Comments This advice is similar in spirit to the advice given in a previous post, “Performance tip: Don’t starve your software of RAM.”
In many cases, performance is improved by using fewer than the maximum number of processors for Render Multiple Frames Simultaneously multiprocessing, even when you have enough RAM for all of the processors.
After Effects is a multithreaded application that can also use other forms of multiprocessing beyond just Render Multiple Frames Simultaneously multiprocessing, and it is possible for the processors to become “overscheduled” if these threads are competing for the same resources as the background processes used for rendering with Render Multiple Frames Simultaneously multiprocessing.
Therefore, the best approach is to begin by using a small number of processors for Render Multiple Frames Simultaneously multiprocessing; and then increase the number of processors used until you find the optimum number for your computer system and compositions.
For an 8-core computer system, the optimum number of processors may be 4 for some compositions, 6 for others, et cetera.
Run your own tests for your own scenarios. Remember: The reason that these settings are preferences is that the optimum values are different for different computers, compositions, and so on. There is no one “right” setting.
Keep in mind that using the Render Multiple Frames Simultaneously multiprocessing feature does not speed up the rendering of all compositions. The rendering of some compositions is memory-intensive, such as when you are working with very large background plates that are several thousands of pixels tall and wide. The rendering of some compositions is bandwidth-intensive (I/O-intensive), such as when you are working with many source files, especially if they are not served by a fast, local, dedicated disk drive. The Render Multiple Frames Simultaneously multiprocessing feature works best at improving performance when the resource that is most exercised by the composition is CPU processing power, such as when applying a processor-intensive effect like a glow or blur.
For tips on improving performance, see “Improve performance” in After Effects Help.
For details of RAM usage in After Effects CS5, see “Memory (RAM) usage in 64-bit After Effects” in After Effects Help.
Does that include hyperthreading as well or is it still a good idea to disable it when working on a composition in AE?[response from TMGK:Render Multiple Frames Simultaneously multiprocessing in After Effects CS4 uses the physical processor cores, not the virtual (logical) cores created by hyperthreading.]
Dear Todd,where is the technical challenge buried to let After Effects decide to take the maximum processor and RAM power of instead of having the user experiment over a large period of time what setting may fit best for different scenarios.Besides the fact of “experimenting”, After Effects then does not even provide setting up things like a “processing profile” (whatever you’ll call it) which then should be accessible easily via the main interface (maybe “Time Controls” anyone?) before starting a render scenario without going into preferences again and again and screwing up my previous setup – should we do screenshots from our different settings? Me or either you’d be kidding if saying yes, right?where is the idea getting COMPLETELY RID of Multiprocessor hocus pocus, RAM and that darn cache settings option and let do After Effects do it’s dirty work to check out how high it can go?[response from TMGK:I agree that this isn't as easy as we'd like it to be. The settings did get better, simpler, and less cryptic from CS3 to CS4. I don't think that I'm giving away anything that I shouldn't when I say that we are continuing to improve in this area. I think that you'll be happy with what you see coming in the future.]
We’ve been at this for how long? (me 10 years) We’ve got a new MacPro 8 GIG of RAM we bought your software it would be nice if it worked better. (that’s a period) I am not a big fan of your closing line.
“I think that you’ll be happy with what you see coming in the future.” Left to my own devices my guess is that Adobe engineers have a tough time keeping up with the ever changing OS environments, nothing else makes sense unless I put on my conspiracy theorists hat and say Adobe is stringing us along hoping we will buy upgrades. I want to get back to work now, I hope my system doesn’t crash and my titles preview correctly without having to reboot
I have to agree with fred. it’s a shame that adobe has entered into the game of postponing features in favor of forcing users to buy entire new versions. what was the timespan between the releases cs4 and cs5? and they were treated as ENTIRELY different versions, even though the only differences were this performance/memory upgrade and a fancy new keying system. but of course, everyone needed the over-3g memory capabilities, so they bought it.
but 700 dollars a year for after effects?
I noticed huge improvement by UNCHECKING “Render Multiple Frames Simultaneously” in the Prefs/memory & Multiprocessing.
A file that took 2 Min 43 sec to render was reduced to 1 Min 48 Secs with the feature off. Approximately a 30% improvement in render time. hmmmmm…Was Multiprocessing supposed to cut down render times?
Give it a try…I’m curious how this would effect your render times….let me know
Cheers
Carlo
Carlos,
here too cutting off “Render Multiple Frames Simultaneously” is making my render times faster. I have the fasted Mac available with 16 cores and 64 GB RAM. Doesnt matter HOW I set those STUPID settings. It is ALWAYS slower with “Render Multiple Frames Simultaneously” on… TURN IT OFF…..
TO those of you wanting to invest in CS5 because of this feature: D O N T….
I wonder why adobe even implemented this ‘feature’ which I refer to as a ‘BUG’… Because it sure as H**** AINT WORKIGN
AMD PHENOM 1090T 6 CORE
8 GB RAM
i rendered a 45 second long clip.
with ‘render multiple frames simultaneously’ UNTICKED it used 60% of the 4gb RAM and took 8 mins
with ‘render multiple frames simultaneously’ TICKED it used 10% of the RAM and took 4 mins 15 seconds.
a significant difference. i will deifnately be keeping it ticked
I would far rather have Adobe focus on their huge memory management, memory leaks, and performance issues on their next release than anything else. I’d drop $400 right now if they’d just simply fix all the crappy performance problems that plague AE CS5.
I’m sorry… but a 12-core Mac Pro with 32GB of RAM shouldn’t be struggling like it does. The crazy thing is that CS4 flies along on the same machine.
Another thing that needs to be fixed is how poorly AE flushes RAM during renders. I mean… I’m rendering a composition that is 10 minutes long… and if you watch the RAM usage it just keeps chipping away at the total amount of used RAM until there is like 32MB left… then it slows to a crawl…… chug chug chug…… you cannot tell me that AE needs to keep something cached from 30 seconds previous in the animation. I would put memory management as the #1 priority to be fixed in CS6.