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after effects project very slow

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
September 6, 2020
2 replies
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To put this in a simple way, my project isn't slow due to memory issues or export settings. Everytime I try to select something, move the selector around, move to the next frame the yellow bar just takes a lot of time, it was almost impossible to end the project.

Now, the thing is, this is a lyric video I'm doing, 4 minutes long with text layers and footage. If I open up a different project, let's say 6 minute lyric video it's fast to work around and the export with codec h264 takes up to 1h30, now with this project I'm having trouble with it's 11hours the wait! If I only select the footage it exports in half a hour, but when I activate the text layers it's 11h wait and slow to move around. If I shut down th FX to the text layers it's back to normal. I only have a sapphire plugin dissolve effect, a drop shadow and a fill. But if I shut it down it will look awful and lose the reveal effect. It's a nightmare. Anyone can help me please? Thanks

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Correct answer Rick Gerard

My first suggestion is to select all of your text layers, click on the little color square in the timeline, and set all text layers to a unique color so you can easily select them all no matter where they are in the comp.

The second step is to select all text layers and turn them all off. Try running a preview and see how that goes. If it is slow, then your slowdown is not in the text layers.

If the other layers are not causing the slowdown, turn on all of the text layers again and turn off all of the other layers and try a preview of just the text layers. You should now know what is causing the slowdown.

Some possible solutions. It looks like only the wipe effect on the text layers is keyframed. If that is correct then remove the other two effects, Fill and Drop Shadow, pre-compose all text layers that are stacked on top of each other, and then add Fill and Drop Shadow to the pre-comp. If fill is not animated I'm not sure I understand why you need to apply Fill to a text layer. Colors can easily be controlled with expressions or a master color control.

If none of that helps, pick a spot where you have a scene change in the comp, select all layers, and split them all, then pre-compose the split layers and do it again until you have a bunch of separate comps that can be re-assembled into the final project.

Let us know if any of these suggestions help. All it takes is one recursive effect to be applied to a few layers in your comp to kill the preview and render progress.

R

Rick Gerard

Correct answer

Community Expert

My first suggestion is to select all of your text layers, click on the little color square in the timeline, and set all text layers to a unique color so you can easily select them all no matter where they are in the comp.

The second step is to select all text layers and turn them all off. Try running a preview and see how that goes. If it is slow, then your slowdown is not in the text layers.

If the other layers are not causing the slowdown, turn on all of the text layers again and turn off all of the other layers and try a preview of just the text layers. You should now know what is causing the slowdown.

Some possible solutions. It looks like only the wipe effect on the text layers is keyframed. If that is correct then remove the other two effects, Fill and Drop Shadow, pre-compose all text layers that are stacked on top of each other, and then add Fill and Drop Shadow to the pre-comp. If fill is not animated I'm not sure I understand why you need to apply Fill to a text layer. Colors can easily be controlled with expressions or a master color control.

If none of that helps, pick a spot where you have a scene change in the comp, select all layers, and split them all, then pre-compose the split layers and do it again until you have a bunch of separate comps that can be re-assembled into the final project.

Let us know if any of these suggestions help. All it takes is one recursive effect to be applied to a few layers in your comp to kill the preview and render progress.

SchismatickAuthor

Participant

So as I suspected the issue was in the Text layers. I did remove the fill and drop shadow and it got a bit better. You're right, no need for that, could have done with the character panel. Only the wipe effect has keyframes.

I had a deadline so I exported it overnight, went from 11h to 10h. I did however experimented slipting it up and then try to export one block, just for the sake of getting a healthier way to work, and it was much faster.

For the future I'll adopt this workflow instead. Still not sure if I should do the text animations in AE or if Adobe Premiere is able to provide the same type of options? One things for sure Premiere is much better to deal with sync music with text, the AE Ram preview is such slow process.

Thanks.

R

Rick Gerard

Community Expert

Without workflow, design, settings, and system details and screenshots it is just about impossible to tell where the bottleneck is. I would never create a 4 minutes lyric video in a single comp. Each comp would be no longer than a single phrase of music or dialogue. The final edit would be done in Premiere Pro. AE is not an editing app and it's easy to build a big mess that is hard to control and difficult to modify.

Give us some details and maybe we can help.

SchismatickAuthor

Participant

Rick thank you so much for the quick reply, I've seen your responses in some other threads that helped me surpass some difficulties I was having in the past.

"The final edit would be done in Premiere Pro" Yes about this, I've began to work more seriously around video making some months ago, but I've got to that conclusion already, the problem was, not having so much knowledge in Premiere as I do in After Effects, but well I'm learning it, and next time I'll take your advice and do it like that. The other problem is that the line between what I can do in after effects and can't do in Premiere is still a little blured for me. For instance AE is more oriented to adding a fog effect, particles, twitch, 3D camera tracking, special effects and once that's done the best is to export it and put the music and lyrics in Premiere I presume?

I have a big mess alright, nearly 200 layers, 4 minute song with footage and text effects. The thing is, I've done 6 minute lyric videos, or longer, with even more layers, and this didn't happen.

So here's the specifications you asked for:

I use After Effects CC 2014 on a Win10 Asus GL552VW x64, Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700HQ CPU @ 2.60GHz, 2592.

(RAM) 32,0 GB.

I do have only ONE comp: 1920x1080 Square pixels, 30 frames per second, renderer: 3D Classic.

I have footage that I edited and exported in back in in a single video file, as I will describe in the screenshots.

Not sure what you mean by workflow, I created a 2D text layer and then added a sapphire s_wipeflux (kind of a ink reveal effect), drop shadow and a fill efects, then I duplicated in and change the keyframes position of the apphire s_wipeflux reveal and obviously change the text itself, then I repeatead the process. Also added a background stain frame in some cases so the content wouldn't lose itself among the footage.

I also added a manual tracking and 3D tracking and I tried to put the text to follow the character movement. Later that didn't wok so well so I erased it, and removed all traces of it in the project, including null layers that had the motion information. At least I think I got it all out. Also change the parenting of the text layer no none.

Now the loading yellow bar everytime I tried to select, move to the next frame, change visibility of some given layer or whatever, just takes a lifetime, it's ultra slow. So I did a trial error approach, I started to "solo" layer by layer then tried to work and the problem comes when I active the effects for the text layers(shadow, fill, wipeflux). The problem is, I need that effects in order to make it look like I want to. Of course I can do it in some other way, I know, but will that solve it? Will take some time to do though. And the strange thing is, I have that other 6 minute project with exactly the same stuff, even more layers and bigger lenth, and that project is okay, takes 1h30 to export, doesn't slow down while working on it, and this one I'm having trouble with took my 11hours to export and it's turtle slow to work around.

Also tried to purge cash, import into a new project comp. I know that in the prints I have the preview resolution set to full, but I've dropped it out to Quarter, also in the RAM preview and it's the same slow deal as before. Did all sorts of things and nothing helps.

Hope I was clearer this time.

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