AE CS6 3D Raytrace CPU vs GPU

I’m working on a project made in CS6. I’m using some of the new features that requires the new 3D Rendering engine but I don’t have an nvidia card so AE uses the CPU to render the 3D environment.

I’m currently render at around 50s/frame in full HD. But How much faster is an nvidia GPU?

There is a point in creating a template that may take 3 hours to render for 10 seconds if the buyer doesn’t have those CUDA cards?

Hi Doru,

I’ve tried to do some works with the new raytraced 3d but is wayyy to slow for me.
If you use CPU only render times are humongus and previews are slow too! I’ve tried with a nVidia Quadro 2000 (wich is not so powerful) and renders got faster, but not as fast as i was thinking…


Aniway 50s per frame is not that so bad form my experiences…

I'm not quite sure to use it for VideoHive projects, don't know if average customers are used to long renders...

I give you an example: with gtx 580 it takes 4 seconds/frame but depends the ray tracing quality, in my case I’ve set it to level 3. Also I tried with CPU (i7 2.93 GHz) and the result was a big blue screen because my CPU passed the highest temperature level. Indeed my projects in CS6 are HD not full HD and I can’t exactly answer the question.

Got gtx 690 , 4gb. For me cs6 is super fast. Ray tracing is very detailed and fast.

Tried both - with cpu rendering and with my GTX 690. so I could actualy compare waiting times like 40 seconds to 8 seconds. so its probably 5 times faster.

by the way the level is 9

I still dont like the CS6 though… and that raytracing is crap :slight_smile: its very slow compared to Element 3D, and is very very limited. You cant do anything with it which would be unique and more original. I will try doing some templates on CS6 because I got my new BEAST pc just because of the CS6 and upcoming AE C4d mix., but i still dont like CS6…

cyzer said

Got gtx 690 , 4gb. For me cs6 is super fast. Ray tracing is very detailed and fast.

Tried both - with cpu rendering and with my GTX 690. so I could actualy compare waiting times like 40 seconds to 8 seconds. so its probably 5 times faster.

by the way the level is 9

I still dont like the CS6 though… and that raytracing is crap :slight_smile: its very slow compared to Element 3D, and is very very limited. You cant do anything with it which would be unique and more original. I will try doing some templates on CS6 because I got my new BEAST pc just because of the CS6 and upcoming AE C4d mix., but i still dont like CS6…

+1 with GTX 570…works fast with extruded texts but when adding DOF it starts looking messy and calculates slower…

Thank You for the answers.

at 30 frame/s with an average of 60s/frame it will take 15 hours to render a 30s+ project if you don’t have those CUDA cards. Not ok :frowning:

I’m not sure if I should build a logo intro of 8 to 10 seconds instead, even if the concept would had worked fine as a video display.

cyzer said

Got gtx 690 , 4gb. For me cs6 is super fast. Ray tracing is very detailed and fast.

do you have some time to render a scene from my project to see how faster it works on your system? 5 to 6 seconds of animation

I find the Ae Ray-traced too slow in general.

You can make it work fast, but to get a decent level of anti-aliasing in there, you need to reckon with some pretty big render times. Cinema’s much quicker to render at a similar quality.

The sad thing is, that this was the big ticket item in CS6, and with CS7 integrating a version of C4D, I fear that Ray-traced might just be left in a time-capsule.

Maybe faster GPUs in the future will make it more useful at some point.

Hey guys! A have few tips for you who are using AE CS6 Ray Tracing. So as you know already, Adobe added Mercury Playback Engine to use the video card GPU to accelerate the rendering process and playback, unfortunately are few of Nvidia “certified” (the reason you can find yourself) cards for after effects and Premiere to recognize automatically this function.

  • So, when I upgraded my working station I did not know about this and I just bought 2x GTX 660Ti (crossfire) with 1344 CUDA CORES each and... SURPRISE! My new A.E. CS 6 could't recognize my Video GPU. After long researches I found the way how to "unlock" my video cards to be recognized by After Effects and Premiere.
  • For those who are or will be in the same situation as me please read the articleVIDEO CARDS FOR ADOBE CS 5, 5.5, 6 - Many Thx To STUDIO1PRODUCTION
    doru said
    cyzer said

    Got gtx 690 , 4gb. For me cs6 is super fast. Ray tracing is very detailed and fast.

    do you have some time to render a scene from my project to see how faster it works on your system? 5 to 6 seconds of animation

    Doru, Your Answershere

    The Mercury Engine is really good speeding up work in AE & Premiere…
    Make sure to remember & tell all your friends to get a graphic-card that supports it- HERE is the list (right side). That’s why I got the GTX570.

    Edit: I found this guide that says it’s possible to make it the engine work with other GTX cards as well… another guide here


    Hope it’ll help :slight_smile: