After Effects UI lag

[Taavi Rull]

Hello,

I've struggled with a weird problem for a while now.
After Effects user interface is lagging a lot when working aroung in there. For an example working with keyframes or moving elements around on the preview panel or moving the layers in the timeline... Pretty much everywhere. Even in a project file with only audio file added to the timeline the UI lags... and during preview the audio is having a static effect.

I have uninstalled and reinstalled the software. Updated drivers for graphics card, external sound card etc. Tried different settings in Preferences > Preview, Media Cache, Audio hardware, bought a new separate SSD just for Cache files. Nothing has worked so far. Even went through the trouble and did a clean format to the PC, installed the OS, drivers and apps from scratch. Lag still there. Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, Premiere all are working fine. The problem only occurs in After Effects. And for months now. Whats going on?

I have the latest AE version.
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 5700G with Radeon Graphics
Installed RAM 64 GB
GeForce RTX 3070 8GB, latest NVidia Game Ready drivers
All of the hard drives are SSD.
Win 11
PC less than a year old.

My older computer with lower specs doesn't have this issue, which makes it really confusing.

Have googled my eyes red. This is interrupting the workflow a lot.
Please help! Thank you.

[Paul Uu]

First off, it would be helpful for us to get a logging file from you that might perhaps give us a clue as to what's occuring on your system:

You can enable the logging via Help > Enable Logging. Once you've completed the necessary restart, peform all the tasks that seem to be causing you the issue. Then quit and relaunch AE. Go back to Help, this time select Reveal Logging File.

Send us the .txt files found in the "logs" folder of the After Effects preferences. They should be named "After Effects Log.txt" and "After Effects Log-last.txt".

[Taavi Rull]

Thank you for your answer!
Here you go:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1soAmZScuVTPoNkviXrVN6nmoWNmpyIu_/view?usp=sharing

[Taavi Rull]

UPDATE:
1. Updated BIOS - no effect
(https://www.reddit.com/r/techsupport/comments/10eqv1z/new_highend_pc_after_effects_laggy_timeline_an...)
2. Turned off Windows Hardware GPU Scheduler - no effect
(https://www.reddit.com/r/AfterEffects/comments/w15lgq/after_effects_fully_crashing_pc_black_screen/)

[Taavi Rull]

Anything?

[Paul Uu]

Sorry, missed your reply with the log. Digging in now.

[Paul Uu]

One thing that jumps out in the log is that it appears you have several ScriptUI extensions installed. These can sometimes cause terrible performance issues.

I see:
Ease and Wizz.jsx
RepositionAnchorPoint.jsx

Could you remove these (and potentially any other such items you have installed) and see if that affects the UI Performance?

And if that does not improve anything, another thing that might be helpful would be a screen recording showing exactly how the lag is occurring.

[Taavi Rull]

Thank you for your reply!
As I've mentioned earlier, I've even done a clean install to the OS with everything uninstalled, including the ScriptUIs. Didn't work. And on my older PC with the same scripts installed, everything works without problems. 

Here you go, screen record located here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1N5f4PM25zqB2nU-iuyLvgQEqWUIxa0Wr/view?usp=sharing

Pay attention to the cursor freezing and then jumping. Happens even without anything on the timeline, right after generating a comp. And a lot more with just one simple shape layer generated.

[Taavi Rull]

For the sake of compliance I removed all of the scripts again, too see if a miracle would emerge. But unfortunately it didn't have any effect, again. Any thoughts so far?

[Taavi Rull]

Checking in.

[Taavi Rull]

Hi! Created a new log file without the scripts installed:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Gb6E1q5JG5FP5AKPBEK_ZrZpo2T8gHaJ/view?usp=sharing

[Taavi Rull]

So nothing? Good sir? mr. Adobe? Even a "Please wait, we're investigating this issue." or something?
Can I have a refund for all the months this issue's been up? I'm paying for services that work, am I not?

[Paul Uu]

Apologies again. 

For some reason I'm not getting the email notifications I should be getting when you reply here.

We're looking at the 2nd log now. One thing that jumps out is that before you start off the render queue render, it appears that you're setting Layer Time and then changing selection (of something) hundreds and hundreds of times.

Does that at all align with what you remember doing here?

Paul

[Taavi Rull]

Hi,
Thanks for your reply! Yes, same here - haven't got any notifications either even tho I've got the checkmark checked here under the text box. I'm just holding this tab open and regularly checking in.

No, this doesn't ring any bells. For rendering MP4 I usually just hit Ctrl+M and choose the destination and hit enter. Thats it. Definitely not selecting anything for hundreds of times. Haven't even heard of "Layer Time" to be honest. Weird. And the freeze itself isn't happening during rendering nor during adjusting the render settings. Its happening when doing basic stuff on the layers panel, timeline or the preview panel, like moving the elements around or adjusting keyframes. And usually right after letting go of the subject. Like I select something, move it or edit it, let go - then it freezes for a couple of seconds. Like GPU is having a hard time to process that "immense" change in the project. But it's just moving a f*cking rectangle from here to there, and thats it. Sorry for my french.

[Taavi Rull]

Here is a log file from my other computer, where these lags are not happening:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/12-nEnBEK8U5eXy-In0rS7qNMivzfE4fN/view?usp=sharing

Can you see anything different?

BR,
Taavi

[JohnColombo]

Hi @Taavi Rull,

Thank you for also sharing the log from the non-laggy machines. What are the specs of that machine?

