After Effects 2017 preview lagging

[7SBF]

I've update AE to the newest version and the preview is lagging. I can't preview in real-time anymore (RAM stuck at 11/12 fps or something). Even a simple motion in the simplest composition doesn't play smooth.

Also when I start previewing (spacebar), I can't stop the preview without After Effects crashing or lagging (constant spinning wheel) and have to wait for it to respond or restart AE.

Audio preview is also a horror. Within 2 frames of playback the audio slows down and pitches down. These problems I never had with the previous version. I can't work on my projects without a normal preview and animating on a voiceover. What's going on here? Any thoughts?

I'm working on a MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014)  - 2,5 GHz Intel Core i7 - 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

[StephaneA_AfterEffects]

"Do you get real time playback of cached frames if Mercury Transmit is turned off and you're just viewing it on your main screen?"

I will test that and get back.

"Are you using color management at all?"

You mean in AE ? Someting like Lumetri for examle ?

"Have you tried disabling (or if it's already disabled, enabling) the Use Hardware to Accelerate...Panels option?"

It is disable.

"Do either of your screens happen to have a Multi-Stream Transport (MST) option? If so, try disabling it. Disabling it works to get RAM previews running at a solid speed on certain Dell 4K screens."

My 4k monitor is a SST (Single Stream Transport)

[Szalam]

StephaneA_AfterEffects  wrote

"Have you tried disabling (or if it's already disabled, enabling) the Use Hardware to Accelerate...Panels option?"

It is disable.

If it's disabled, try enabling it.

StephaneA_AfterEffects  wrote

"Are you using color management at all?"

You mean in AE ? Someting like Lumetri for examle ?

Color management is not an effect applied like Lumetri. It's a way of working to try to keep consistent color. You can read more about it here.

[StephaneA_AfterEffects]

I've tried with Hardware Accelerate on/off, same thing I've got random lost of real time playback.

I don't use any color managment, "Working space" is set to "none" in the project settings.

[Szalam]

Do you have scaling set to something besides 100% in Windows? See this thread.

[StephaneA_AfterEffects]

I've read the theard, I'm not aware of an option to scale the windows in AE so I guess it is set to 100% since I didn't change it. Where is the option to change the size ?

[Szalam]

Details here.

[StephaneA_AfterEffects]

My 4k display is set to 150% (as recommended by Microsoft) but I don't want to change this because if I do the desktop icons and text of Windows are way to small

[Szalam]

Can you change it just to see if it helps AE? It would be a troubleshooting step and you can change it back later. Set all of your monitors to be 100%, launch AE, see if you can get real time playback of a cached preview, then close AE and change them back to whatever you prefer.

We'll see what we need to do from there.

[StephaneA_AfterEffects]

Ok. I try and let you know.

[StephaneA_AfterEffects]

I am runnig AE 2017 in 4k 100% display since yesteray and I still have problems. Loosing real time playback.

The timeline and the ram preview are totally buggy if you compare to CC 2014.

For exemple in AE 2017 when I change the soundtrack AE re render the frames whereas in 2014 changing the soundtrack doesn't loose cached frames, you can change ther soundtrack whitout re render the timeline all over again.

What a progress !! Why on the earth did they changed the ram preview?!! It was working very well and nobody never ask any change of that kind !!!

The problem is that one can't use CC 2014 for ever, there are new features that will be needed so I can't understand why they just don't go back to the old code the time to fix the problem whith the new one. I'm not a beta tester, I'm a paying customer. I remember Adobe had a beta test program in the past. They did beta tests before release.

If Fusion 9 is as good as expected I will switch to it + Da Vinci Resolve as editing tool and bye bye Adobe.

[jeroyg]

Stephane -

i don't see an answer to this question - "Do you get real time playback of cached frames if Mercury Transmit is turned off and you're just viewing it on your main screen?"

are you using the exact same setup with the exact same settings with 2014 where you say you aren't having any issues?

