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Todd_Kopriva
Todd_Kopriva
Inspiring
November 1, 2013
Question

warning that the GPU accelerated ray-traced 3D renderer does not have enough free memory to operate

  • November 1, 2013
  • 8 replies
  • 111093 views

[UPDATE: Memory handling for the ray-traced 3D renderer is greatly improved by installing the After Effects CC (12.2) or After Effects CS6 (11.0.4) update.]

You may see a warning message when using After Effects CC (12.1) that the GPU accelerated ray-traced 3D renderer does not have enough free memory to operate.

When the GPU acceleration of the ray-traced 3D renderer is disabled, the CPU version of the ray-traced 3D renderer will operate.

The message about the GPU-accelerated ray-traced 3D renderer not having enough free memory to operate is because of a change in After Effects CC (12.1) to actually warn you when your computer was in a dangerously low VRAM state. In After Effects CC (12.0) and After Effects CS6 (11.0), a computer with very little VRAM could still try to use the GPU accelerated ray-traced 3D renderer, but it would very, very, very often crash. So, now, After Effects CC (12.1) is just detecting the condition that would lead to a crash, telling you about it, and disabling the GPU acceleration until you have dealt with the problem.

So, how do you deal with this low-memory condition? You free up VRAM. This means closing all applicaitons that use GPU memory, which includes web browsers (yes, web browsers these days use the GPU). It also means disconnecting additional monitors, each of which uses a lot of VRAM. In some cases, restarting the computer is necessary.

This is primarily a problem on Mac OS with cards with 1GB of VRAM, such as the GT 650M in the MacBook Pro. These cards on this OS have just barely enough GPU memory (VRAM) to make use of the GPU-accelerated ray-traced 3D renderer under even the best of circumstances. If you want to use the GPU-accelerated ray-traced 3D renderer, you should really be using a more powerful GPU, one with more VRAM.

Note that this has nothing to do with the OpenGL GPU features in After Effects. Details of the GPU features are here: http://blogs.adobe.com/aftereffects/2012/05/gpu-cuda-opengl-features-in-after-effects-cs6.html

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    8 replies

    A
    astabinthedark
    Participant
    October 3, 2016

    I'm seeing this error with a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6143 MB graphics - that's 6gb of video ram!!! And no other app is open (like Photoshop / Resolve etc)

    WTF Adobe? Please help!

    J
    joachimb32081640
    Participant
    October 3, 2016

    From what I understand, Adobe stopped working on the GPU acellerated ray trace engine years ago and why they keep it in the program I don't know. The whole ray trace system is completely unstable and requires way to specific GPU's to work properly (I remember having to be make sure I have time to render multiple times when using it, since it crashed or made faulty frames constantly). I know since its still part of After Effects that you would expect or even feel that is should be possible to use it, but I honestly recommend using something else (adobe should just remove it). Personally Element 3d has replaced whatever I did in the Ray Trace engine with much more possibilities and a better result. And Cinema 4d integration is recommended if you want to go more complex, which is what Adobe wants you to use instead of the ray trace engine anyway.

      bryanw59070486
      bryanw59070486
      Participant
      July 17, 2015

      I have a brand new Mac Pro 6-core with Dual AMD FirePro D700 GPUs with 6GB of GDDR5 VRAM.

      I get the error after restarting and emptying cache and not running any other applications.

      After dismissing the pop up, it either freezes/crashes or runs very slowly.

      I create a black solid, made it a 3D layer, and try to move it back in 3D space, it is EXTREMELY sluggish.

      I don't have this problem at all with After Effects CS6. I just bought CC 2015 and now can't even use it.

      A
      andrew.hoeveler
      Known Participant
      July 17, 2015

      I wonder if the AMD instead of CUDA-supported Nvidia cards are the culprit?

      Have you tried switching your 3D mode from Raytraced back to Classic3D?

      Checking the GPU settings in preferences?

      Quit all open applications and then launch AE by itself? I know Chrome eats a lot of GPU RAM, but 6GB should be plenty! Are there some obsolete GPU-using plugins that are causing it to crash?

      C
      chrisd19858361
      Participant
      February 19, 2016

      If I can understand this problem -

      they basically switched this over this 3D extrusion stuff to be implemented on Cinema4D lite,... because it is obsolete, buggy, and had too many restrictions.

      however, the problem with that, is the Cinema4D lite doesn't work with shadows now? I can't get the shadows to show up. I realize that there might be a different thread about that, however Cinema4D lite is supposed to be the workaround so I just want to be clear on this.

      A
      andrew.hoeveler
      Known Participant
      May 23, 2015

      I don't know why an Nvidia Quadro 4000 card with 2GB of VRAM would not have enough memory? I am using a 30" Apple Display, a 13" Wacom Cintiq, and I only have Chrome and AE CC 2014 open. I guess 2GB doesn't go very far these days.

