Hang Up/Slow AME 2017 from AE 2017

[Cyticre]

I am attempting to export a comp which I have previously rendered numerous times from AME which now suddenly does not seem to be able to do so. I am attempting to render the comp as a QT Pro Res 4444 file.

Just in time for the client delivery date, AME is moving incredibly slow to even begin rendering or does not even start after 10minutes or so.

My only current workaround is exporting from AE itself in QT Pro Res 4444.

I tested a few very basic animations and AME was able to render them out. So AME is not totally non functional, just for larger comps even though I have been rendering these out today.

Is anyone else experience hang ups using AME?

Here is what I am running on:

  Model Name:    Mac Pro (Late 2013)

  Model Identifier:    MacPro6,1

  Processor Name:    6-Core Intel Xeon E5

  Processor Speed:    3.5 GHz

  Number of Processors:    1

  Total Number of Cores:    6

  Memory:    16 GB

AMD FirePro D700 6144 MB

OS X YOSEMITE 10.10.5

After Effects 2017 14.0.1.5

Adobe Media Encoder 2017 11.0.0.131

[Szalam]

The comp didn't accidentally get switched to the ray-traced renderer or anything, right?

[Cyticre]

I checked under the composition settings and it still says "Classic 3D"

[Dave_LaRonde]

...and make sure to purge all your caches in preferences, too.  They can get really full of other files from earlier projects.

[Cyticre]

Thanks Dave - I gave that a shot too - but it did not solve the hang up issue.

I ended up rendering my comps directly from AE, although I am always a bit weary doing so as I know AE is not really designed to do so and that is why AME is used.

[Szalam]

Cyticre wrote:

I ended up rendering my comps directly from AE, although I am always a bit weary doing so as I know AE is not really designed to do so and that is why AME is used.

After Effects' render queue is great at creating uncompressed (or nearly) files (like ProRes). Totally recommend it for rendering out that sort of thing. That is what it is built for The only downside is that you can't keep working while it renders (which you can do if AME is doing the rendering).

The thing AE's render queue is bad for is encoding compressed stuff. H.264, WMV, MPEG-2, and that sort of thing are just awful (or impossible) via AE's render queue.

To sum up: AE's render queue is built for (and is great at) creating intermediate files; use AME for deliverables.

[Cyticre]

Thanks Szalam,

Good to know!

If I find out whats causing the hang up or any useful workarounds Ill post it here.

I am able to render out of AME now but it takes about 5minutes or so before it starts encoding and usually 5 minutes or more before the file even appears in AME after clicking "Add to AME Queue".  Also clicking on the file type in order to edit the codec parameters takes a few minutes to even appear.

I have a MacPro Laptop (less than a year old - 2017 AME and Ae versions) and I tried exporting the same project on there but the hang up situation happen there as well when trying to perform these tasks on this project.

Maybe just my luck, but it seems every few AE projects I reach a certain stage in working (usually towards the end) where these hang ups occur when sending to AME. For what its worth, I can say this has happened for the last few versions of Ae and AME.

Hopefully this issue will be resolved in the near future.

[Szalam]

Cyticre wrote:

Hopefully this issue will be resolved in the near future.

It won't be resolved if it's something Adobe can fix but isn't aware of. You may need to file a bug report. Let them know if you are willing/able to send files for their examination. Do you do incremental saves over the life of a project? I'll bet it would be very useful to troubleshooting for the Adobe AE team if you could share with them a project version that works just fine and then a later version where it exhibits this behavior you're describing.

Out of curiosity, what size are these project files? Do they reference a lot of external assets?

[Cyticre]

I wont be able to send the files as it is a client project but I may even try replacing the assets to see if that cures it and if not send that project to Adobe.

Yes, I typically save 5 or 10 versions per project.

The entire project is about 6GBs.

It is essentially some text on screen made in Ae and product shots which are a few dozen hi res PSD photos imported as compositions. So a fair number of precomps are involved. Each PSD is 100-200mbs.

The Ae file itself is 80mbs.

[Szalam]

If you flatten those PSDs as much as possible so there aren't many layers and shrink them in size (in Photoshop) so their scale is about 100% at their largest in AE, does that help? I'd test that the next chance you get. If you're using something in AE that stays at about 15% scale because it was designed in PS with print in mind, a lot of system resources are being wasted.

[Cyticre]

Thanks Szalam - unfortunately I could not flatten any of the PSDs as the project was a :30 product ad and the PSD's were the clothing shot including shadows and masking, etc.

Since it was for broadcast we wanted to optimize the quality of the products as they were shot by the photographer so I didnt want to shrink or flatten anything.

[Szalam]

Cyticre wrote:

Thanks Szalam - unfortunately I could not flatten any of the PSDs as the project was a :30 product ad and the PSD's were the clothing shot including shadows and masking, etc.

Since it was for broadcast we wanted to optimize the quality of the products as they were shot by the photographer so I didnt want to shrink or flatten anything.

The things I were suggesting would not have lowered the quality. In fact, in some cases these suggestions will improve the quality. But as long as you got it working, it's good!

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi Cyticre,

Have you solved this issue yet? Let us know if you still need assistance.

Thanks,

Kevin

[Cyticre]

Hey Kevin,

Thanks for checking in.

Unfortunately, the only solution I found was as I stated above, which was to render the animation from the AE render queue as the project took up to 10minutes to even show in AME. Once it did, it took another 5minutes or so if I clicked on the codec to customize the settings and rendering was essentially incapable.

This problem has happened to me numerous times with client projects and it is quite unfortunate as I feel pretty helpless as to create a workaround or solution.

So I delivered the final renders as exports from Ae which although I felt uncomfortable doing, I gave them a close eye for any harsh pixelation which I was not able to find. It worked out in the end, but it could have made the rest of my team question the legitimacy of my animation skills in the final hour (didnt help that this was a new client) and I questioned the stability of future projects in Ae.

I know that sounds a bit drastic and the Adobe team works their tails off to deliver solid software, it just seems that the reliability chart over the last few months of Ae's performance in cooperation with AME has fallen not risen.

Im curious if when developing future updates to Ae's coding if your team ever tests out the stability of a project like the one here, that is:

Over 5GBS of referenced assets including close to 100 layered PSD files. 

My project was a :30 broadcast product Ad for a clothing company. So there was really nothing fancy other then some text on screen and PSD files sliding or hard cutting into the frame.

If there is anything I could provide that could help your team investigate this further I would be glad to do so.

Thanks,

Chris

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi Chris,

the only solution I found was as I stated above, which was to render the animation from the AE render queue as the project took up to 10minutes to even show in AME.

Thanks for reporting back. May be a known issue with ProRes 4444. We have an update coming out soon that I hope will assist with this problem. Let me check to see if this is, indeed, coming down the pike.

If there is anything I could provide that could help your team investigate this further I would be glad to do so.

I really appreciate the offer. I will see if we might need something for you while I investigate.

Thanks,
Kevin