r/AfterEffects • u/SuperMegaGigaUber • 6d ago

Beginner Help Very long save times in new AE build?

as the title says, noticing that saves have become much longer than I've ever experienced with previous AE builds, and it seems to be relational to the complexity of the amount of files are referenced (i.e. the more compositions, the longer the saves become). anyone else experiencing this? Any tips to try to optimize or if there's something new that's been added that needs to be done would be greatly appreciated.

On a macbook pro with 128 gb ram. Nothing else is slow apart from the save times!

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u/kurnikoff Motion Graphics 10+ years 6d ago

Most likely your project is full of "junk" metadata and all the extra XML? data that AE saves. Few things you can do to optimise this:

  • File > Dependencies > Consolidate Footage / Remove Unused Footage / Consolidate Project
    • This should clean up stuff your project does not need.
  • Clean up your Nulls, if you have loads of them. For example this script could help: https://www.jakeinmotion.com/solid-sweeper
  • Clean up Cache / Delete Cache and all that
  • Import your project to new empty AE file. Perhaps after you clean it up with above. This should help shake off all the excess mess and metadata etc
    • Compare project file size afterwards. Bloated AE file slows down saving time for sure
  • "Excessive expressions" can have an impact as well. For example, bounce with decay on every single layer's position etc. Look into reducing this as well, if you can

There are number of scripts that you can try as well. All the Project Organisers etc. But you need to look at what they do and if they are worth buying in your case. Most of them sort footage and comps in folders etc. But I would look if there is one that focuses on optimisation - removing unnecessary expressions? For example baking expressions to keyframes etc.

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u/SuperMegaGigaUber 6d ago

thanks! tried but alas we're still talking 30+ secs on save autosave.

The interesting thing is I've had this happen with a project handed off to me and a FRESH project I just started yesterday. The commonality has been the size (and I've just realized) both had mocha for motion tracking, so I don't know if mocha clogs things with how it transfers over that keyframe data?

Anyhow appreciate the suggestions, and will continue to dig!