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danielp74485736
Participant
March 2, 2017
Answered

Rendering VERY slow no matter what codec i chose

  • March 2, 2017
  • 3 replies
  • 997 views

Hopefully someone can help shed some light on this, because it's driving me up the wall. I am new to After Effects, I am getting into the Vj field. Basically i'm making 2-3 minute clips of still images with effects on them, by no means ground-breaking stuff. My problem is the rendering/encoding. The Vj software i'm using runs the clips best in Mpeg2 format. At first i was trying to render directly into Mpeg2 format in AME, and that was a nightmare. It literally told me over 24 hours to render a 1 minute clip!! No matter if i chose high bitrate, medium bitrate, 720p at 25 fps. I think i literally tried every one. Then i took a clip that i had already rendered into Mpeg4 then i put that in AME to render into Mpeg2 and it went relatively quick. So i thought i had found a way to make it work, buti started a new project in AE, 2 minutes, still even though im not rendering into Mpeg 2, I can't find ANY format that takes less than 3-4 hours to render. Im just thinking this can't be right, i only have 1 layer, maybe 2-3 sometimes 4 effects on it. I just don't see why it's taking hours and hours to render no matter what i chose. I will say i could definitely beef up my hardware, but i have looked all over the forums and there are people with super beefed up hardware that are having the same issues so thats making me hesitant to go and sink a bunch of money i don't have into some new super-computer. Please help, somebody.

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Szalam

    Hey guys thanks for the help so far. I'm honestly almost at a loss for

    words at this point. As far as my hardware specs

    -Processor is AMD E2-1800 APU, 1700mhz, 2 cores

    -4g Ram

    -Gpu is AMD Radeon 7340

    I have the newest version of AE. I'm really hoping that getting a better pc

    will help fix all this. As far as the images they're not from a camera,

    their like psychedelic visionary art made in photoshop/corel painter etc. I

    always have them sized the exact same size as my comp.Like i said though

    i'm just lost at this point. I decided maybe i'm trying to do too much at

    once? So i figured just to test my theory i'd try something more basic. So

    still a 2 minute clip, 1 image, 1 layer, 2 effects. A mirror on the bottom

    at 640x360, then on top of that a slant effect that i have keyframed. It's

    an image of a face and with the mirror and slant it basically looks like

    the face is kind of feeding into itself if that makes sense. Now i could be

    wrong but i feel like this is something VERY basic and drop in the bucket.

    As far as automations it's only 2 keyframes on the slant making it go from

    -70 back to 0 as the 2 minute clip plays. I thought to myself theres no way

    this can take a bunch of time to render. I tried to go ahead and render

    into Mpeg2. The est time remaining did the same thing it's been doing since

    i've been fighting with this thing since 5:00a.m. lol. It starts off saying

    somewhere around 1 1/2 hr. then just goes up and up and literally doesn't

    stop. Like i said i'm planning to get a a laptop with i7-7700k, 16g Ram,

    Nvidia 1070 i think?, and 256 SSD. I'm really hoping that should take care

    of this issue, but like i said i'm hesitant to even spend that kind of

    money if i'm going to run into the same issues. Thanks guys.

    On Thu, Mar 2, 2017 at 1:46 PM, Rick Gerard <forums_noreply@adobe.com>


    An ancient, dual-core AMD processor running at 1.7GHz?

    Only 4 GB of RAM?

    That IS going to be slow. Especially since you're trying to encode directly into an MPEG codec.

    I'd get a bigger SSD, but yes, that laptop should be a big change from what you are currently trying to use.

    3 replies

    Dave_LaRonde
    Dave_LaRonde
    Inspiring
    March 2, 2017

    It also helps a lot to know what you're doing in your comps.  For example: if you're trying to use ray tracing -- which you SHOULD NOT DO -- it's a huge time-suck.  So is noise reduction.  So is 3D and multiple lights.

    R
    Community Expert
    Rick GerardCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    March 2, 2017

    My first clue to long render times is when you said:

    Basically i'm making 2-3 minute clips of still images with effects on them, by no means ground-breaking stuff.

    I'm guessing that these images come from a digital camera and that they are a lot bigger than the composition size. For maximum efficiency you should have all of your still images resized before you start to that they are somewhere close to 100% scale at some point in the design. I can't tell you how many workshops and seminars I've taught where folks were doing slide shows with images from their DSLR that were never more than 20% scale.

