure bet to see the results of your effects. You can also turn down the resolution, zoom, and press Shift 0 to RAM preview to speed things up.
 
I guess I wasn't clear...

I'm not expecting real time performance from just hitting the space bar -- I never said I did. I fully understand the need for rendering/pre-rendering and if 12GB is not enough memory, then that's fine................

.............but there's just no reason why I should have all my settings at minimum and get 2fps...................15fps with all cores maxed --- that would be fine.......but having my CPU usage at near zero and have the box slow to a crawl is, in my opinion, bad programming on the part of Adobe. I have MP enabled and have 6 cores dedicated to AE5. Out of the 12GB, I have 9GB dedicated to AE (it won't let me assign more...it leaves 3GB for "other apps")...


When it comes to performance, there's a difference between unacceptable and unusable. If I throw a hundred effects at a clip and it becomes unusable (without a RAM preview) then that's understandable, but adding one effect and getting a result that runs at 2fps is....well...unacceptable.

I will take your advice and try reducing the MP cores from 6 to 3 (2 cores were reserved for other apps) and I'll try bumping up my RAM to 24GB since I have 6x4GB DIMMS here as well. Although I have to say that 12GB RAM should be enough to add a single effect (even timewarp) to a 30 seconds clip without issue.
 
Your problem is your MP settings, they are not right. I had this same problem too when I first started using CS5. They recommend 2GB per core, so if you're dedicating 6 cores then you need 12GB just for AE and then at least 3 (I'd recommend more) for everything else. You're leaving AE starved for RAM and that's not bad programming, it's not having enough RAM and not understanding how the software now works.

You're going to need to reserve much more for other apps than the standard 3 GB's. I have an 8 core box with 18 GB RAM. I set AE to use 4 cores with 12 GB RAM for AE, leaving 6 GB for other apps. That means I'm dedicating 3 GB per core for AE, which is what you really need, 2 GB per core is not enough for 64 bit AE. If you add 24 GB then I would recommend giving AE 4-6 cores with 12-18 GB RAM dedicated with the rest for everything else. Maybe even give each 4 GB's a piece.

If you're having problems with MP then just turn it off. You won't be able to preview as much but it will preview faster since AE will just use whatever RAM you allocate it and you don't have to worry about the extra processes eating up your limited RAM. AE is still multithreaded so it'll take advantage of your extra processing power. Most of the time I keep MP off for simpler things and only use for more complicated comps or for longer comps. For simple stuff it's overkill and the implementation still needs work. I feel like it'll be a few more versions before they figure it out. 64 bit is new for AE and they just re-wrote it so there will be issues here and there.

A good way to quickly access MP is a script called Throttle-n-Purge, very useful for quickly changing your settings. You can get it here: http://aescripts.com/throttle-n-purge/

Also, read up on Adobe's new rec's regarding RAM and MP: http://blogs.adobe.com/toddkopriva/...-for-after-effects-cs5-and-give-feedback.html
 
Thanks for the detailed feedback. I will check this out tonight as soon as I get home from work.

Much appreciated!
 
That's bizarre, I wonder if you resolved it? It runs fine on my 1.5 year old MacBook Pro with 4GB of ram Snow Leopard. It may not even be AE maybe something else is interfering with it.
 
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