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millerjs68
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After Effects Spec Question

May 4, 2012 9:20 PM

With the new subscription program on deck I am looking at getting back into After Effects for some internet video work that I do.

 

I am putting together some super simple promos that integrate live video with Camtasia screen captures. Once in a blue moon we do some green screen overlays put most times I am using two-three layers max.

 

I use FCP right now but would much rather use AE for this stuff. I want to work on a PC and the minimum technical specs are relative to what level of difficulty you are doing.

 

I see the new version is 64 bit and my dual core 2.8 PC machine is 32 bit. I am looking at buying a used quad core machine I wanted advice from some experienced user on whether this will be sufficient to work without a problem.

 

The stuff I am doing is ultra simple and I am not worried if I have to render to see full quality since most projects are under a minute. Right now I convert everything to ProRes for the Mac but I would much rather use the AVC HD native.

 

I worked with AE back in the day and I love the program. This new program is a great turn of events for me and I want to make the right decision on a new unit.

 

Thanks in advance.

510 Views   5 Replies   Latest reply: millerjs68, May 6, 2012 8:37 AM
 
Replies
  • Jim Simon
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    1. Jim Simon,
    May 5, 2012 9:52 AM   in reply to millerjs68
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    Not all quad cores are created equal.  You should try for a newer Intel i7 model.

     

    Also 8GB of memory is probably a good minimum.  More is always better.

     

    And with the new ray-tracing feature in CS6, you'll want a 500 series nVidia graphics card as well.

     

    Those are some good starting points.  Once you find something with all that, post back more details and you'll get more opinions.

     
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  • Donnie Fisher
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    2. Donnie Fisher,
    May 5, 2012 2:26 PM   in reply to Jim Simon
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    I'm quite interested in the subscription setup too.

     

    I have an early i7 Xeon quad core in my machine. ( W3820 2.6Ghz thing - Dell T3500 ) and  a GTX260 graphics card,  6Gb RAM.   A few years old now I suppose.

     

    Its handled the trails of CS5.5 without too much fuss in terms of being able to scrub through AVCHD files, and apply simple effects in Pr .   After effects ran fine as well for me and I was able to mess around with particular effects quite happily.  

     

    I know my machine is far from all the SSD scratch drive, multi drive arrays, mega graphics cards .... but it does handle AVCHD stuff well enough for me.   I plan on a upping the RAM and HDD space, but in terms of my workflows, it suffices.

     
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  • millerjs68
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    3. millerjs68,
    May 5, 2012 9:18 PM   in reply to millerjs68
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    Thanks Jim. At this point I don't want to invest in a i7 model. My needs are ultra simple. We intergrate some video training clips with Camtasia sceeen captures and an occasion green screen. I have to render my green screens now at full res so not worried about rendering final images to see.

     

    I am more concerned with just working and not having any tech issue. I haven't used AE in 10 years so I am not up to speed with the current software.

     

    I can get an i3 quad at an affordable price and as long as the software runs reasonable well I am fine with that.

     

    Just want to make sure it will function. Will definitly load up on RAM.

     

    Thank again.

     
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  • Jim Simon
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    4. Jim Simon,
    May 5, 2012 10:00 PM   in reply to millerjs68
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    An i3 isn't going to give you very good performance with AE.  It'll run, just like a mint condition Model T will run.  But you really don't want to be driving one during the Indy 500.

     

    You may want to at least step it up to an i5.

     
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  • millerjs68
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    5. millerjs68,
    May 6, 2012 8:37 AM   in reply to Jim Simon
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    Sounds good. I work on Mac's so I am not familiar with PC performance. Will stick with a i5 as a minimum.

     
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