RAM problem in After Effects (latest updates)

[Leo21926303vrzx]

Hey guys,

I just update my AE software recently and noticed a huge issue with no solutions on web.

Since the last update, AE is perpetually crashing with messages like: "not enough ram to render image" (I have 64Gb of DDR4 RAM and 42Gb of VRAM) whit 56Gb allowed only to AE with no other softwares open.

And this issue is non stop. 

On Adobe and other sites, not only one solution proposed fix the issue. 

Is it a problem from 24.5? Did you guys downgrade to 23.6.9 and this is solving the issues? 

Is there an alternative for AE? Personnaly I am sick of this programm. Even with a war machine, this software is barely usable: 1 layer with just some keyframes, and you can't play the animation without lagging... 

Is someone try Fusion yet?

Have a great day,

Leo.

[ṇubbudbud]

I hear it's a recent issue. As always, downgrade to the oldest version available for best performance and stability. New versions are less a proper release, and more their handful of actual devs pushing a commit and hoping there's no bugs they couldn't catch. Let that happen for 12 years and you get... this mess.

[Leo21926303vrzx]

Yeah, it's kinda frustrating. I'm only working with AE for 6 years and it's getting worse and worse I think...

I will downgrade to cc22 once I finish (with a lot of pain) the current project if there is no other options...

[ṇubbudbud]

Also, in response to alternatives, yes! You're in luck.

Fusion is fine- a little light on effects but definitely usable. I made it work on some comps. There's also Nuke (paid) and NC/non-commercial (free) which is also node based. Leftangle Autograph is a small agile team looking to replace After Effects wholesale with a layer based workflow and i can't tell you much other than it seems quite green and still going through growing pains. Blender has the same node based stuff going on as fusion but is more barebones at the moment. 

I'm beginning to think even an exodus of users will just cause them to provide even less support instead of trying harder. I've already ripped off that bandage- as you can see. Tried a whole lot.

So in response to that last line, yes, there are lots of alternatives- look up "corridor digital adobe" and you'll see multiple videos and podcasts with pros discussing the state of the program and adobe as a business partner.

[Leo21926303vrzx]

I am looking more and more about Fusion and DaVinci in general, but for now, I am hesitant because of the lack of connection between softwares. The bridge of Adobe is way to much useful to get rid of for now in my opinion. But loosing hour in a workday because of crashes make us in the company to rethink if Adobe is a viable option for our video editing service...

Indeed, if all users leave, they will not work on the software anymore, in the other hand, if they not fix it, people will leave. What is the point of paying monthly or annualy a license for a software and don't use it because it is not stable? It's kinda a vicious loop...

[ṇubbudbud]

That's a big part of the exodus. You see the same thing in grocery stores these days. The store price gouges, then no one buys it, then they cancel the product because it's not selling instead of lowering the price to market standard. If Adobe treats both the software and its customers with so little respect, it's dead in the water, even if it could domunate the indie space with a new one its devs actually understood the codebase to. I told them this in 2016, right after they removed multithreading.

On a more relevant note, the connection is more to lock you into their software ecosystem than actually provide a good software. The truth is, photoshop, after effects, illustrator... they're not actually made by the same company. All adobe is... is a company that consumes others to eat competition and bridges between them so that they can hold each other up while being run into the ground without updates. Adobe shows no signs of being capable of actually updating the core software itself, and it's estimated their after effects team is a skeleton crew numbering under 20.

The industry at large is based on the idea that you select your tools for the job. A good editor is not an after effects specialist, but a compositing specialist who can use several tools for the same job. Most industry standard workflows require at least one export to another software, that's why we have EXR and prores. It's largely solved by "mezzanine formats" and some companies have their own bridge tools as well.

So don't worry, and don't force yourself to use the same hammer for nails, screws, and bolts- spread out, experience it all learn as you work, and prosper! i believe in you!

[ṇubbudbud]

PS, in adobe, you bring a clip into after effects to render there, and if it's linked, it's just a file that premiere internally just takes a render result from into itself when it reaches that point on the timeline. Davinci is a little more sophisticated because they effectively turned compositing into a part of the editing workflow, like an extra step before export. It's like premiere with a mini-nuke built in, and doesn't use another software to calculate the composite, but rather the clips that don't have effects just skip that step.

[Leo21926303vrzx]

You are totally right about the lock onto the Adobe ecosystem. That is the main reason that I not migrate to a different software. Losing the bridge between everything (and learning and acquiring new reflexes) is a major issue for a lot of people I think.

[Warren Heaton]

What happens when you launch After Effects in Safe Mode?

Based on what you've described, I would suspect a third-party plugin that needs to be updated for use with After Effects 24.x but works fine in After Effects 23.x.

[Leo21926303vrzx]

Same as usual, crashes, warning issues requiring more RAM to render images (with 3 shape layers for exemple).
That was my first clue, so I disable all plug-ins (I mostly use for AE the video copilot quick search tool for effects). And it solves nothing...