Last versions of AE are really really bad! Even on simple composition everything lags! The ram preview is also slow with few layer and simple effects. Some years ago AE was not super fast, but was **** better than now (same codecs and resolutions).

I already switched from premiere (getting really worst each release) to resolve. Now i'm waiting for AUTOGRAPH, by Leftangle company...it seems the perfect alternative to AE. Keep eyes on it.

Adobe: you must rewrite your **** software with new technology, not put patches on old code! Do not add new features for the next 2 years, we don't care! Only focus on the **** performance and bugs!

Lot of people are switching to competitors. When also your new target audience (tiktoker et similar) will realize how bad are your softwares now, they will switch too and the word of mouth will be not the same as now, they will talk about other software and no more about adobe. And then it will be too late for you to solve all the issues.

Well said Nate!

I truly hate to say this, but as someone who has been a VFX AE user for 25 years, there's no amount of bug fixes that can fix the issues that I experience on a daily basis. I have spent that majority of my career on a Mac, and a few years ago, I had to come to terms with he fact that Apple no longer served the needs of professional users. I Noped out when they announced the $6,000 base "Pro" mac. I built a PC and moved on. The same feeling is now there for After Effects. If you're a motion designer and you're doing design work, then there's no tool better. but as a professional VFX compositor, there's way more options available. As an example, go try and find a major VFX house that is hiring After Effects compositors that aren't doing UI or design work. that number is very small.

AE's strength is that you can do everything with it, it plays well with the rest of the Adobe suite, and is probably one of the most versatile programs out there. It's much like how Photoshop isn't just a photo editing tool; it's a digital painting tool, a design tool, and even an animation tool (not a great one, but it can be done). That's also make it a weakness because that limits how much they can change with out breaking other parts of the program. For example, if AE's color space was natively full 32bit float and Linear like Nuke, I'm sure there would be an uproar from the design users, even though this is how this how everyone should be working.

If implementing 32bit float and Linear workspace by default would slow AE for many users, then i suggest the developers figure out why there is such a performance hit, and fix that before going on to other optimizations. If it's old code that can't do it.... replace the code.

the next issue is the UI. while there are many elegant solves that other applications have implemented, I think AE should only focus on ONE issue: UI Lag. the responsiveness of the UI has become abysmal. I honestly believe that if the UI was as snappy and responsive as programs like Nuke, Maya, C4D, Resolve and even Blender, I believe 90% of the complaints about AE being slow would vanish. there is no reason for 1fps UI refresh while scrolling or scrubbing in the UI. I'm not talking about the comp window, I'm talking about the actual redrawing of the UI in the timeline. again.... fix that, then worry about "improvements"

Yes! NUMBER 1 PRIORITY to me!

@MrBeep
they also have an entire video explaining the situation and what they're doing about it too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVNCgmAsI8c

These are some of the guys who got me into the adobe ecosystem, and I've largely left, I'm about to start a new stage in my career, So it makes sense for me to follow along with them, as they're kinda where I'd like to be. Quite frankly, I do a lot of 3D and CGI, but AE has basically nothing but a single buggy, obscure legacy plugin to be able to interface with EXR files, and their support for that, let alone image sequences, is terrible at best, often nonexistent other times.

I simply cannot do my job with AE. it just does not have the capabilities to composite footage in an effective or reliable way that does not rely on hacks and volatile legacy workflows. Its tools boil down to photoshop filters for video, slow and inaccurate 2D point tracking, and manual rotoscoping for everything else.

"After Effects needs to be Rewritten or We're NOT Using this F*ing Program"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeopaTW16kA

New features? :D ... But you are right. AE needs a total reboot after 30 years. A complete rewritten core that works efficient with modern multi GPU/CPU systems. Realtime 3D is also a must have in a modern compositing/motion graphics tool.

Yes Nick I agree, and Adobe could always provide "After Effects legacy" (current Ae) for compatibility purposes beside "After Effects rebirth" (next gen Ae).
HifFilm by FX Home (released for years) and Autograph (to be released) seem to be interesting and they seem to promise a lot of good modern features. At least they suggest something radically different and new...
So yeah, After Effects rebirth please Adobe :)

hello, to those who are subscribed or reading later, I would like to direct your attention to similar threads, in an attempt to boost these issues on the list. Adobe made bug fixing a popularity contest, so why don't we play along?~

I do admit a couple are mine- full disclosure there, and you'll notice, if you read my ignored response to the dev that was here last year that I no longer support the continued existence of AE. I support the idea of an all new one, so that the many issues plaguing this ancient third-of-a-century old program may die peacefully with it, and not be passed to a new version, made from scratch with updates, performance, and modularity in mind.

