FULL HD Animation render

Clayton Galea · February 7th, 2009, 01:04 PM

Hello world of movie makers!

Im newbie here, so I would appriciate some help....and to all you HD afecionados, here is my problem:

1) I am doing a 30 second animation using after effetcs CS3. The catch? well, the composition is in Full HD. That is 1920x1080.

2) I`m trying to render it out as an "MPEG blue ray" out of after effects, but it says it will take over 7 hours! Gosh...too long.

My pc has the following specifications:

-Windows Xp 32bit
-Intel Q6600 Quad core
-4GB RAM

It indeed renders a bit but at some point, a messege comes on screen and tells me that I do not have enough memory for buffer (or something like that) or not enough memory for blur. :S

What should i do? What settings shall I use best in my case? I heard of multiprocessing...whats this exactly? And I`m allowed only 2Gb RAM to use for after effects? In some way, I think im not using my PC to its full potential.

All I would like to know is how to use My PC to the full with all its features in order to get rendering times to a minimum

Many thanks for your help!!!

Tripp Woelfel · February 8th, 2009, 10:12 AM

As funny as this might sound, this all sounds right. A couple of key things. First, you don't mention what video card you're using. Depending upon what you're doing, AE can use GPU resources for the render. Second, you don't mention what the animation does. Heavy 3D and compositing can be very time consuming to render. Seven hours is a long time but if you're doing something very complex, it could take that long.

If you tell us about the animation and the video card you're using we might be able to help a bit more.

Howard Churgin · February 8th, 2009, 07:12 PM

A couple of tips for better rendering in AE.
1: always hit "caps lock" when rendering. This disables the screen update allowing more ram for rendering.
2: no one can figure out why this is a secret!
From the edit menu go down to preferences.. Hold the SHIFT key while you press General.

Then from the pulldown list you will now have access to the last new item"SECRET"
Under secret check the Disable layer cache button and select 2 or 3 frames for purging.

After doing this I never ran out of memory and renders that used to use upward of 60% ram now alternate between 15%-20%

This has no bearing on how long a complicated render might take but you should be able to get through it.

Good luck

Shawn McCalip · February 8th, 2009, 07:52 PM

I didn't realize this was a double post and posted my reply in the other thread yesterday.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Howard Churgin

2: no one can figure out why this is a secret!
From the edit menu go down to preferences.. Hold the SHIFT key while you press General.

Then from the pulldown list you will now have access to the last new item"SECRET"
Under secret check the Disable layer cache button and select 2 or 3 frames for purging.

After doing this I never ran out of memory and renders that used to use upward of 60% ram now alternate between 15%-20%

About this, why would you want AE to use less RAM during a render? I'm trying to figure out ways to get it to use as much as possible so it will render faster. Restricting the amount of RAM AE uses would be like trying to carry a couple of suitcases to the top of a hill with only one arm instead of two. Sure, you'll get it done, but it will take much longer.

If the goal was to use less RAM, I would think plug-ins like Nucleon Pro wouldn't be around.

Tripp Woelfel · February 9th, 2009, 06:00 AM

Wow... Why in the world would Adobe hide this little "secret"? Knowing about these little "features" gives us more options when things go pear shaped.

Shawn... I don't know as I would take things too literally when it comes to this secret command. If we weren't meant to see it, it's likely Adobe didn't spend too much time on that part of the interface and it's possible that it doesn't do exactly what you would expect it to based upon its name or description. This isn't unique to Adobe either. Over the years, I've run across quite a few apps with "features" like this.

I'll just try it. If it works, I'll go with it. For me in this case, ignorance is bliss.

Howard Churgin · February 9th, 2009, 06:00 AM

I thought you said you ran out of ram. This is usually what happens to us when we try to do a long and complicated render and your pc is not a rocketship. Its your choice: try to do it faster and fail or just get it done with no errors. Must complicated renders are going to take a long time. Its not unheard of to do them overnight if you know that your machine can/will handle it and not run out of memory. I am only talking about ways to not run out of memory.

Maybe my wording wasn't correct. By using caps lock it will make more ram and speed available because it doesn't have to refresh the screen every frame to update the clip.

By using the secret purge it is always purging and starting with fresh ram. If yours is very complicated check how much ram is being used w/o it the secret purge than try it with and see which is better.

Like I said once the ram% used gets up near 50% your render will probably fail if you dont use the purge option.

I've yet to hear of anyone not finding this tip to be a savior. I learned about it at Videocopilot.net

I'm sure you can find more info elswhere on the net.

Even though they talk about taking longer to render my personal experience over the last year since I tried it has been just the opposite. Either a little faster or no change but I didn't notice any major time increases.

Good luck

Clayton Galea · February 10th, 2009, 04:39 AM

Howard and Shawn,

THANK YOU VERY MUCH. Your tips do help a lot!! Im Sorry about the double thread (although they are a bit different) I did it by mistake and do not know how to delete a topic as I`m new here.