Thanks for reporting this issue and for any further information,

- John, After Effects Engineering Team

[Warren Heaton]

Regarding Layer Time:  A script can check Layer Time by accessing the Layer object and its attributes and methods. For example, wecan use the inPoint and outPoint attributes to get the start and end frames of the layer, or the activeAtTime() method to check if the layer is active at a specific time. We can also use the applyPreset() method to apply a preset animation to the layer.

[Paul Uu]

Nothing at all obvious is jumping out as an issue in the log files. The logs frome each system look more or less identical.

Moving along, I don't think we've really dug into what the differences are between your two systems.

What are the system specs for the system that is not having the issue?

Are there any system extensions or add on processes running on one system and not the other (anti-virus software, screen capture utilities, tablet drivers, webcams, etc., etc.)? We have seen issues with all these sorts of things in the past.

There has to be something we can start to identify as the culprit here.

[Paul Uu]

Oh, one other thought. It's a longshot, but we definitely do recommend the NVidia Studio drivers over the Game Ready drivers. 

I believe this is the most current one for your card: https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/drivers/results/218115/

[Taavi Rull]

Whoa, this started to feel like a real investigation now. Thank you for that!

Other computers specs (Office PC):
CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-4790 Processor (8M Cache, up to 4.00 GHz)
RAM: 32 GB (4x G.Skill 8 GB, DDR3, 1600 MHz)
Graphics card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1080 8GB, latest NVidia Game Ready drivers
SSD hard drives, AE cache has a separate HD
OS: Windows 10 Pro

PC with the issues (Home Office PC):
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5700G with Radeon Graphics
RAM: 64GB (4x Kingston FURY DDR4 16GB 3200 MHz)
Graphics card: GeForce RTX 3070 Twin Edge OC LHR 8GB, latest NVidia Studio drivers
SSD hard drives, AE cache has a separate HD.
OS: Windows 11 Home

I'm doubting a bit this "system extensions or add on processes running on one system and not the other" part, because I did a format to my Home Office PC and installed the Creative Suite firsthand, and the issue remained even then with nothing else installed on the system. But here goes:
The anti-virus system is under the same license for both - Bitdefender Total Security (licensed for up to 5 PCs).
Screen capture utility is the same - Screen Recorder for Windows 11 v1.0.5.0 and a default Snipping Tool.
Webcams are also the same for both setups: Logitech C920
Keyboards the same (Logitech MX Keys), but mouses are different though - for Office PC theres Logitech G603, Home Office has Logitech G502X.
Office PC doesn't have a separate audio interface though, Home Office has a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 with the latest drivers installed.
Both setups have 2 monitors, same brand, same models Dell P2720D which are calibrated with Datacolor SpyderX Elite.
And for the Home Office I switched to Studio drivers about a month ago with no effect.
Home Office has Steam installed on a separate SSD hard drive with a few games on it. Office PC doesn't have any of that.
Everything else is more or less the same - in addition to Adobe CS, i use also Cinema 4D and Cubase 9.5 for work, so both of those are installed on both systems. Aslo Office 2021 perpetual licenses, Visual Studio Code on both. Can't think of anything else...

Let me know if theres something I missed.

[Taavi Rull]

Oh and for Home Office setup I've got a USB hub connected with 7 inputs, all in use. But the hub is connected to a power outlet directly, not getting its power from the PCs USB3.0. That I don't have for my Office PC.

[Taavi Rull]

I'm sorry, but I've got no idea what you're talking about.

[Taavi Rull]

I think I've found the culprit.
I was working in AE, moving a simple shape layer on the preview pane as usual, the spoken freeze occurred again but this time permanently. The mouse froze and didn't "wake up" anymore. It feeled just like After Effects had crashed and the apps window will go grey soon and show "Not Responding" or something. I waited for a bit, but that didn't happen.. I hit Alt+TAB and the command functioned properly, changed the windows and all, but the mouse was still fozen. Then I disconnected the mouses USB receiver and reconnected it to the same socket, that worked. Mouse moved around again, but froze soon after in AE.. But that seemed weird, gave me some ideas. Heres the thing - the mouse and keyboards receivers both are inserted into USB sockets in one of my monitor. And that seems to be the problem for some reason, and only in AE. I pulled them both out of the monitor and connected them straight to the computer and the laggy behaviour is gone. Put the receivers back into the monitors USB sockets and the lag is back.

I'll test and work in AE for a few days, see if the problem still exists. Let you know shortly.
Is that something you've heard before?
(And i'm sorry for my outburst here! The struggle was real.)

[Paul Uu]

This is great news. We were really struggling here to come up with any idea as to why this might be happening (particularly with one system and not the other).

I have no idea why the USB configuration would be interfering with AE (and only AE) in this context, but that gives us a scenario we can try to reproduce here. These are Bluetooth devices with the little USB receiver dongles, correct?

[Taavi Rull]

Yes exactly, bluetooth dongles. And whats interesting is that the my Office system uses the same monitors and the keyboard and mouse are connected exactly the same way through USB ports on one of the monitors. 

[Taavi Rull]

It seems that the freezing issue has been resolved. Hasn't come back yet.
But the cracking sound whilst previewing is still there. I'm using Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 with its latest drivers.

Audio Hardware settings:

Audio Output Mapping settings:

And the cracking sound only occurs in After Effects during preview.