https://adobe-video.uservoice.com/forums/911311-after-effects/suggestions/42413407-use-ram-more-efficiently
https://adobe-video.uservoice.com/forums/911311-after-effects/suggestions/44485305-terrible-performance
https://adobe-video.uservoice.com/forums/911311-after-effects/suggestions/45089074-kill-after-effects-it-s-done-and-dying-and-no-co
https://adobe-video.uservoice.com/forums/911311-after-effects/suggestions/44227764-after-effects-2020-is-very-slow-please-help
https://adobe-video.uservoice.com/forums/911311-after-effects/suggestions/34045903-improved-ui-responsiveness
https://adobe-video.uservoice.com/forums/911311-after-effects/suggestions/45099103-reduce-after-effects-pricing-grievances-list-it
https://adobe-video.uservoice.com/forums/911311-after-effects/suggestions/39667342-after-effects-ui-is-extremely-slow-mainly-on-pc
https://adobe-video.uservoice.com/forums/911311-after-effects/suggestions/40996867-interface-is-slow-and-laggy
https://adobe-video.uservoice.com/forums/911311-after-effects/suggestions/44907952-my-after-effect-is-suddenly-extremely-slow-even-wi
https://adobe-video.uservoice.com/forums/911311-after-effects/suggestions/44829013-composition-view-jittery-scrubbing
https://adobe-video.uservoice.com/forums/911311-after-effects/suggestions/44776162-saving-is-slow-but-fast-when-clicking-outside-aft
https://adobe-video.uservoice.com/forums/911311-after-effects/suggestions/44756623-roto-performance-abysmal
https://adobe-video.uservoice.com/forums/911311-after-effects/suggestions/44690776-projects-from-previous-version-of-ae-opening-like

Let's make some noise! comments and votes both help it seems, so help us out!

@Nate Forster Yeah, I am getting similar symptoms. Seems to be a bit dependent on what type of layers I have. But as the number of layers grow, so does the laag! 😒 Also have a power horse of a machine, doesn't seem to make much of a difference...

I get frustrated by the sluggish UI every single day. how bad is it? Take the simple act of scrolling in the timeline. scroll wheel up in the timeline... wait 2 seconds... then it stutters up to the top of the layer stack of maybe 30 layers. the delay drives me crazy and it is everywhere. resizing a window is janky and stuttery. need to move around in 3D with only nulls and a camera? good luck with that. And it's not my machine. a 10core x299 and a 16core Rysen with 64g ram each, 2080 Ti, and ssd/nvme as system and a separate one for caching should be able to handle the UI of AE. no other application i use has an interface this laggy.

@Jess McMillian LOOKING INTO WAYS TO IMPROVE? Just freaking participate!!!!! Just freaking click on a few top rated requests and COMMENT. Give us a freaking ray of light at the end of the tunnel, why is there nobody on your team who can manage this?

@Jess McMillian

Hello, Please could you or another dev take a look at the memory leak issue? Is it making working in AE very difficult and often depressing ;(

J

@Jess McMillian
both me and Nuno have created a new post in the bug section of AE beta forum. Feel free to remove mine so we can follow 1 discussion.
Thanks

Hello,

Responding to a few different threads in this post.

@John Myers, I am sorry you and other users experience frustration with Uservoice. We are looking into ways to improve this experience.

@Marco Sanasi and @ Nuno Caroco, could one of you start a new user post with this issue so we can track it? It is better if it isn't part of another post for identifying and responding to specific issues or requests, and I am happy to follow-up with discussion and suggestions with you on that post. If you both happen to make a post on it, no worries - we can combine them if that happens.

All the best,
Jess

@Jess McMillian,
I confirm in AE beta 22.3.0 and AE 22.2 the same issue reported below by Marco is happening.
I attached the Mp4 recreation of his test under my system. ( 32gb Ram, RTX 2060, i7-8750H CPU )

This is beyond acceptable if not even the internal testing team is aware of this in the current commercial release of the software. Moreover, the plain ignoring and active feedback and support under these UserVoice forums.

Hello Jess McMillian,

Look at the attached file please: a 1920 x 1080 Comp containing simple 3D solids (AE v2022.2).
Do you Adobe guys think it is worthy?

Just keep tweeting Adobe Care over and over until they can't ignore it

Jess, we appreciate your comments, but THIS forum, THIS Uservoice is also where the Adobe After Effects team should be spending a wee bit of their precious time, not just in the beta room. Compared to every other Adobe Uservoice there is hardly ANY feedback here. NO acknowledgement of top voted requests, your team can’t even deign to flick the “NEED MORE INFO” button on YEARS OLD top voted requests. No responses to your users begging, BEGGING YOU for crumbs, for simple improvements to nagging workflow issues that would require a freaking checkmark in preferences (such as default separate XYZ coordinates.)

It truly is mind boggling how contemptuous your team treats this forum. I want to praise your team for many improvements, and I’m grateful like many others that you reintroduced multiframe rendering some eight years after taking it away from us and another seven years of begging on here. Fantastic new old feature. It truly does make a difference, now perhaps bother reading the other Top requests.

NICK!
that is well put... I could not agree more.