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TannerW
Participating Frequently
March 5, 2018
Question

ExtractoR - MultiLayer EXR - Extremely slow on PC vs MAC - Network

  • March 5, 2018
  • 3 replies
  • 8225 views

We have recently transitioned some workstations over to Windows from OSX and noticed compositions using the Extractor Plugin on both CC2014 and CC2018 are very slow to work with on the Windows side. These are Multi-layered EXR's with 40+ channels so they're certainly heavy files.

Simply adding the extractor plugin and selecting a channel can take 3+ minutes to preview in the composition window. Once it loads after 5 minutes it works as usual.

Has anyone encountered this issue? It could be a difference in the network share working better on MAC vs WIN but it's astounding how much slower the plugin works on Windows (seconds vs minutes). Copying the files locally makes a big difference and alleviates the problem; but that's a cumbersome workaround with a network based pipeline.

I've messed with the preference settings for EXR caching but nothing seems to reduce the 3+minutes of load time when switching channels in the composition. CC2018 has v 1.9 Apr 2 2015 in it. Is that the most updated version?

Thanks for any help.

edit: I downloaded the version from ProEXR and it's older than the one that ships with AE. Worth a shot.

edit2: RLE compression seems to be much faster than ZIP in most cases skipping around frames and pulling channels out with ExtractoR. Zip is taking 1-2min to skip around and change channels. RLE is 20-30. Overall stability seems better in 2018 than 2014. Previewing 2 seconds at full rez takes 1:11 using RLE vs 6:13 using ZIP compression. ZIP16 wont even work on CC2018 windows from what I can tell.

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    3 replies

    j_long
    j_long
    Participant
    November 6, 2018

    Same issue here.  I have EXRs with 30 layers, all matte passes so the files are small (700kb), however loading each channel through EXtractoR is exponentially slower, making it virtually unusable since the overall render time for the sequence becomes astronomical.

    I might try the RLE compression, but it doesn't sound like it will help enough, so I think I'll have to go back to not combining the AOVs, which was ironically done to be more efficient and save time.

    AECC 2018 (15.0 build 180)  EXtractoR v2.0 - Apr 16 2018

    F
    fnordware
    Inspiring
    November 8, 2018

    Hey guys, ProEXR 2.0 was released today. It addresses some speed issues, hopefully including the ones you're complaining about. Try it!

    http://fnordware.blogspot.com/

      j_long
      j_long
      Participant
      December 3, 2018

      Thanks fnord, I'll give it a shot when time permits.  For the record, I'm not sure if the speed issue isn't also a limitation on Adobe's end (?).

      T
      timlitos
      Known Participant
      August 1, 2018

      I have the same issues. No solution yet.

      Kevin-Monahan
      Community Manager
      Kevin-MonahanCommunity Manager
      Community Manager
      March 15, 2018

      Hi Tanner,

      Is there a question here or are you looking for opinions on your workflow from others?

      Thanks,
      Kevin

      Kevin Monahan - Sr. Community and Engagement Strategist – Adobe Pro Video and Audio
      T
      TannerWAuthor
      Participating Frequently
      March 15, 2018

      Hi Kevin,

      I asked if anyone has encountered a massive slow down and lag using Windows, After Effects, Multilayered EXRs, and a network connection?

      I'm looking for anyone's experience with EXR workflows off a network using Windows and After Effects, and how to potentially fix the slow down we are experiencing. I can't speak to the specifics of the network, but its SMB is up to date and very fast otherwise.

      The difference between OSX and Window's loading and usability is staggering with a 40 layer EXR file. Seconds vs minutes to skip around the timeline.

      Obviously it could be a network setting or OS level setting; but I'm finding absolutely nothing online other than a few select posts on places like The Foundry saying "Don't use multilayered EXR's in After Effects" and "Render out separate passes because it's not multithreaded".


      We are going to do some speed tests, try dual fiber connections, and things like that to figure out what the difference is between WIN and OSX but I was hoping a dev or someone would have suggestions where to look first. 

      C
      Chris2hoch2
      Participating Frequently
      April 10, 2018

      We have the same problems here. It is nearly unusable. But with older version it worked flawless

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