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Marc Trzepla
Inspiring
September 28, 2022

Interface is Slow and Laggy

  • September 28, 2022
  • 312 replies
  • 33461 views
Dear Adobe,

Me again.

Please stop everything that you're doing with the development of new bells and whistles and doodads and put all your resources and firepower into resolving the years-old issue of the Slow and Laggy Interface in After Effects. Seriously. It's been YEARS. I kept thinking, "ah, they'll fix it soon.." and hope for the best and I end up feeling like Charlie Brown trying to kick the football every time a new update for After Effects comes out. "Maybe they fixed it!" And it's still not fixed.

When I contact Support I'm told, "the issue that you are facing is a known issue and the same has been highlighted to the designated team who are working on getting the issue fixed in the future releases," but it has yet to be fixed.

Old After Effects was FASTER on OLDER laptops - I have been on modern workstation-build DESKTOPS that are slower in response. Makes me not want to work in After Effects. I feel bad for those starting out in motion graphics in 2020 and this is what they are introduced to.

SpaceX put two astronauts on the space station. Surely we can get a butter smooth interface in After Effects.

Thank you.

https://vimeo.com/441661685/b7aba12cba

    312 replies

    Show previous replies
    nubnubbud
    nubnubbud
    Inspiring
    September 28, 2022
    hey, I'm just gonna put this comment here. my input.
    https://adobe-video.uservoice.com/forums/911311-after-effects/suggestions/44254728-stop-adding-new-features-till-the-program-works-at
    a lot of people are having this issue too. on this issue, I posted a comment with a list of other issues that are basically all the same thing. I figure if we band together we can get these issues commented and voted up high enough that they might consider acting on it if we, like, blot out the sun with sheer votes. many of these issues don't even have 10 votes. let's change that, even if it means AE is trashed and we need AE2. things are always better when you start from scratch to try again with what you've learned. also don't forget to wish AE a 30th birthday next year!
      S
      Scott.C.
      Inspiring
      September 28, 2022
      I think there is some other type of font bug that is affecting people but think what the OP was highlighting is that even with a properly functioning font library AE is very slow to do basic operations on complicated projects where you have 20+ layers in a stack and try to do a box select of multiple keyframes the interface can't keep up. Ditto for just trying to scroll down through a large comp. I think this problem worsened once everyone moved to Hi-DPI displays.

      From what I understand they are going to finally update the interface code so it renders smoothly but I'm not holding my breath.
        J
        Josh Aarons
        Participant
        September 28, 2022
        @8516276 a

        I was on a bit of a deadline so I removed or deactivated almost all fonts that were not relevant to my current project. It's extreme but it worked. I kept a backup of them and I will eventually re-add those fonts one by one and test. I hope that helps.

          anato87236782
          anato87236782
          Participant
          September 28, 2022
          @Josh Aarons
          Can you please explain your process? How did you know what to delete? Or you just deleted every free font?
            J
            Josh Aarons
            Participant
            September 28, 2022
            Unbelievably the font solution seems to have fixed my lag - for now. I can't believe that this is a fix. Shocking.
              M
              Maneality
              Participant
              September 28, 2022
              I was hoping maybe Win11 would fix it, I'm still on Win10.
              But reading over the other users experience Adobe apps work 10-15% SLOWER on win11 :SS
              J
              justinhemsley
              Participating Frequently
              September 28, 2022
              @milan16198319 I have a newer intel machine and it's just as bad. Old versions run smoother, even on my old machines. For fun over Christmas break, I booted up my 17 year old eMac running AE v7.0 (not CS, not CC, just good old v7.0) It ran surprisingly well withs it's 512MB RAM hah! rendered slow in a 1920x1080 comp, but the UI held up better than AE 2022. I even tried out v5.5 which was still installed, same story. Not sure where all this modern computing power is going... Makes me so sad.
              M
              Maneality
              Participant
              September 28, 2022
              Can relate, AMD 5950x with 128gb ram and the UI is more slugish than my 6 years old Intel machine.

              Is it a problem with AMD processors? Anyone with new Intel generation can confirm this?
              schroef
              schroef
              Inspiring
              September 28, 2022
              See this with a lot of Adobe apps on Windows AMD machine. my 2009 mac pro runs smoother with older apps. Its just CRAZY!!!

              Why do they keep adding new features when they lack to fix old stuff!!! How and why can product managent allow such a thing?!
                J
                jakemorris1115C0C
                Participant
                September 28, 2022
                This is crazy, deleting a bad FONT can fix this issue almost entirely. If you've downloaded a font from a free font website, delete it. That was the solution for me at least.

                Credit to PM_ME_BRAUM on reddit.

                https://www.reddit.com/r/AfterEffects/comments/i9lbcy/ae_2020_ui_lag_is_just_too_much_for_me/
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