Low memory warning in After Effects 23.0 (2023)

[raymondcraig]

Unfortunately 23.0 did not fix the issue for me on my M1 mac. It still only renders 2 frames at a time and gives the same error. If I revert back to version 22.4 it works perfectly but any subsequent update (including the 23.0 just released) has the playback issue.

Update: version 24.0 working much better!

I had various results with updates 23.1-23.6, most of them still occasionally having the issue saying it's out of memory or even black frames when rendering. It didn't matter if I had all plugins removed, fresh install, and no other programs running. I just updated to v24.0 and instantly started working like it used to before v23.0. RAM previews are loading right away and playing back in realtime speeds. I'll update if anything changes but so far they seem to have fixed the issues plaguing v23+ at least for me.

[jenkmeister]

Have you tried a recent 23.2 beta build to see if it is working better for you? 

[AnimeRT]

I have not. I am in the middle of a project right now and can't afford things possibly breeaking at the mid point. I will try that once I finish my current project.

[jenkmeister]

Thanks. The beta can install alongside the 23.0 released version if you want to try it but understand waiting too 🙂 

[SRLAWSON]

Jankmeister - apologies for not posting screenshots above, but there was nothing to show. The banded blue loading bar and very, very slow previews. But for me, on Beta, I couldn't export my project at all. I managed to circumvent it by precomping everything and exporting that, but it shouldn't have been necessary, it still didn't work in Media Encoder and it took AE about 40 minutes to export a 5 second mp4.

The Beta version *does not* fix the problem. I have had to go back to using my 16GB Intel iMac while I wait for a fix, which sucks because it has nowhere near as much power. And yet, even in 22.4, my M1 does not perform with After Effects as I'd expect it to. Again, all other Adobe apps have worked fine and it's really quick and efficient with everything else I use. It just seems to be After Effects. Premiere previews are a little laggy but nothing compared to this madness.

To summarise - the issue still persists in the Beta, and this version of Media Encoder is horrible.

[Warren Heaton]

@AnimeRT 

There's something to be said for caution, but the beta of After Effects can be installed without affecting current versions.

[AnimeRT]

Update (13 Dec):

Upgraded to 23.1.0 this morning. Ram use is still weirdly high but nowhere near the useage that it had in the previous version. 23.0 would take all the ram my computer could offer. While the update to 23.1 seems to only want to take about about 20gb of my installed ram. I have my allotted ram use set to 48gb for Ae and other Adobe products and 16gb reserved for other applications. So, this is an improvement. I would have wished for more.
Extensions are still causing issues. When I have multiple extensions running there is noticable lag is moving layers around in a comp. But I am not seeing a ram use spike so I am not sure what is causing that.

[AnimeRT]

Update 2 (13 Dec):

Spoke too soon. Ae will still take the majority of my ram, it just takes a few hours of work instead of a few minutes. So... I guess thats better.

[psyklops]

I wish I had seen this sooner.  The preview render after all the usual cache and ram dumps doesn't settle in 23.0. in v22 it's fine so using that until the 23 fix comes online. 

[2254867916]

They used a new memory management mechanism since  AE 22.5 and were reluctant to switch back even when there was such a major problem.

[SRLAWSON]

Even in 22.4 I'm having this problem. It was working alright, if slowly, for a while. It always seems to get worse when I get above 150 paint layers. To get even more specific, it is struggling to render occasional frames for preview and I get the rainbow wheel of death (i.e, non-responsive hang) when using clone paint. Without that tool, I can't do what I need to do. Once again, back I go to my 7 year old Intel iMac! What a joke.

*Please* listen to us and get this RAM issue sorted out ASAP. We are all paying for CC and all we seem to get is one crippling bug after the other.

Everything else works fine 😕

[jenkmeister]

If you're having the same issue in 22.4, then it won't be the RAM issue given that's still running on the old memory handling code.

Are you able to share the project or at least a screen recoding of what you're experiencing? Can you also share your system configuration so we can try to reproduce the problem on equivalent hardware?

[jenkmeister]

Actually, you posted over here https://community.adobe.com/t5/after-effects-bugs/horrendous-problems-when-using-paint-clone-paint-o...- is that a good description of what you're seeing?

[SRLAWSON]

Hi Jenkmeister,


Thanks for your prompt engagement. Forgive my ire but it’s just so frustrating.

Yes, that post is accurate. For example, 22.4 was working *okay* today - still slow - and then it just started becoming unresponsive I’d say every 5 or 6 paint layers above 150ish.

