AE 23.1.0 Poor Performance. Timeline/Keyframe lag.

Win 11 (10.0.22621 build 22621

Core i9-12900K

Asus Pro Art Z690 Creator 

Nvidia 3080 ti (528.02 driver)

128 GB Ram

Samsung NVMe drives (one for OS, one set for cache, one for media)

It seems to occur onn Windows 11 as well, that's what I am running. Can confirm I have the same cache bar behaviour.

I also have a M.2 SSD as my install drive, and a second M.2 SSD as my scratch disk. I didn't have the lag problem before I upgraded my hardware, though note I didn't upgrade to AE version 23 until after I upgraded my hardware either... But in case it's relevant, when I upgraded and started experiencing this problem I changed the following things:

- Went from a GTX 1080 to an RTX 3080

- Replaced install drive from M.2 Samsung 970 EVO to M.2 Samsung 980 EVO. The 970 got bumped to serve as scratch disk.

- Upgraded to Windows 11

Comparing my hardware to other people's hardware it seems to be a) Windows only and b) Nvidia only.

Thanks for keeping us updated @JohnColombo17100380 

It is odd that you cannot reproduce the issue, are those two workstations you mentioned also running Win 10 Pro 64? Also what platform are they, intel/amd? I wonder if those of us who have the issue can find some other similiarities with our workstations. @JBrown321 and @ivan.markelov would you be so kind as to list your hardware specs and OS, maybe we can spot something we have in common?

I can also confirm that my cache bar is behaving the same as @JBrown321 described. I can start with a new blank project, create a solid, add a couple of keyframes (but no value changes) and in addition to being incredibly laggy when dragging the keyframes around it also appears as though it is being constantly re-cached.

My scratch disk is a dedicated M.2 nvme SSD, I did try switching over to my OS SSD but this seemingly made no difference.

JohnColombo Tried 516.94 and still same lag with no improvement on my end. Just letting you know

JohnColombo  Thanks for the response! Tried to disable idle caching and still no affect. hmm maybe I will try the older driver. I never went back farther than the 517... maybe I will try the same 516 driver just for the heck of it. Thanks so much for looking into this and getting back 🙂  

@Nick2049 Thank you for trying that out!

@JBrown321 Thank you as well! Yes, I'm personally testing on two machines with NVidia GPUs: one older with dual GTX 1070s and one with an RTX 3070 Ti, both running driver 516.94. I've got a project with 150+ layers on a 4K monitor, lots of keyframes, and I'm able to drag layers and keyframes around smoothly. I don't say this to say that there is no issue—there clearly is—but only that some difference between our systems is preventing me from running into the bug. That difference is what we need to figure out so we can address it.

You can disable idle caching in the Composition menu under Preview > Cache Frames When Idle. I've tried with it both enabled and disabled and did not see any increased lag, but perhaps it will be different on your system.

JohnColombo update* I just tried the beta in safe mode with no luck. I really now think the problem may be from the caching while idle. I can see the green caching on the timeline flashing in sync with the lag when I move something. I think it's trying to cache while things are being moved. Can you please explore the cache when idle and see if you can disable it? I really suspect there may be something there possibly. 

JohnColombo  Does your team not have access to a windows machine with Nvidia GPUs? Just make a timeline full of layers and expand the timeline so the panel is large vertically, then move the layers about. When the timeline panel is very small, the lag isn't as bad (still not great though), but once it's expanded, it's very bad, just like in the video example I shared. 

Hi @JohnColombo17100380 

I just tested the latest beta build (and also re-launched in safe mode with plugins disabled)

It is plagued by the same issues I'm afraid.

Hi all,

Thank you for your patience and for all the information you've submitted here. We are currently investigating this issue, but we have not yet been able to reproduce it in-house in order to diagnose the cause. The bug appears to be limited to Windows machines with NVidia hardware, but please let us know if you experience the Timeline lag with other hardware.

As many of you already have, please continue to let us know if any environment changes affect the performance issue, e.g. driver updates/downgrades, closing panels, certain numbers of layers, etc.

There is a new feature in Beta that allows After Effects to start in Safe Mode with default prefs and no third-party plug-ins. If you are able, please try out the Beta builds with Safe Mode enabled and let us know if the lag continues. More details on the Beta are available here.

Thanks again for your patience as we work to get this issue fixed,

- John, After Effects Engineering Team