[StephaneA_AfterEffects]

Yes the exact same setup

[jeroyg]

"Do you get real time playback of cached frames if Mercury Transmit is turned off and you're just viewing it on your main screen?"

it would be good to determine if your issues are related to transmit or are more general.

[StephaneA_AfterEffects]

Hi Jeroyg,

When I don't use Mercury Transmit it seems to fix the problem. I did check with dvi, hdmi and displayport port the bug is always there it desappears when Mercury output is off.

I'll investigate futher more about it tomorrow because several time in the past I tough I had a solution and the problem was fixed but it was not.

[Szalam]

Yeah, I forgot to ask if you had tested this from my earlier post. If we can isolate it to Mercury Transmit causing the problem, that would really help get closer to a solution. (Whether it's something we can do or something Adobe would have to do.)

[StephaneA_AfterEffects]

Until now I couldn't debug the problem because I was not able to reproduce it but I have under the some comps that do it all the time so I can check differents options.

What I am sure for now is when Mercury Transmit in on  I loose real time playback, I've set the option to mute the sound when playback is not real time so the lost is really obvious. When I turn Mercury off I'm real time again and I don't loose the sound anymore.

So there is serious reason to believe Mercury is the cause of the bug.

I've tried different options:

- Connect  the preview monitor with dvi, displayport or hdmi

- Switching my two monitors: Use HD for AE and 4k for preview.

- Connect the preview monitor via my graphic card or via my blackmagic Intensity pro 4k.

- Change the audio output.

An other thing the lost of realtime playback occurs mostly on the first play. On the second play and next (when looping the playback) I only got short and random (not often) loses.

It is always the same thing, when Mercury is on I loose realtime playbak.

In the next days during my work I'll investigate futher more and let you know. But right now Adobe dev should seriously look at Mercury in AE because it cause trouble.

[StephaneA_AfterEffects]

An other thing:

when I turn on "Hardware accelerate Composition, layer and Footage panels" I don't get a long lost of the realtime playback anymore but a short one, a kind of short stutter.

It occurs even when Mercury is off. So it is not a Mercury only problem.

The only configuration that seems to works ok is : Mercury off + "Hardware accelerate Composition, layer and Footage panels" off too.

Problem, a pro need an external monitor to preview his work, it is a mandatory, at least for the kind of high level jobs I do.

Is there no Adobe people here ? I understand that Adobe manager don't reply to every single problem but this bug is going on for more than two years, and a lot of threads talk about it on this forum and despite of that no one at Adobe never come to us to explain what's going on. We don't even know if they are truly aware of the problem since they claim they have fixed it.

[StephaneA_AfterEffects]

I've tried the last update  14.2.1.34, the problem is still not fixed.  It is less worth but there is always a kind of stutter in audio witch occurs in the first seconds very ennoying. It happens even if Mercury transmit is off.

I've been working with CC 2014 on the same project I've tested the update wirth and there is no such problem. CC 2014 ram preview work perfectly.

How is it possible to make newer version more buggy than the older one ? There is something really wrong here.

[jackthegiantslayer]

I hate to say it but RAM preview is pretty awful in the latest update to AE. Sometimes it's OK, there's often no rhyme or reason for it. Right now I have nothing on screen but a bunch of really simple vector based shape layers playing with some audio from a hidden video, and it is constantly slowing down and dropping frames even at half resolution. I have just about had it with this POS. Seriously ADOBE, F. U.

[alphad91058103]

bro i have the same problem with cc 2018 2017 and even 2014 😕

[StephaneA_AfterEffects]

CC 2014 ? It's odd because as far I know the bug came with CC 2015. As for myself I never had any trouble with CC 2014. Im still using it when I can because the ram preview is ok.

Do you use a 4k monitor ? Are you on Mac or PC ?

[maddieriffin]

Hey guys might be a bit late but I had the same issue and got really worried I had a virus or something but its fine if you just click on the 'default' section at the top right or 'standard' its worked for me