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MayDayMedia
MayDayMedia
Known Participant
June 7, 2022
Answered

AE stutters back and forth when scrubbing timeline

  • June 7, 2022
  • 7 replies
  • 1872 views

Latest installs of AE have been absolutely terrible when scrubbing the timeline. Even with fully rendered RAM preview (green line all the way) it does not scrub properly, frames jump forward and backward, to the point where it's frankly unusable.

 

This happens in comps with nothing but pre-rendered footage, as well as in comps with multiple layers of graphics. Happens with the cache empty, happens whether adapative resolution is on (which I hate because it defeats the purpose) or off.

 

If anyone can offer some insight into what might be the problem and how to fix it, I'd greatly appreciate it. This is so aggravating, I feel like Adobe has done nothing but make the playback experience worse and worse with every release (I've been using AE since v3.1).

 

My system specs are below, happy to share my application prefs if that helps diagnose the issue. Thanks!

 

AE v22.4.0

Mac OS 11.0.1

3.6 GHz 8-Core Intel Core i9

32 GB 2667 MHz DDR4

Radeon Pro 580X 8 GB

 

 

 

    Correct answer Jaysb77

    Hi, I found the fix to this issue. If you go into the Preference panel under Dispaly there is a setting called Hardware Accelerate Compositions, Layer, and Footage Panels. Turn that off or uncheck it and click ok. There should be non more stuttering back and forth when you scrub the timeline.

    Hope this helps
    Thanks,
    Jason 

    7 replies

    EYEIDEA
    EYEIDEA
    Inspiring
    March 18, 2024

    Same issue here. Fully chached preview at 1/2 res, plays back fine, then I scrub and it seems to be re-rendering each frame.

    What the heck is wrong?

    500gb SSD dedicated to cache only

    Mac Pro 2019

    3.2 GHz 16-Core Intel Xeon W

    Mac OS 14.3.1

    AMD Radeon Pro Vega II 32 GB

    160 GB 2933 MHz DDR4

    J
    Jaysb77Correct answer
    Inspiring
    May 10, 2025

    Hi, I found the fix to this issue. If you go into the Preference panel under Dispaly there is a setting called Hardware Accelerate Compositions, Layer, and Footage Panels. Turn that off or uncheck it and click ok. There should be non more stuttering back and forth when you scrub the timeline.

    Hope this helps
    Thanks,
    Jason 

    S
    Scubatime
    Participating Frequently
    October 7, 2022

    Yeah, its dissapointing; I feel like I'm working in Nuke, where the screen has to redraw EVERY time you make a change/move etc. After Effects has historically been so good about caching & previews, but this is a huge step backwards. 

     

    Can anyone on the AE team confirm: is this a result of moving more processes to the GPU? Something else? Is there any hope of a workaround for this productivity killer? Thanks for any info!

    M
    MMazor
    Participating Frequently
    December 2, 2022

    I think this is related to Adobe's terrible support for high resolution (Retina) displays. Both After Effects and Premiere UI are slow and laggy on iMac Pro, scale the application window down to half the size and it suddenly feels like you're in heaven. I've resorted to running the applications in low-resolution mode (although that feature is now gone in Monterey--can access it thru Terminal though)

    M
    MMazor
    Participating Frequently
    December 2, 2022

    Here's the Terminal command to open AE in low-res mode:

     

    open /Applications/Adobe\ After\ Effects\ 2022/Adobe\ After\ Effects\ 2022.app --args -AppleMagnifiedMode YES

     

     

    so just adding the following to the open command:

     

    --args -AppleMagnifiedMode YES

     

     

    S
    Scubatime
    Participating Frequently
    October 6, 2022

    I can cofirm I am having the same issue regardless of settings, plugins or footage. After doing a RAM preview for example, I can not scrub... I have to go frame-by-frame to essentially "re-render" the frames that are preloaded are in the cache.

     

    My system is similar:
    MacOS 12.6

    3.8 GHz 8-Core Intel Core i7

    64GB RAM

    Radeon Pro 5500 XT 8 GB

    AE version 22.6.0 (all latest updates). 

    MayDayMedia
    MayDayMediaAuthor
    Known Participant
    October 6, 2022
    This issue hasn't gone away for me despite updates to OS, storage systems,
    and adobe apps as well as clearing more disk space.
    A
    Alex Mdop
    Participant
    October 6, 2022

    Are you using an external monitor or Macbook's? Because Im having the same exact issue with a displayport connection. But if I playback on Macbook's monitor scrub is perfect. So the solution I've found is by lowering the display resolution at 3200X1800 @ 50Hz (Previously my settings were 3200X1800 @ 60Hz and my moniitor is a Benq 4K).

     

    Mitadopoulos Alexis

    B
    benwinter
    Inspiring
    October 6, 2022

    No external monitor attached.

    A
    Alex Mdop
    Participant
    October 7, 2022

    Ok I've discovered something else. When selecting "Default for Display" setting in "Display Settings", which in my case is 3840X2160 @60Hz the performance is terrific! So Im guessing that, applying lower resolutions than the default, pushes the GPU more and produces this problem. Maybe someone with tech knowledge can confirm this?

    A
    AllTheGoodNamesAreGone
    Participating Frequently
    June 23, 2022

    Same thing happening here. Scrubbing stutters back and forth in CC 2022. Doesn't matter what's on the timeline... no plugins, stutters on MOV or image sequences.

     

    Tested in CC 2020 and it does NOT do this

      B
      benwinter
      Inspiring
      June 21, 2022

      I'm having this exact same problem. MayDay, can you confirm that if you make the AE window very small on your monitor, the problem goes away?

      MayDayMedia
      MayDayMediaAuthor
      Known Participant
      June 23, 2022

      Hi, thanks for the reply. Still does it even when scaled down small (12.5%)

      B
      benwinter
      Inspiring
      June 23, 2022

      Sorry, I mean the entire After Effects application window, not the preview/comp resolution.

      nishu_kush
      Community Manager
      nishu_kushCommunity Manager
      Community Manager
      June 7, 2022

      Hi MayDayMedia,

       

      Sorry for your issue.

      Are there any third-party plug-ins installed? Would you mind sharing a screen recording of the issue? Also, have you tried resetting the preferences of After Effects?

      Let us know, we're here to help.

       

      Thanks,

      Nishu

      MayDayMedia
      MayDayMediaAuthor
      Known Participant
      June 7, 2022

      Hi Nishu, thanks for the reply. Like I said, this occurs regardless of what is in the timeline. Happens with single layer comps that only have one video clip and no effects or any other properties modified, just the same as it happens in timelines with complex animations.

       

      I'll reset my preferences and see if that helps, and will also make a screen recording.

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