Small pause every time I switch back to AE

Small pause every time I switch back to AE

by Ralf Hekkenberg

on Aug 27, 2011 at 5:12:36 pm

Hey there,

Since about a week there's a small pause of about one or two seconds every time I switch back to After Effects after having done something in another program. Before this was never a problem. This is even if I apple-tab between finder and AE without doing anytging else. It's almost like AE is searching for something before it can continue again, and it seems to take up enormous CPU-power, because even iTunes will skip a little (which NEVER happens on my Quad-core Mac Pro Workhorse).

I don't remember installing any specific programs or plugins right before this started happending, but it could be that I did. Now before I start an entire trial-and-error operation to find out what's causing this: has anyone had this problem or a clue to what it could be? It's only a small pause but it gets very annoying, especially if you're drag-dropping a lot of files into AE.

Thanks in advance!
Ralf Hekkenberg

Re: Small pause every time I switch back to AE

by Dave LaRonde

on Aug 27, 2011 at 5:45:05 pm

I'd bet this particular project is probably more complex than than others you may have done in the past. And if it's like most AE projects, it grows in complexity as you work on it.

Dave LaRonde
Sr. Promotion Producer
KCRG-TV (ABC) Cedar Rapids, IA

Re: Small pause every time I switch back to AE

by Ralf Hekkenberg

on Aug 27, 2011 at 5:55:58 pm

Hi Dave, thanks you very much for your reply but no, unfortunately this happens even with just a brand new empty project...

Re: Small pause every time I switch back to AE

by Brian Charles

on Aug 27, 2011 at 8:32:32 pm

Have you altered the Memory and Multiprocessing Preferences?

Have you tried trashing After Effects Preferences?

Have you checked Activity Monitor to see whether it provides any clues to the slowdown?

Re: Small pause every time I switch back to AE

by Todd Kopriva

on Aug 28, 2011 at 3:02:49 am

I'm guessing that you are trying to run too many programs with too little RAM, and the operating system is needing to swap the contents of RAM to the hard disk every time you switch applications. This is a sign of a very bad memory setup that will also cripple your performance within After Effects.

What are your Memory & Multiprocessor settings?

See this page for information about memory and performance in After Effects.

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Todd Kopriva, Adobe Systems Incorporated
Technical Support for professional video software
After Effects Help & Support
Premiere Pro Help & Support
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Re: Small pause every time I switch back to AE

by Ralf Hekkenberg

on Oct 18, 2011 at 4:59:35 pm

Sorry for the long pause, but I've been incredibly busy (like most of you I guess).

The thing is.. it stopped! Somehow, it went from an annoyance that was there every time I started up After Effects (not just when I had a lot of programs open or when I was working on a particularly heavy project), to not being there at all.
I only realised it after a while, so I don't remember doing anything special to make it stop, unfortunately. But I'm sure I didn't uninstall any programs or plugins.
Well, let's hope it doesn't come back.

Thanks for trying to help, guys!