Apple M2 Max 96GB - After Effects using up HUGE amounts of RAM for the simplest tasks.

[miker31661459]

I am operating off a Macbook Pro M2 Max 96GB, 2TB that is ridiculously slow in After Effects. The RAM will be totally maxed out after a few minutes when performing even the simplest of tasks with just a few layers. This has been an incredibly frustrating thing to deal with and I am in need of some real answers from Adobe. I make a living from these programs and there should be no reason that with this powerful of a machine AE cant handle simple functions. I am primarily a 2D and do not use any arrays of plugins, or 3D features. 

I have been working in After Effects for nearly 10 years now on machines that were well under these current specs and I have never once had trouble like this. This is a real issue and it seems that I'm not the only one either. Attached are screenshots showing the AE RAM usage. 

Any support will be very much appreciated.

[nishu_kush]

Hi miker31661459,

Sorry to hear about the issue. I understand the frustration.

Please share the following details so that we can diagnose the issue properly.

• What are your system specifications (CPU, GPU, RAM, OS version) and the exact version of After Effects you're using?
• Are you able to repeat the issue in all projects? If not, it could be a project-specific issue.
• Please share the project (with media) that repeats the issue. We'd love to test it on our end.
• Try the solution in the following thread if you're on a multi-monitor setup: https://community.adobe.com/t5/premiere-pro-bugs/issues-with-premiere-23-5-on-m2-ultra-studio/idc-p/... 

Looking forward to your response.

Note: Moving this thread from Bugs to Discussions for troubleshooting.

Thanks,

Nishu

[jenkmeister]

We've been in touch directly with @miker31661459 and assessed the issue is related to one of the remaining purge memory issues that is currently being fixed. A fix should be out to Beta in the coming weeks and we'll follow up with the user once that's in place for confirmation of the fix.

[miker31661459]

@jenkmeister 

The issue started to happen again. Any idea when this new fix will be coming out? It seems crazy that on such a powerful machine I have to worry about getting through simple AE tasks. 

[jenkmeister]

Chatting with one of the engineers, he said a couple of weeks and the changes should be ready for testing in Beta. 

[miker31661459]

Is there any possibility you guys could try to prioritize this issue or maybe put it on some sort of a fast track for the users experiencing it? This has been causing a serious slowdown in my workflow now and it's not a great look for the clients I'm currently working with. I've spent hours out of my days troubleshooting and every time it happens I have to restart my machine or AE. This is a 96GB M2 Macbook Pro and I can't even handle simple shape layers in After Effects without getting the yellow notification bar. Is there a workaround in the meantime? Any help would be much appreciated. Waiting a few more weeks possibly longer on this issue would really be a pain point. 

[jenkmeister]

It's the only priority of one of our top engineers on the team. The fixes being done are deep in our memory management and need extensive testing. We might fix the issue you're seeing but then introduce 10 new ones for other people. So we have to be very careful with the changes. 

I'll admit it is strange that your machine is hitting this with just simple shape layers. Can you make sure you don't have other Adobe apps open at the same time (those will reserve memory away from AE) and that you have as much memory allocated to AE as possible (Memory & Performance preferences panel). 

[miker31661459]

Thanks for clarifying. There are no other Adobe programs opened on my computer, just AE right now but also, I have worked in this space for 10+ years and have had countless times where I have been running AE, PS, and AI simultaneously without any problems at all. 

Here is a screenshot of the current memory usage with literally a NEW comp with JUST a solid as well as the allocation. The allocation number was set by an Adobe support employee when he screen-shared with me. 

[jenkmeister]

Is that immediately after opening AE new, creating a new comp, new solid? How big is the comp (resolution, length of time)? 

If you turn off "Cache Frames When Idle" (Composition Menu -> Preview -> ), does the memory stop going up? 

[miker31661459]

Hi @jenkmeister 

It is mainly when things begin to build up in the project and I try to RAM preview. Also, BIG UPDATE - I just received the M3 Macbook Pro with 128GB of RAM now and the issue is still happening, on a brand-new machine.... The yellow notification bar pops up constantly even when doing simple tasks. I really can't fathom how this is even possible for such a large amount of memory. I really am going to need to get this issue resolved and I know you guys are working hard on it, however just need to stress this as a dedicated 10+ year user of Adobe products that I have never had this happen. Here is a screenshot showing the RAM usage. Why would AE even be eating up 102GB!?! I haven't touched any settings, this is a brand-new machine right out of the box. 

[jenkmeister]

It is primarily due to the new M2/M3 hardware. Because the RAM is shared between GPU and CPU activities, there are situations where the OS won't release memory from the GPU side and AE won't let get of the CPU side (or vice versa) and we get into a memory starvation point where the app continues to need new memory to render frames for playback and it or won't release memory for reuse. Anyway, hopefully a fix is coming shortly for you to try out. 

[Burdbrain]

Was this issue resolved with a new patch? I'm looking at upgrading my 2019 i9 Macbook Pro to the M3 Max, but not if this is happening. Life's too short for this kind of stress!

[miker31661459]

@Burdbrain It still hasn't been fixed for me. Wish they would release something soon. 

@jenkmeister Any update on this? 

[jenkmeister]

We are testing our changes internally for this issue now. We are hoping to have the fixes into Beta in the next week or two and then ship them in the next non-beta release in early 2024. 

[jenkmeister]

We have done some work for better memory usage in the most recent AE Beta builds. If you're able to install a beta build from Creative Cloud Desktop, we are hoping we've taken care of the memory issues that have been reported in this thread.

[miker31661459]

@jenkmeister 

Hi there, wondering how I go about installing a beta? Is it just like installing a regular update. I would like to see if the beta helps this issue. 

[jenkmeister]

Open the Creative Cloud Desktop application, select Apps from the sidebar, Choose Beta Apps from the Apps types and then find After Effects and click Install. It'll install side-by-side with any existing non-beta versions of AE.

[miker31661459]

@jenkmeister Thanks!

Just installed. Going to stress test it for a few weeks then report back

[miker31661459]

@jenkmeister A few hours into the beta and I got the notification again. Seems crazy that this is still happening.

I'm running an Apple M3 Max - 128GB

[jenkmeister]

Any chance you can share the project that triggered this? 

[miker31661459]

Unfortunately, I can't due to it being under NDA, The "Echo" effect is being used pretty heavily in it though. But it's not anything I haven't used in the past. I never had these notifications pop up when I had my old machines and those had nowhere near the power or memory that this Macbook pro has. 

[miker31661459]

@jenkmeister Are there any plans to resolve this issue for good? I see a lot of people are having the same problem... It's a shame having invested a fortune on a new machine only to have problems with the one program that I need most.  After Effects is the main program I use to make a living and in 12+ years I've never had this issue be this bad. The beta still has the same premature RAM issue and I get the notification intermittently every couple of days or so when im working on projects large or small. There doesn't seem to be a recipe for when it happens, its totally random.  Curious to know what the next steps are from here because for me and many others it's truly becoming quite an issue in my day to day.  

[jenkmeister]

@miker31661459 are you using the latest 24.4 betas? Just want to confirm you're still having issues with the latest changes we have in. 

[miker31661459]

This is the one im using and the only one I had available. 

[jenkmeister]

Great, just wanted to confirm. Do you think the low memory alert is happening less than in older 23.* or 24.* releases? Just curious on that. 

When you do get into the low memory situation, could you go into Preferences -> Memory & Performance and click on Show Memory Usage Details... and then post a screen shot of that dialog. Something like:

That will help us understand better where the memory is allocated and what might be going on.

In terms of continuing to work on this overall, that's a yes. We are looking at ways to reduce overall RAM needs while also reducing the reliance on RAM in areas such as playback of rendererd frames. I know this is taking a long time to resolve but we won't stop until we've got things better for you and all our customers facing this.