After Effects slow on M2 Ultra Mac

[nopow]

Last week I replaced my 2017 iMac with an M2 Ultra Mac Studio with 128 GB RAM. It struggles to even play a 4K .mp4 clip in real time. In my comparison tests, it was rendering comps in approximately the same amount of time as my old iMac (2017, 4.2 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7, with 64 GB RAM). I currently have 16 GB RAM reserved for other applications (112 GB for AE). I have tried with and without Multi-frame Rendering turned on. I have not migrated my files from my old computer, so these are the results right out of the box. I'm using the latest version of AE (23.5.0).

I was expecting previews to be about 5 times faster, but hoping for more. At first I was just terribly disappointed, and thought I made a huge mistake investing 8K in new computer equipment, since After Effects is my livelihood. But now I'm assuming that AE is just not operating right. I have read mixed comments about whether AE is optimized for the M2. Does anyone have any up-to-date information on that? Or maybe know of some trick? Something I'm missing? Thanks in advance.

[John V Knowles]

What drive is the video clip on -- is it the internal drive or an external that's plugged in?

Do you have other media you can try -- preferably something that's not heavily compressed?

When you say it's struggling to "even play a 4K .mp4 in real time" as if that's a simple video format, be aware that it's actually not simple nor is it a good video format to edit with. MP4s are typically wrappers for the H.264 codec which is highly compressed and can be very CPU-intensive to decode for playback. Even high-end PCs struggle with H.264 clips from drones or cameras like the Sony A7s. A better format for editing is a mezzanine codec like a flavor of ProRes, MXF, Cineform or Avid's DNx media. 

[nopow]

Thanks for the response, John. I should have mentioned... my project file and video files are stored locally, on the Mac Studio's SSD. I should also mention that it's a 24-core CPU, and multi-frame rendering is on. Other compressed formats have similar playback speed (with moderate stuttering), although I did (barely) get real-time playback of a .MOV using the ProRes 444 codec. But the main point I was trying to make is that I have a much faster system, with no noticeable difference in AE's performance. In the benchmark I ran this morning, the Mac Studio scored 4 times better performance than my iMac. And yet AE is previewing roughly 25% faster, and with some comps, even slower than the iMac. I look forward to hearing your thoughts...

[Andrew Yoole]

Not immediate solutions, but just some thoughts:

Apple silicon has specific internal hardware that encodes and decodes ProRes formats, so you'll always get the best results if you stick to ProRes source footage and output formats.

The contents of your projects may also be a factor.  After Effects is an unusual beast, in that it channels some processing through the GPU and others through the CPU.  The combination of GPU accelerated plugins with non-accelarated plugins can cause bottlenecks in the precessing pipeline.

I can tell you that the M2 Max Macbook Pro I'm currently using doesn't have astoundingly different render times compared to my 2019 Intel Mac Pro, probably about 50% faster on most jobs, depending on the content. The difference in performance while working is where it shines - scrolling through the timeline in AE on the Mac Pro is like a knife in refrigerated butter, whereas the M2 MBP slides along the timeline seamlessly, like warmed butter.  

[nopow]

That's interesting. I admit, AE only takes 3 seconds to open now, and I've noticed a big improvement in the responsiveness when I'm selecting layers and clicking around. But waiting for previews to cache is where I spend about a third of my time, so that was my whole motivation for purchasing the Mac Studio, and so far, that hasn't improved. Now I'm just... sad. Perhaps I'll get better performance on other projects, like you said. 

[John V Knowles]

One other thing: After Effects was the last piece of the Adobe video suite to be ported to Apple Silicon, so in many ways it still has a lot of catching up to do. As others mentioned, I did see improvements with overall performance compared to my Intel MBP while not seeing a huge leap in RAM preview playback. But it is getting better with each version and actual renders have been much faster than my old Mac. 

There's always the beta version too. You can download that to test out performance there, and it can live side-by-side with the regular release version.

[nopow]

That's encouraging. I'll try the beta version. Thanks for your help.

