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Inspiring
Sep 28, 2022 9:42 AM UTC
In Development

Interface is Slow and Laggy

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

Inspiring
Jan 28, 2024 10:51 PM UTC

Maybe this year/decade! 

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Inspiring
Jan 27, 2024 9:41 PM UTC

@jenkmeister17177426 

 

Just checking in, asking for an update on how remedying the slow interface interaction is going.

 

On a whim the other day I nuked everything from Adobe off my computer using the Cleaner tools for a clean slate.  I’d assumed that maybe v23.x.x’s interface was actually now faster but I simply wasn’t experiencing it because of legacy preferences, settings, or 3rd party plugins gumming up the works. I keep doing this - believing the problem is with me.

 

Sadly, after a fresh install of After Effects (and lots of workspace re-dos across every Adobe program), nothing improved.   Basic vanilla AE, right out of the box, straight from the installer, and it was Laggy McJanky from the get-go.

 

Don’t know where you’re at on the globe, but if you want me to stop by Adobe offices in NYC to show y’all why I cry myself to sleep, you just let me know when.

 

Thanks,

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Inspiring
Jan 9, 2024 12:52 AM UTC

I have nothing good to say other than please fix this in 2024 for the love of Pete. 

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Fresh Squeezed Creative
Known Participant
Dec 5, 2023 9:29 AM UTC

Totally. In the same boat man. 

It's just sad it has to be like this. 

 

This is the downside of subscription models. Sadly, the consumer loses over corporate profits. They rake in monthly with no accountability.

 

Possibly, the developers care. I don't know. As a consumer, 15yr user, it doesn't feel like there's much care from developers beyond the scripted forum answers. That's just an observation though. 

 

I wholeheartedly believe Adobe acquired all of this software over the years with buying power, and is actually incapable of servicing it adequately. It sure appears that way. 

 

I'd love to be proven wrong though, sometime this millennia. 

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Known Participant
Dec 5, 2023 9:20 AM UTC

I did this, but I wasn't trying to get money off - I was genuinely prepared to fully cancel Adobe CC.  I've been paying for the full package for so long, and I just don't consider it worth it anymore.  The only app that isn't easily replaced is After Effects, which IMO is the most badly maintained app they offer

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Fresh Squeezed Creative
Known Participant
Dec 4, 2023 11:51 PM UTC

Hey Everyone,

Today I contacted adobe billing with my gripes about After Effects performance vs subscription costs. I basically told tem how long I have been using the software and that I am very dissatisfied with the performance of recent years, how much additional time things are taking, etc - and was given a recent promotional discount.
Basically halving my subscription.

I suggest you all do the same.

If enough of us do this, well, perhaps speaking with our wallets is a better idea than trying to flog a dead horse here in the forums.

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Participant
Nov 29, 2023 7:06 AM UTC

Update part 2: While performance is better, the issue is actually not fully resolved. RAM usage still is used much more quickly than in AE 2023, and very frequent (every 1-5 minutes) clearing of cache is needed for preview to work.

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Participant
Nov 29, 2023 6:53 AM UTC

Update: Disabled one external plugin (unfortunately a useful one but not worth the hassle of this RAM issue) and did find that that resolved the slow UI issue. Thank you for the pinned reply above.

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Participant
Nov 29, 2023 6:38 AM UTC

Experiencing the same issue here. RAM usage immediately jumps to 95% and "Low memory warning" orange bar appears even in simple compositions with one or two 4k video files and no effects. Clearing cache only removes a few GB and does not solve the issue. Memory assigned to other apps is already low. Because of this, the preview in AE 2024 is unusable, but I have to continue working on a project by scrubbing the timeline and estimating without previewing. Unfortunately already started project in AE 2024, which is not forwards compatible with AE 2023.

 

I agree with other comments regarding "updates" to AE...I would take smoother performance over additional features any and every day.

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Nov 27, 2023 9:58 PM UTC

@Frank_B Can you capture a video of what you're seeing? There are multiple areas in this thread that are either improved or not improved at all. Is this a new issue in the Beta? Are you using 3D objects? Whatever info you have that can help us help you would be appreciated. 

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