Hardware Requirements?

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Hardware Requirements?
by Dale Kutzera on May 22, 2012 at 6:57:46 pm

Hi,
I was running CS 5.5 on a iMac with 3.06 ghz intel core i3 and 12 GB of ram. It seemed that ram previews took a while to generate. And then when exporting a 1080p file at full lossless resolution it was all but impossible for the machine to play them back. I think all the frames were there, they just stuttered or froze. Is this a machine configuration issue or am I simply exporting too high res? What codec/settings are ideal for editing these shots back in Premiere? Would springing for CS 6 make any difference?

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Re: Hardware Requirements?
by John Cuevas on May 22, 2012 at 7:14:13 pm

Playing back at full resolution is pretty hard for most computers, CPU just can't handle it. Check out this post from Todd Kopriva and see if it answers your questions.

Why is my output file huge, and why doesn't it play back smoothly in a medi...

So CS6 isn't going to help playback issues unless your copy of CS6 comes bundled with a REALLY REALLY fast computer.

Johnny Cuevas, Editor
Thinkck.com

"I have not failed 700 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work."
---THOMAS EDISON on inventing the light bulb.

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Re: Hardware Requirements?
by Dale Kutzera on May 22, 2012 at 7:51:33 pm

Thanks. So is the common practice to export an AE effects shot at lower res (half or quarter) to check it, then export again lossless for import into Premiere?

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Re: Hardware Requirements?
by John Cuevas on May 22, 2012 at 8:20:02 pm

Really, it's probably a little less common to make intermediate renders, just because computers are faster now, so I would say the answer is a qualified "Depends". If I'm rendering a file that is going to take quite awhile, often I will render a small file(draft quality) to check the work, camera moves, lights...and hopefully spot anything that I don't like before I do the final render.

Other times if I'm confident about the work, it's not a long render, it's a simple animation(lower thirds)... I'll just render to my final format(Avid QT). I'll import it into the Avid and check the work there and if it needs to be fixed go back and make the change. But that works on stuff that's generally 5 minutes or less.

Bout a month ago, I did some animation where I made intermediates to check the moves, lights and overall flow of the animations. The animations were HD and about 15 seconds long and my computer didn't have enough RAM to play the entire thing.

Johnny Cuevas, Editor
Thinkck.com

"I have not failed 700 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work."
---THOMAS EDISON on inventing the light bulb.

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Re: Hardware Requirements?
by Dale Kutzera on May 22, 2012 at 11:06:43 pm

Thanks. I'm just trying to master a workflow here. I haven't done much HD work 1080p and it feels odd not to be able to watch a shot. I import such an effect shot into premiere from AE and it is glitchy there, but I can advance frame by frame and see it's all there. Perhaps cutting in a Prores format would help?

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Re: Hardware Requirements?
by John Cuevas on Jan 8, 2013 at 12:54:41 pm

Happy to offer my 2 cents.

Johnny Cuevas, Editor
Thinkck.com

"I have not failed 700 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work."
---THOMAS EDISON on inventing the light bulb.

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