Need Help with After Effects Video Editing for a Home Building Company

[balian_2014]

Hi everyone,

I’m working on a project for HV Home Builders (https://hvhomebuilders.ca/) where I need to create a professional promotional video using After Effects. However, I’m facing an issue where the video preview becomes laggy, and transitions don’t render smoothly, especially after adding motion graphics like text overlays and effects.

I’ve tried adjusting the resolution and clearing the cache, but it’s not resolving the problem. Does anyone have advice on optimizing After Effects for smoother previews and rendering for this kind of project?

Thanks in advance!

[nishu_kush · Accepted solution]

Hi balian,

Thanks for writing in. What are your system specifications (CPU, GPU, RAM, OS version)? Is it happening in the After Effects timeline or in the export as well? Could you share a screen recording to help us understand the issue better? For the playback performance in After Effects try lowering the preview quality (to Half, Third, or Quarter).

Looking forward to your response.

Thanks,
Nishu

[Rick Gerard · Accepted solution]

Use After Effects for effects and graphics only; edit in an NLE like Premiere Pro. Most pros have only a single shot in most of their comps. No big production houses or post facilities would use After Effects alone to produce a promotional video. AE (or Fusion, Nuke, or any other effects or animation program) would only be used to create shots or transitions that could not be created in an NLE.

Create MOGRTs for the graphics you need to use in your video and apply the graphics, edit the text, and set the timing in Premiere Pro instead of trying to do everything in AE.

When previewing in After Effects, always set the comp panel resolution and the preview to Auto. If necessary, skip a frame if the preview won't give you real-time playback so you can judge the timing. 

Pre-render complex sections if your comp is long or any sections won't render faster than about ten frames per second. I build complex compositing comps that can take 7 or 8 seconds a frame to render. 

Use After Effects to create only the effects, graphics, and composites that you cannot create in an NLE like Premiere Pro. AE is not designed to Edit a movie; it's designed to create a shot you can't create in an NLE.