[jenkmeister]

Thanks. We'll see if we can reproduce the issue based on that post and get back to you.

[SRLAWSON]

Thank you.

For additional context, the TIF sequences I am using are all around 60MB per image, 100-120 images per sequence.

Preview res is set to full because I have to be able to see the results in 4K. Work area I try to limit to about 16-20 frames max.

Paint layers are a combination of clone, regular paint and eraser, and I seldom have more than two footage layers in a comp.

Best,


Steve

[Warren Heaton]

@SRLAWSON 

Are the TIFs layered?  If so, have you tried using flat duplicates instead?  3840-by-2160 16 bpc TIFs should come in around 4MB and be very responsive in After Effects.

[SRLAWSON]

Hi Warren,


Thanks for your input. I can’t identify any layers in them, no. They are just absolutely massive and the client is insisting that we work with them. On inspection, some of them are actually 97MB each.

They are 5626x3745.

[Randy - Dice]

I d convert them all in PNG files with no loss. You could convert them in photoshop using a batch file really quick so you could test if Tiff are the issue.

[Randy - Dice]

@SRLAWSON  I might know your issue... I have a client that always have extremly large files for no reason and figured out AE does not like metatags.. it uses a lot of resources and creates AE to be unresponsive. I always clear the metadat and most of the times I reduce the original source 150 mb to 4 mb. Then AE works as normal and does not seem to slow down and wait to recaculate everything. I tried attacking the script in this forum but does not seem to work as the forum does not allow us to insert anything else but images. I created a wetransfer link for you to download. All you need to do is run the jsx script file in photoshop to clear the data. I have mine setup as a batch file Action just to save time and go faster since I use it all the time.

Here is the link : https://we.tl/t-uN2xQJZGKe

[Warren Heaton]

@SRLAWSON 

Use a Source Footage Proxy to speed up your work in After Effects.

In After Effects, place the TIF Image Sequence into a Comp by itself and render that with Best Settings as the Output Module template and High Quality as the Render Settings template (the Lossless template is fine if using an older version of After Effects).  Render this to a sub-folder for your project called something like "Image Sequence High Quality AE Proxies".

When that's rendered, right-click the TIF Image Sequence in the Project tab and choose Set Proxy.  Select the corresponding movie file from the Image Sequence High Quality AE Proxies folder.  When the box to the immediate left of the Source Footage name is filled, you're using the full resolution proxy movie.  When that box is empty, you're using the TIFs.

If monitoring the Render Time pane in the Timeline panel, you should see the render time drop to 10 to 50 milliseconds while the Source Footage Proxy is enabled while it may be a full two to three seconds when disabled.  As far as image quality goes in the Composition tab, you should see little if no difference from when the proxy is enabled or disabled.  Working this way should be much faster and allow for deeper layering and minimize loss of performance.

When rendering the output files for the client, you can set the Best Settings Output Module template defaults to "Use no Proxies",  so you'll be using the TIFs for delivery renders.

[EmilyGoater]

Downloaded the Beta as I had this issue! This caused massive issues for our Product Design Agency we all had to fish out our previous macs from the cupboards to do client work! 

I can confirm this has now fixed the issues for all 4 interaction designers! 

[Nikola Peter]

I'm having this issue with 23.0, none of the suggestions fixed it. Have rolled back to 22.6 and it's working fine.

[Rameez_Khan · Accepted solution]

Hi all,

After Effects 23.1 contains improvements to memory management and fixes an issue that caused After Effects to show low memory warnings during preview. If you experience a low memory issue in After Effects 23.1, please create a new post for troubleshooting.

Thanks,

Rameez

[Randy - Dice]

Hi Rameez, I ve been working with 23.1 and the beta for about a month now and I can officialy say AE is broken.. yes the errors are gone, yes I do not crash as I did in 23.0 But the issue remains where something has changed in the code that AE is juts a slow software to work with I m not sure what you guys did from version 22.5 but it makes no sence to work this slow and unresponsive as it used to be. Please take a a step back and review the code carefully something just broke it and version 22.5 is still the best version to use.. this 23.1 is still in beta. Maybe the addition of coloring keyframes broke it ? since that was the only thing that changed from version 22.5 to 22.6 and this issue has started with version 22.6

[John Philip0101]

This answer is absolutely shameful. It feels like now we, the users have the fault for it.  and you´re delivering us to create a new post for troubleshooting. Come on!