The thing is that HD is now a reality. In few years time FULL HD will be the norm so I believe this will be mainstream. I don`t know why there are few topics about this....

My problems are because I just started After effects, and to understand about RAM, memory, Cache, rendering, mulitprocessing, Open GL.....takes a lot of time. And on top of that, afterwards you need to learn how and which of these settings works best in a program such as AE.....Gets a bit confusing Sometimes. But I guess its all about practice.

I indeed tried somethings out already....such as activating multiprocessing. and it made a big difference!...however, when I pre-render to see how the work was coming before i actually render it out, it couldnt work at all. It keeps loading and loading and loading until i have to close after effects. And its even worse in Premiere CS3! I can only see something when using quarter resolution.

As for my video card...because somebody asked me....its Gainward Bliss 7600GT PCI Express TV Dual DVI with 1Gb memory.

Thanks again for your help!!

In will try this Caps lock thing as I did not know about it before. Seems worth it!

February 7th, 2009, 01:04 PM	#1
Clayton Galea New Boot Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Malta Posts: 6	FULL HD Animation render - TOO LONG :( Hello world of movie makers! Im newbie here, so I would appriciate some help....and to all you HD afecionados, here is my problem: 1) I am doing a 30 second animation using after effetcs CS3. The catch? well, the composition is in Full HD. That is 1920x1080. 2) I`m trying to render it out as an "MPEG blue ray" out of after effects, but it says it will take over 7 hours! Gosh...too long. My pc has the following specifications: -Windows Xp 32bit -Intel Q6600 Quad core -4GB RAM It indeed renders a bit but at some point, a messege comes on screen and tells me that I do not have enough memory for buffer (or something like that) or not enough memory for blur. :S What should i do? What settings shall I use best in my case? I heard of multiprocessing...whats this exactly? And I`m allowed only 2Gb RAM to use for after effects? In some way, I think im not using my PC to its full potential. All I would like to know is how to use My PC to the full with all its features in order to get rendering times to a minimum Many thanks for your help!!!

February 8th, 2009, 10:12 AM	#2
Tripp Woelfel Trustee Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: North Conway, NH Posts: 1,745	As funny as this might sound, this all sounds right. A couple of key things. First, you don't mention what video card you're using. Depending upon what you're doing, AE can use GPU resources for the render. Second, you don't mention what the animation does. Heavy 3D and compositing can be very time consuming to render. Seven hours is a long time but if you're doing something very complex, it could take that long. If you tell us about the animation and the video card you're using we might be able to help a bit more.

February 8th, 2009, 07:12 PM	#3
Howard Churgin Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Marlboro, NJ Posts: 85	A couple of tips for better rendering in AE. 1: always hit "caps lock" when rendering. This disables the screen update allowing more ram for rendering. 2: no one can figure out why this is a secret! From the edit menu go down to preferences.. Hold the SHIFT key while you press General. Then from the pulldown list you will now have access to the last new item"SECRET" Under secret check the Disable layer cache button and select 2 or 3 frames for purging. After doing this I never ran out of memory and renders that used to use upward of 60% ram now alternate between 15%-20% This has no bearing on how long a complicated render might take but you should be able to get through it. Good luck

February 9th, 2009, 06:00 AM	#5
Tripp Woelfel Trustee Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: North Conway, NH Posts: 1,745	Wow... Why in the world would Adobe hide this little "secret"? Knowing about these little "features" gives us more options when things go pear shaped. Shawn... I don't know as I would take things too literally when it comes to this secret command. If we weren't meant to see it, it's likely Adobe didn't spend too much time on that part of the interface and it's possible that it doesn't do exactly what you would expect it to based upon its name or description. This isn't unique to Adobe either. Over the years, I've run across quite a few apps with "features" like this. I'll just try it. If it works, I'll go with it. For me in this case, ignorance is bliss.

February 10th, 2009, 04:39 AM	#7
Clayton Galea New Boot Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Malta Posts: 6	Howard and Shawn, THANK YOU VERY MUCH. Your tips do help a lot!! Im Sorry about the double thread (although they are a bit different) I did it by mistake and do not know how to delete a topic as I`m new here. The thing is that HD is now a reality. In few years time FULL HD will be the norm so I believe this will be mainstream. I don`t know why there are few topics about this.... My problems are because I just started After effects, and to understand about RAM, memory, Cache, rendering, mulitprocessing, Open GL.....takes a lot of time. And on top of that, afterwards you need to learn how and which of these settings works best in a program such as AE.....Gets a bit confusing Sometimes. But I guess its all about practice. I indeed tried somethings out already....such as activating multiprocessing. and it made a big difference!...however, when I pre-render to see how the work was coming before i actually render it out, it couldnt work at all. It keeps loading and loading and loading until i have to close after effects. And its even worse in Premiere CS3! I can only see something when using quarter resolution. As for my video card...because somebody asked me....its Gainward Bliss 7600GT PCI Express TV Dual DVI with 1Gb memory. Thanks again for your help!! In will try this Caps lock thing as I did not know about it before. Seems worth it!