Return-Path: Received: from atl4mhob16.myregisteredsite.com ([209.17.115.54] verified) by media-motion.tv (CommuniGate Pro SMTP 4.2.10) with ESMTP id 5316419 for AE-List@media-motion.tv; Fri, 13 Dec 2013 11:39:36 +0100 Received: from mailpod.hostingplatform.com ([10.30.71.206]) by atl4mhob16.myregisteredsite.com (8.14.4/8.14.4) with ESMTP id rBDAgKOn032293 for ; Fri, 13 Dec 2013 05:42:20 -0500 Received: (qmail 29570 invoked by uid 0); 13 Dec 2013 10:42:20 -0000 X-TCPREMOTEIP: 60.225.102.245 X-Authenticated-UID: chris@chriszwar.com Received: from unknown (HELO ?192.168.0.4?) (chris@chriszwar.com@60.225.102.245) by 0 with ESMTPA; 13 Dec 2013 10:42:18 -0000 From: Chris Zwar Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="Apple-Mail=_63277146-FBFA-4E3E-8161-E94814D3787B" Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 (Mac OS X Mail 6.6 \(1510\)) Subject: Re: [AE] Sluggish performance with many nulls and lights Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2013 21:42:16 +1100 References: To: "After Effects Mail List" In-Reply-To: X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.1510) --Apple-Mail=_63277146-FBFA-4E3E-8161-E94814D3787B Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252 On 11/12/2013, at 5:53 PM, adam mercado wrote: > Chris, did you ever get to the bottom of this? Did your experience = improve? Just curious No. I am fairly certain it's a bug / unfortunate behaviour with the = caching system introduced with CS6- but that's just a gut feeling, no = hard evidence. =20 I should try it with CS5 and see what the difference it. I've used CS5 = for years and have worked with comps that have over 1000 layers in them. = I'm used to importing scenes from 3D apps with lots of nulls. It's = only since using CS6 that I've seen this behaviour. I always feel reluctant to submit bug reports when I'm not using the = current release. I know that Todd has said that CC fixed a lot of bugs, = but I don't have a copy to compare. I've been working with a few other comps that have lots of layers = (roughly 200) and expressions and haven't had as many issues with them. If I find some spare time - very unlikely - I will experiment some more = because it's very frustrating when it happens! -Chris >=20 >=20 >=20 > On Dec 3, 2013, at 1:25 PM, pixelbot@comcast.net wrote: >=20 >> are these nulls all different solids - so that you have 200 solids or = have you tried changing all the different nulls to one solid? just a = thought. >>=20 >> Timt >> On Tuesday, December 3, 2013 at 3:17 AM, Chris Zwar wrote: >>=20 >> Had a really slow tedious day today and am looking for suggestions. = After Effects (CS6) just gets really sluggish and unresponsive when = working with big projects. Sometimes it can sit there for minutes, doing = nothing, except spinning the stupid beach ball every few seconds. >>=20 >> For example - today I imported a maya scene. 30 seconds long, 1 = camera and about 200 nulls. The nulls are static, so only the camera has = keyframes. After Effects just sits there and stops, every mouse click = prompting a beach ball that spins for a few seconds. Simply opening the = file, selecting a few nulls and complying them into a new composition = took about 40 minutes - it should have taken a few seconds. >>=20 >> Despite the tedium I tried several things to fix the dreadful = performance and nothing worked. >>=20 >> The obvious things like quitting and reopening, and then trying = rebooting, did nothing. Caps lock makes no difference - even though the = scene is only nulls so there's nothing to preview anyway. Turning the = layer visibility on and off also made no difference. I emptied all the = caches in case it was a disk fragmentation issue. Ram didn't seem to be = a problem, with the activity monitor reporting I had 3 gig free. I tried = toggling the hardware acceleration on and off. Even turning off the = visibility of the nulls in the view options made no difference. After = Effects just sat there and beach balled constantly, even when I wasn't = doing anything. >>=20 >> I converted the nulls to lights using David's script and the problem = was the same - worse even. >>=20 >> This is very difficult to understand. There is nothing to render - no = layers except nulls. All layers are turned off. The nulls are static and = don't have keyframes. There are no hidden gotchas like motion blur, = frame blending or depth of field. No plugins. Just 200 nulls and a = camera and everything grinds to a halt. Even turning off the visibility = of the lights and nulls makes no difference - so even with nothing to = display After Effects is just sitting there and beach balling, taking a = minute to respond to each mouse click. >>=20 >> If I delete most of the nulls / lights then performance will suddenly = improve. It's like there's a hidden threshold for the number of nulls = and lights After Effects can handle, and once you go over it the = performance falls off a cliff. I have worked on compositions with almost = 2000 layers - all with masks, effects and expressions applied, so I = don't understand why a few nulls or some lights can practically break = the application... >>=20 >> Any insight? Or even sympathy from those who've experienced similar = things? It's driving me insane=85 >>=20 >>=20 >> -Chris >=20 --Apple-Mail=_63277146-FBFA-4E3E-8161-E94814D3787B Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/html; charset=windows-1252 adam@influxx.com> = wrote:
Chris, did you ever get to the bottom of this? Did = your experience improve? Just = curious