    The only other suggestion that I have is to use the Adobe Media encoder to render directly to MPEG 2 using one of the presets (It's hard to believe that your VJ software will not read MP4's), then check the render time for something like a 2 minute piece, then render using the Render Cue and either the Lossless or the Tiff Sequence preset, record the render time, then drop the Tiff (or create a png sequence preset) in the AME and render your final product and add up the time. Most of the time, for me, it's faster to drop a comp in the AME and render directly to MP4, and then keep working in AE while the first comp is rendering.

    One more FYI, If you are doing simple slide shows and the moves on the images are simple, you'll probably be better off using Premiere Pro. The renders will be way faster and so will the work of creating the sequence in the first place. You should only be using AE to do things you cannot do in a NLE.

    Szalam
    Community Expert
    SzalamCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    March 2, 2017

    Hey guys thanks for the help so far. I'm honestly almost at a loss for

    words at this point. As far as my hardware specs

    -Processor is AMD E2-1800 APU, 1700mhz, 2 cores

    -4g Ram

    -Gpu is AMD Radeon 7340

    I have the newest version of AE. I'm really hoping that getting a better pc

    will help fix all this. As far as the images they're not from a camera,

    their like psychedelic visionary art made in photoshop/corel painter etc. I

    always have them sized the exact same size as my comp.Like i said though

    i'm just lost at this point. I decided maybe i'm trying to do too much at

    once? So i figured just to test my theory i'd try something more basic. So

    still a 2 minute clip, 1 image, 1 layer, 2 effects. A mirror on the bottom

    at 640x360, then on top of that a slant effect that i have keyframed. It's

    an image of a face and with the mirror and slant it basically looks like

    the face is kind of feeding into itself if that makes sense. Now i could be

    wrong but i feel like this is something VERY basic and drop in the bucket.

    As far as automations it's only 2 keyframes on the slant making it go from

    -70 back to 0 as the 2 minute clip plays. I thought to myself theres no way

    this can take a bunch of time to render. I tried to go ahead and render

    into Mpeg2. The est time remaining did the same thing it's been doing since

    i've been fighting with this thing since 5:00a.m. lol. It starts off saying

    somewhere around 1 1/2 hr. then just goes up and up and literally doesn't

    stop. Like i said i'm planning to get a a laptop with i7-7700k, 16g Ram,

    Nvidia 1070 i think?, and 256 SSD. I'm really hoping that should take care

    of this issue, but like i said i'm hesitant to even spend that kind of

    money if i'm going to run into the same issues. Thanks guys.

    On Thu, Mar 2, 2017 at 1:46 PM, Rick Gerard <forums_noreply@adobe.com>


    An ancient, dual-core AMD processor running at 1.7GHz?

    Only 4 GB of RAM?

    That IS going to be slow. Especially since you're trying to encode directly into an MPEG codec.

    I'd get a bigger SSD, but yes, that laptop should be a big change from what you are currently trying to use.

      Mylenium
      Mylenium
      Legend
      March 2, 2017

      Don't render to clips, render to image sequences from AE directly and compile the movie later.

      Mylenium

      D
      David Arbor
      Inspiring
      March 2, 2017

      Welcome to the world of After Effects, things can be incredibly slow. So there are a few things to understand and a few questions to ask:

      1) What are the specs of your computer?

      •      Processor type and speed
      •      Total RAM
      •      Type of drive you're working from (SSD or HDD) and whether or not you an additional fast drive for caching or whether you're running, Ae, loading your assets, AND caching your timeline to the same drive.
      •      GPU (less important in After Effects for now, but some effects have become GPU-accelerated in the last couple of releases)

      2) What resolution is your comp set to, and what is your Comp panel's resolution set to for previewing in your timeline (Full, Half, Third, Quarter, or Auto?)

      3) What effects are you putting on your images and how are you using them? Are you just dropping them on or are you animating a lot of properties?

      4) What version of Ae and OS are you running?

      There are many more questions to ask, but understanding how After Effects works is important to getting good render/export speeds.

      Additionally, you should be exporting a master file from After Effects like DNxHD or ProRes and then converting to your delivery format for best results. This is another conversation though.

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