      J
      johnsacco
      Participant
      February 3, 2015

      hey Todd

      i have the exact same problem but with my new macpro with renderay no matter what i do even a simple 3d extraction the renderay crashes! My cuda is full up to date and everything not sure why! if you have any way to resolve this issue would be awesome and help us out since i am on a deadline! at the moment!

      I have attached a few screen shots and my computer specs! as you can see the GPU Should not be running low on memory xD since its pretty much nearly full speced!

      The error!

      This is what was there! and all i added was a extractor after this and the error above appears!

      and this is my computer specs as you can see there is no lack of Power, Ram or VRAM here! so not sure why this error is occurring even after updating CUDA

      if you have anything else i could try please let me know! Thanks!

        T
        tschreiber0724
        Participant
        March 10, 2015

        Did you ever figure out how to fix this? I just ran into the same issue.

        Szalam
        Community Expert
        SzalamCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        March 10, 2015

        risk1710 wrote:

        and this is my computer specs as you can see there is no lack of Power, Ram or VRAM here! so not sure why this error is occurring even after updating CUDA

        if you have anything else i could try please let me know! Thanks!

        Well, you have an AMD card. If you've installed CUDA, you've just messed up your system.

        Read this: Avoid installing NVIDIA CUDA drivers on computers with AMD GPUs

        tschreiber0724 wrote:

        Did you ever figure out how to fix this? I just ran into the same issue.

        If your system is the same as Risk's, it's because you don't have an NVIDIA card and you can't install CUDA on an AMD card or it will cause problems.

        If your system is different, we will need to know a lot more in order to help you. I'd suggest starting a new thread (with a link to this one) explaining as much detail as possible: FAQ: What information should I provide?

        Sven Brencher
        Community Expert
        Sven BrencherCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        November 26, 2014

        I've used this feature in a couple of projects that I still need to update. So even if it is outdated, I hope that you are not planning to drop it from future versions.

        Todd_Kopriva
        Todd_KoprivaAuthor
        Inspiring
        November 26, 2014

        We'll only remove it after we're certain that the replacement feature set is superior. That won't happen for a while. Even after that occurs, you'll still be able to update older projects with the last version that has the old feature set, since a Creative Cloud subscription gives you access to all major versions from CS6 forward.

          T
          the_silver_trembling_man
          Participant
          December 12, 2014

          Todd, forgive me if I'm missing something here but I can't figure why all of a sudden I have no GPU capabilities. AE tells me I have an incompatible device or outdated driver but when I check I have installed the latest Cuda driver which is 6.0.54. Is it because the GT 650M is open gl? I have 1 gb of vram and have done 3d extrusions and rendering in the past. Thanks for any help.

          ananggadipa
          ananggadipa
          Participating Frequently
          September 3, 2014

          How many VRAM is needed? My MacBookPro MD103 (Mid 2012) only have 512MB.

          Can it run?

          Todd_Kopriva
          Todd_KoprivaAuthor
          Inspiring
          September 3, 2014

          > How many VRAM is needed? My MacBookPro MD103 (Mid 2012) only have 512MB.

          1GB of VRAM is needed for GPU acceleration of the ray-traced 3D renderer.

            ananggadipa
            ananggadipa
            Participating Frequently
            September 3, 2014

            That so unfortunate, thanks Todd!

            T
            Tiny Mouse Media
            Participant
            June 24, 2014

            The problem with this is that I have the top of the line Macbook Pro with Retina display, 16GB Ram, NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 2048 MB, Processor  2.6 GHz Intel Core i7 running Mavericks which uses VM in a different way. I have plenty of virtual memory available but After Effects sees it as used up even though it is not.

            This needs to be addressed and has needed to be addressed for over a year. Adobe, please stop telling me to close applications as this is not the cause of the issue.

              J
              Jfree64
              Participant
              July 7, 2014

              Been having the same issue as both of you. I would love to be updated when a fix is found.

              I have the same setup as JQizzle (NVIDIA GeForce GT650M 1024) but only 2.6 GHz and 8GB.

              T
              Tiny Mouse Media
              Participant
              July 7, 2014

              I believe its caused by the way Mavericks uses Virtual Memory, which is much more efficient. I have the same issue with Davinci Resolve, gives me a "you're out of Vram" error.

              I am definitely not out of virtual memory.

              Please Adobe, fix this.

                Todd_Kopriva
                Todd_KoprivaAuthor
                Inspiring
                December 14, 2013

                The After Effects CC (12.2) update and After Effects CS6 (11.0.4) update include fixes and changes regarding the OptiX library for the ray-traced 3D renderer that make VRAM handling better, prevent crashes, and otherwise improve the experience in this area.

                Let us know how it's working for you after you've installed the updates.

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