[dcmoreni]

Hi, I recently purchased a Mac Studio M2 Ultra 192GB Memroy, 24C CPU, 76C GPU, 2TB SSD (Ventura).
I also have a Mac Studio M1 Ultra 128GB Memory, 20C CPU, 48C GPU, 2TB SSD (Monterey).
The 2 computers has the same After Effects version 23.5.0 and settings (multiframe rendering on, disk cache enable with 256GB on computer internal ssd drive,...), and the project files are located in an external NVMe SSD OWC Envoy Pro Fx (1TB)
The project (UHD resolutuion) only have photos, animtaed graphics and an animated logo with alpha (PorRes4444).
I opened the same project from the same external OWC ssd drive in both computers.
The M1 Ultra plays the preview in real time (once it´s stored on the disk cache).
But with the M2 Ultra, the preview doesn´t play in real time, it´s very choppy, even if I keep it playing for ever.
Not sure if this is a Ventura issue, or Adobe with M2 chips, or both.
It´s a shame that we are not able to downgrade the M2 Ultra to Monterey. That would be an interesting test to do.

[dcmoreni]

I just ran a new test with a different project.
1080p project with ProRes 422 footages, lumetri, and a few animated graphics.
The same result, in the M1 Ultra it plays real time.
But with the M2 Ultra, it´s unusable, very choppy, not real time at all, even in half or third resolution, or changing color depth from 16bpc to 8bpc.
This is very disappointing.

[dcmoreni]

New update about my issue.
I contacted Apple and we ran some tests.
In my case, creating a new Admin user solved the problem.
Apparently, some issues might have being generated when I installed all my Apps and settings.
Maybe copying manually some files from my M1 Mac Studio (Monterey) to the new M2 or the way I installed Ventura (I first tried to format and install Monterey on the M2, but I didn´t know you can not downgrade OS from the pre-installed version in a new Apple computer)

[dcmoreni · Accepted solution]

Some fresh news after having to deal with the same issues this morning...

To not make this too long, I will share the last, and I think most relevant results.

I am using my M2 Ultra with 2 displays (LG 27UK650).

I realise that the problem comes when I work with both displays.

If I unplug my second monitor, everything runs smoothly.

Using both monitors, causes After effects to reproduce preview not real time (very choppy), same with Davinci Resolve reproducing a single 4K ProRes422 clip (with no effects at all), and with Premiere.
One thing that makes some difference is if I turn on the computer with only 1 monitor, and once Ventura is running I plug in the second monitor, then things seams to work fine (at least during the 5 min tests).
But if I turn on the computer with both monitors plugged in, I have graphic performance issues since the beggining.

The weird thing is that I've been working with my M1 Ultra (Monterey) for the last year, using the same LG monitors, and I did not have a single issue in terms of graphic performance using my every day softwares.

This afternoon I have an appointment in Apple Store to perform the same tests but plugging the MacStudio M2 Ultra to 2 Apple Displays and see if the issues still remain or not.

I will post the results tonight.
Cheers!

[Chris T.N.]

Good luck! How did it go? 

[dcmoreni]

Hi Chris,
I finally went to the Apple Store.
We tested using 2 Apple Studio Displays plugged in the Mac Studio and it did not solve the problem.
The guys from the support team ran a few diagnosis test, they restored the firmware and reinstalled OS Ventura.
After that, I installed only Adobe CC + After Effects (Encoder is autoamtically install) on the Mac Studio to run more tests, with the 2 Apple Studio Display.
But sadly we experienced the same issues. If I use only one display, it works fine.
I will stop posting here, as apparently my problem looks more related to hardware and/or OS Ventura, rather than After Effects.
Thank you very much for your time reading the posts and replying to it.
Cheers!
 

[pkroll]

Did you try turning on Displays Use Separate spaces in MacOS settings? I had similar issues with two screens vs. one and found this was the solution. I have seen very sporadic reports of similar problems effecting all Apple Silicon systems with dual monitors.

[chfilm]

this at least for now fixed the issue for me!! Thank you! I hope it persists!