No.  I am fairly = certain it's a bug / unfortunate behaviour with the caching system = introduced with CS6- but that's just a gut feeling, no hard evidence. =  

I should try it with CS5 and see what = the difference it.  I've used CS5 for years and have worked with = comps that have over 1000 layers in them.  I'm used to importing = scenes from 3D apps with lots of nulls.  It's only since using CS6 = that I've seen this behaviour.
I always feel reluctant to = submit bug reports when I'm not using the current release.  I know = that Todd has said that CC fixed a lot of bugs, but I don't have a copy = to compare.

I've been working with a few other = comps that have lots of layers (roughly 200) and expressions and haven't = had as many issues with them.

If I find some = spare time - very unlikely - I will experiment some more because it's = very frustrating when it = happens!


-Chris

On Dec = 3, 2013, at 1:25 PM, pixelbot@comcast.net = wrote:

=

On Tuesday, December 3, = 2013 at 3:17 AM, Chris Zwar wrote:

Had a really slow tedious day = today and am looking for suggestions. After Effects (CS6) just gets = really sluggish and unresponsive when working with big projects. = Sometimes it can sit there for minutes, doing nothing, except spinning = the stupid beach ball every few seconds.

For = example - today I imported a maya scene. 30 seconds long, 1 camera and = about 200 nulls. The nulls are static, so only the camera has = keyframes. After Effects just sits there and stops, every mouse click = prompting a beach ball that spins for a few seconds. Simply opening the = file, selecting a few nulls and complying them into a new composition = took about 40 minutes - it should have taken a few = seconds.

Despite the tedium I tried several = things to fix the dreadful performance and nothing = worked.

The obvious things like quitting and = reopening, and then trying rebooting, did nothing. Caps lock makes no = difference - even though the scene is only nulls so there's nothing to = preview anyway. Turning the layer visibility on and off also made no = difference. I emptied all the caches in case it was a disk = fragmentation issue. Ram didn't seem to be a problem, with the activity = monitor reporting I had 3 gig free. I tried toggling the hardware = acceleration on and off. Even turning off the visibility of the nulls = in the view options made no difference. After Effects just sat there = and beach balled constantly, even when I wasn't doing = anything.

I converted the nulls to lights using = David's script and the problem was the same - worse = even.

This is very difficult to understand. = There is nothing to render - no layers except nulls. All layers are = turned off. The nulls are static and don't have keyframes. There are = no hidden gotchas like motion blur, frame blending or depth of field. = No plugins. Just 200 nulls and a camera and everything grinds to a = halt. Even turning off the visibility of the lights and nulls makes no = difference - so even with nothing to display After Effects is just = sitting there and beach balling, taking a minute to respond to each = mouse click.

If I delete most of the nulls / = lights then performance will suddenly improve. It's like there's a = hidden threshold for the number of nulls and lights After Effects can = handle, and once you go over it the performance falls off a cliff. I = have worked on compositions with almost 2000 layers - all with masks, = effects and expressions applied, so I don't understand why a few nulls = or some lights can practically break the = application...

Any insight? Or even sympathy = from those who've experienced similar things? It's driving me = insane=85


-Chris

=
= --Apple-Mail=_63277146-FBFA-4E3E-8161-E94814D3787B--