What 64 bit really means for After Effects, and your workstation… [Updated]

[update] See here for updated information regarding Windows XP 64bit [/update]

So, as you know, Michael Coleman, project manager of AE, announced on his blog that the next version of After Effects will be 64bit.

But you might wonder to what extend this will impact your workflow, or the plugins you already own.

First of all, if you’re on Windows XP or prior, it means no luck. You’ll have to upgrade to Vista or 7. If you’re on a Mac OS prior to Snow Leopard, you’ll be in the cold too.

[Edit] MacOs 10.5 is also 64bit capable, so you’ll be able to run AE 64 on Leopard & Snow Leo.

Why is that ? it’s because these are 32bit OSes (and Win XP 64bit was not not supported in CS4 so it won’t probably be suported by AE next). In order to AE 64 to run, you need a 64bit OS. Snow Leopard is 64bit. On Windows, you will need the 64bit version of Vista or 7. If you have windows 7, all the versions came with both 32bit and 64bit installers, so chance is that you are already running a 64bit system.

But what is 64bit anyway ? 64bit is way more than 2×32bit. To keep it simple, 32bit systems couldn’t use more than 4gb of ram. When AE was a 32bit app it could never use more than 4gb of Ram on a single process. With 64bit, this limitation is gone, and I assume you know how much AE loves Ram.

More Ram equals to longer Ram previews, to bigger compositions, and less « Memory buffer errors»  assuming you have more than 4gb of Ram on your computer.

So it’s all good news right ? Wrong.

The flipping side of the coin is that AE 64bit will only run 64bit plugins. Photoshop users have already gone to that in CS4 on Windows with Photoshop CS4 64bit, but PS was still available in 32bit. It won’t be the case for AE. As Michael Coleman pointed out, they made the hard choice to only go 64bit and not support 32bit anymore because of time constraints. They could have done a 32/64bit version but they choose not to. So if AE 64 was out today, none of your plugs would work.

If you’re like me, you probably won’t be able to make serious work without some Trapcode plugs, and some « insert your favorite plug here»  plugs. The good news is that plugin developers are working on 64bit version of their plugs, and Michael Coleman assures us that a lot will be available during the AE 64 launch window.

This raises 2 questions: will the plug upgrades be free ? will all the plugs be converted to 64 bit ?

Simple answer: probably no and definitly no.

Some plugin developers will offer free upgrade, but not everyone as porting complex plugs from 32bit to 64bit requires more than a simple clic of a button. My personnal feeling is that most upgrades will be free, but that’s just assumption. Some plugin developers already announced that they won’t be porting their whole library to 64bit, and that oldest plugs will probably be ported on a case per case basis. On the other hand, Andrew Kramer announced on his blog that free updates to Twitch and Optical Flares will be available when AE 64 launchs.

So, to sum things up, chance is high that you will have to upgrade your OS, then AE, and then your plugs. That’s not an easy step, a cheap step, but it’s sure a good start to finally use all the power 64bit is giving us.

A last word about the Mercury engine from Adobe Premiere Pro 64. I’ve read here and there that the Mercury Engine (which uses Cuda acceleration to do realtime wonders) will be used in AE 64 and pointing to the AE 64 press release as a source. Well sorry to disappoint people wanting RT in AE 64, but it is clear in the press releases and tech demos that Mercury Engine is only announced for Premiere Pro 64. So unless they keep it under wraps for AE 64, it won’t be in AE 64.

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