[pkroll]

Wow. Okay. I really need to do some PSA posts here and other places, cause this is terrible if it's widespread. The issue was also effecting Blender for me (UI was laggy and partially nonresponsive) so it gave me enough hope it was system-wide to do an exhaustive debug attempt, and luckily stumbled on the Spaces thing early on in that.

[chfilm]

Oh damn! I just got to start working on my brand new mac studio m2 ultra, 128 gb and ran into the exact same issue. I lost three hours just now uninstalling and reinstalling everything, with no luck. The weirdest thing is- when I did a screen recording, it runs smoothly. Every. Single. Time! 

Now I came across this thread- and indeed- unplugging the 2nd monitor solves the issue. But is obviously unacceptable. Adobe- PLEASE FIX THIS! It's obviously a software issue, as doing a screen recording solves it- and it's happening only in after effects. My Resolve works fine. Premiere has also stuttering issues, but a fresh install solved it.

[Christian Z]

Hi, just started experiencing this issue, running 2x 4k monitors M2 Max 16" Macbook pro.. Just wondering if there's a work-around or update..

[pkroll]

The work around is posted earlier in the thread!

Disable "Displays have separate Spaces" in macOS System Settings > Desktop & Dock

[nopow]

Thanks for the reply, James. Those are all good tips, and I did all of them before I ever posted here. I just bought this Mac Studio, and all my tests were done right out of the box... up-to-date OS, freshly installed AE, no plugins or scripts, 90% RAM allocation, multiprocessing on (I tried off as well), no other apps running, and no files migrated from another computer. And yet, preview times are comparable to the old Intel iMac. The only thing that is not as you described are my projects. All of my projects are large compositions, multiple effects, many layers. That's the whole reason I purchased the new M2 Ultra with twice the Ram and 24 cores. To be clear, AE hasn't been so slow that it's unusable (like dcmoreni's experience posted earlier). It's just only slightly faster than the old iMac, which is not at all what I expected. As mentioned, the computer is fast in the benchmark app I ran, so I'm convinced that this is an issue of After Effects not yet fully optimized for the M2.

[Warren Heaton]

Have you tried opening the same project on both the 2017 iMac and the M2 Ultra Mac Studio and then use the Composition Profiler to compare, Layer by Layer, what is or is not faster and by how much or how little?

View detailed performance information with Composition Profiler

Every once and awhile I'll open up the same project on my 2017 iMac Pro and 2021 16-inch MacBook Pro M1 Max just to compare things.  The 2017 iMac Pro sees a very nice performance boost from Multi-frame Render, but the 16-inch MacBook Pro M1 Max is always faster.

[Branded Productions]

Has there been any resolution to this? I am about to pull the trigger on purchasing a new M2 Ultra system for AE and PR work.. this post has me hesitating. My current setup is using 3 monitors, and there's no way I could go back to just 1 monitor for my workflow.

[nopow]

I can't speak to dcmoreni's problem, since I only have one monitor. But as for me, I'm embarrassed (but happy) to report that my more recent projects have been running quite fast. The comps I initially used for my tests were all from the same project, and were equally slow on both the new mac and the old mac. And strangely, a single 4K clip caches at a similar speed on both computers. But I did just run a bunch of comparison tests with some other projects with effects-heavy comps and many layers, and the previews were 3 to 5 times faster on the Mac Studio than the iMac. It's not the speed I dreamed about, but certainly a big improvement. 

So I don't know, maybe it was the camera projection mapping in those initial comps that were slowing it down, but I'm not depressed anymore. I would just say don't get carried away with your expectations, like perhaps I did. Thanks to everyone else for responding to my post.

[dcmoreni]

Hi, I finally asked for a refund so I did not make any more tests.
I did some research and other people reported issues when using multiple displays.
Not performance problems like I had, but more related to "unrecognizable" displays.
Take a look to this post from macrumors forum:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/mac-studio-m2-multiple-display-issues.2395441/
Best!

[jenkmeister · Accepted solution]

The Adobe teams are in discussion with Apple about this. Apple have identified it as an issue in macOS. At this time the only workaround we have from them is to Disable "Displays have separate Spaces" in macOS System Settings > Desktop & Dock. While not ideal, this should improve playback performance.