number of layered videos per comp
by Juan Castillo
on
Jul 17, 2008 at 2:09:25 pm
I asked this question earlier, but got no response, so thought I'd try again but state it a little different.
How many layered videos can a comp reasonably handle before they start to stutter and freeze during preview or rendering? I am running an 8 core Mac with 16 GB of RAM and OS 10.5.3, and can't seem to have more than 3 separate clips running without the stuttering starting. I am trying to create a "video wall" with stills and video, but it is becoming problematic with this limitation I am running into.
Re: number of layered videos per comp by Simon Bonner on Jul 17, 2008 at 3:53:56 pm
AE isn't a 'realtime' programme, so you will always have to wait for previews to render out regardless of the number of clips in your comp. The more clips you have, the longer it will take to generate a preview, but I don't believe there are any hard and fast rules about how many are too many. One way of working faster is too toggle off the visibilty for the layers you're not working on. For example, position the first video clip in your video wall, then shut if off and bring in the second, and so on.
You might also consider using proxies if you have high res files, or setting the comp resolution down to half or lower.
A further point: if you're using compressed video, e.g. mpeg, AE will take longer to generate a preview because it has to 'create' the missing frames as needed. Uncompressed video will probably be faster.
Re: number of layered videos per comp by Juan Castillo on Jul 17, 2008 at 4:44:27 pm
Simon,
I guess I didn't state my question clear. The problem I am having is not in having to wait for rendering, but that when I use more than 3 videos in the comp, the render or pre-render "choke", the individual videos stutter and freeze within the comp. I posted earlier here:
