RAM Preview limited to monitor's refresh rate?

[NullChips]

Hi,

As the title suggests, I am currently experiencing issues with the RAM preview in After Effects. I recently bought a new laptop, which has a 1080p monitor with a refresh rate of 48Hz. I work in After Effects on projects with a frame rate of 60, so I of course need to preview them in this frame rate. However, whenever I try to preview something in After Effects, the info panel tells me that the playback is not in real-time, then showing the frame rate that the preview is playing back at. This is always around 48 with a variation of only 0.005 FPS maximum (so it never goes above 48.005 FPS or below 47.995 FPS). This is certainly not a hardware issue, as I have tried previewing compositions in different resolutions - I even tried a composition of 100 pixels by 100 pixels. My current workaround is to just use the skip frames feature in the preview panel, however, this doesn't give me the smooth motion that I require when working on these projects. Therefore, I am wondering if there is a fix to this issue? My specs are listed below:

Processor: i7 4710HQ @ 2.50 GHz

Ram: 16GB

Graphics Processor: Nvidia 860M with 4GB

Thanks

[Mylenium · Accepted solution]

This is certainly not a hardware issue

Most likely it is - forced V-Sync or other such trickery in your system's graphic card control panel. You need to spend some time there and tweak these settings, which mostly means to turn them off, if possible. Conversely, your monitor may have such settings and force the sync to happen this way when it's syncing its signals. If you're lucky, a new driver that has built-in fixes and better compatibility settings for CC 2017 might do this in one single flip of a preset on the nVidia config panel, otherwise you just have to tippy-toe through the settings and see what improves matters.

Mylenium

[NullChips]

Thanks - I instantly saw the setting just after reading your post!

[Rick Gerard]

I am curious about you choosing to work at 60 fps as a default. Do you really understand frame rates and visual perception? Do you really understand how content is delivered to the public? Just asking. For most projects delivered to the public 60i, which is really 29.97fps interlaced is what they get in the end. It's how 99.9% of all broadcast works.

It might be worth your time to do some research on frame rates and visual perception. The HFR Hobbit was a disaster....

[filmographe]

Well it depends on what he's working on, sometimes the higher the framerate is, the better it is. Especially in the video-game area, when displaying past gameplays, people want to feel like they're playing. 24fps or 30fps is a low standard in the gaming industry.

But I agree that 24fps or 30fps is what feels the best when it's not gameplay related.

[NullChips]

Yes, I understand how frame rates work. I mainly design elements which are then uploaded to YouTube in a 60FPS video. It is noticeably smoother.

[Rick Gerard]

You do realize that YouTube throttles the frame rate depending on available bandwidth and that most of the 60P content is actually streamed at 30 to most users...

Utilize frame rates - YouTube

Understanding Frame Rate - Uncovering The Truth Behind 30 VS 60 ...

https://creatoracademy.youtube.com/page/lesson/frame-rate

If you are matching video game footage and want to match things up frame for frame then it may be a useful technique, but in most cases, if you are not doing game footage but are shooting movies with real people in them, 60 fps is a bunch more work and a bunch more bandwidth for very little gain and, in my humble opinion as a visual artist, some losses that are not worth the tradeoffs. 29.97 and 1/50 to 1/48 second is my favorite frame rate for a cinematic look and a pleasant viewing experience for most video - even action scenes where fists and bodies are flying. When I shot primarily with an Array 35BL, or 2C or a Mitchel and the final product ended up on television I always rolled the cameras with 170º shutter angle and 29.97 fps so we avoided the 3:2 pulldown and the footage was fabulous. It's my personal taste but I don't like the sharper edges on movement you get with higher frame rates and I can only watch game footage for about a minute before I feel eye strain and boredom, but that's just me. I think game footage may look better at 60 fps because there is no motion blur...

Anyway, that's just my 2¢...

[NullChips]

For people with that internet connection, it is worth it. I speak that with experience, and being a content creator on YouTube myself, I can definitely say that I've never had any issue at all with content that has been uploaded at 60FPS being unable to be streamed at that rate. For the community of creators that my clients are in, 60FPS is a standard. Yes, it may not be a standard elsewhere, especially within TV and film and I understand that.

That's how I see it anyway, haha!