I’ve done composites in 1080p that have gotten maybe ten seconds of footage to fit into RAM tops.
High definition video brings the program to its knees. This was great for standard definition video, since a good fifteen or thirty seconds of that will fit in the 2GB of RAM a 32-bit program is going to limit you to. When you’re doing work in AE, you utilize what’s called a “RAM preview.” The program renders out a part of your composition (however much you’ve selected) to RAM so that you can see it how it will finally look. I harp constantly about the jump to 64-bit and how “omigosh amazing” it is, but After Effects CS5 is the first place you’re going to really feel it. But in something like After Effects? Premiere Pro lets you play back your footage in real time, only gradually starting to chop when your processor just can’t handle the load. Most of the work you’re going to do there will be minor animation or color correction. In Premiere Pro you could probably get away with just letting the program use the 2GB of RAM and call it a day. You also need to fit that video in memory along with all the tweaks you’re doing with it.
It’s true that most of the video being edited on a computer is compressed in some fashion, but here’s the thing: it has to be uncompressed at some point, too. When Adobe dropped CS4 and brought with it a 64-bit version of Photoshop, my big question was…where’s their 64-bit video editing software? It’s true the megapixel race keeps raising the sheer size of raw image files, but the jump from standard definition to high definition video has been nothing short of devastating. So suffice to say, After Effects is awesome, incredibly useful, and at the same time in dire need of an update. A friend of mine put together an entire lightsaber battle in After Effects and honestly, the lightsabers look pretty damn good. Moreover, my skill with After Effects is pretty insignificant compared to what I’ve seen some people do render explosions, flames, lightning, and even have it look halfway decent.
So when I need a bunch of people for an image, or a scene to take place somewhere that doesn’t exist, (see left) I can shoot a few people on a blue screen, matte out the blue, put a time-lapsed video of clouds moving in the background, put everyone together, and presto. I simply can’t afford to finance my filmmaking on some grand scale.
I’ve also found After Effects CS5 invaluable for my own work.
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