Nucleo Pro 3.0 USER GUIDE

Transcription

1 Nucleo Pro 3.0 USER GUIDE

2 GRIDIRON Nucleo Pro For Adobe After Effects Version 3.0 User Guide GridIron Software Inc. Copyright 2010 GridIron Software Inc. All rights reserved. If this manual is distributed with software that includes an end-user agreement, this manual, as well as the software described in it, is furnished under license and may be used or copied in accordance with the terms of such license. Except as permitted by any such license, no part of this guide may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of GridIron Software Inc. Please note that the content in this guide is protected under copyright law even if it is not distributed with software that includes an end-user license agreement. Please remember that existing artwork or images that you may want to include in your project may be protected under copyright law. The unauthorized incorporation of such material in your new work could be a violation of the rights of the copyright owner. Please be sure to obtain any permission required from the copyright owner. The content of this manual is furnished for informational use only, is subject to change without notice, and should not be construed as a commitment by GridIron. GridIron Software Inc. assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or inaccuracies that may appear in the informational content contained in this guide. This computer software is protected by copyright law and international treaties. Unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this program, or any portion of it, may result in severe civil and criminal penalties, and will be prosecuted to the maximum extent possible under the law.

3 Contents at a Glance Contents at a Glance...3 Contents...4 About Nucleo Pro...8 Getting Started...13 Status Icon...15 Nucleo Pro Status Pop-up Messages...16 Control Menu...17 Feature Interactions...27 Fast Preview...28 Fast Render...34 Background Render...38 Spec Preview...48 Spec Render...55 Commit To Disk...60 Pre-composition Proxies...63 Managing Cache Files...69 Support Tool...75 Performance...77 Licensing...81 Online Purchases...83 Orders by Fax or by Mail...83 GridIron Sales...83 Moving Your License...84 Upgrading Nucleo License to Nucleo Pro...85 Nucleo Pro Updates...86 Uninstalling Nucleo Pro...87 Getting Help...88 Contacting GridIron Software...89 Appendix 1: GridIron Nucleo Pro License Agreement GridIron Software Inc. Page 3

4 Contents Contents at a Glance...3 Contents...4 About Nucleo Pro...8 System Requirements... 9 Software Requirements... 9 Terminology... 9 Multi-processing in After Effects CS How Nucleo Pro Improves your Workflow Fast Preview and Fast Render Background Render Background Rendering of 3D Projects Spec-Preview Spec-Render Commit to Disk Pre-composition Proxies Getting Started...13 Downloading Installation Purchasing a License Upgrading Nucleo License to Nucleo Pro Using Nucleo Pro Status Icon...15 Nucleo Pro Status Pop-up Messages...16 Control Menu...17 Viewing Your Nucleo Pro Session History Disabling Nucleo Pro Enabling Nucleo Pro Selecting Fast Preview Behavior Selecting the Render Button Behavior Disabling Status Popup Windows Open a Nucleo Pro Application Window Selecting the Performance Level Resource Settings Purchasing or Activating a Nucleo Pro License Getting Nucleo Pro Software Updates Nucleo Pro Version Information Feature Interactions...27 Fast Preview...28 Using After Effects Previews Starting/Stopping Nucleo Pro Fast Previews Using the After Effects Composition Menu Using the Keyboard Short-cut Selecting your Fast Preview Behavior What is the difference between preview behaviors? GridIron Software Inc. Page 4

5 Tracking Preview Status Known Issues and Limitations Temporally Dependent Plug-ins Camera Region of Interest Troubleshooting Fast Render...34 Starting a Nucleo Pro Fast Render Tracking Fast Render Status Stopping a Nucleo Pro Fast Render Known Issues and Limitations Pausing a Nucleo Pro Fast Render Temporally Dependent Plug-ins Troubleshooting Background Render...38 Starting a Nucleo Pro Background Render Background Render Life Cycle Adding Compositions to the Background Render Queue Queuing Compositions from Other Projects Background Render Queue Opening the Background Render Queue Render Status and Control Viewing Background Render Status Stopping a Background Render Pausing and Resuming a Background Render Render Item Details Queued Items Prioritizing Render Queue Items Background Rendering of 3D Projects Supported 3D Applications Starting a 3D Background Render Trouble Shooting Background Render Queue History Opening the Background Render History Removing Items from the History Sending Rendered Items Back to the Original AE Project Post Render Actions Known Issues and Limitations Temporally Dependent Plug-ins Troubleshooting Spec Preview...48 How It Works Enabling and Disabling Spec Preview Configuring Spec Preview Tracking Status Stopping Spec Preview Caching Preview Frames on Disk GridIron Software Inc. Page 5

6 Enabling and Disabling Persistent Frame Caching Changing Your Project Cache Location Managing Cache Files Known Issues and Limitations Temporally Dependent Plug-ins Camera Region of Interest Troubleshooting Spec Render...55 How It Works Enabling and Disabling Spec Render Using Settings Templates Tracking Status Stopping Spec Render Caching Render Frames on Disk Changing Your Project Cache Location Managing Cache Files Known Issues and Limitations Temporally Dependent Plug-ins Troubleshooting Commit To Disk...60 Starting Commit to Disk Using Settings Templates Tracking Status Stopping Commit to Disk Transfer Modes Track Mattes Known Issues and Limitations Temporally Dependent Plug-ins Troubleshooting Pre-composition Proxies...63 How It Works Tagging a Composition for Proxying Enabling and Disabling Pre-composition Proxy Configuring Pre-composition Proxies Using Templates Tracking Status Stopping Pre-composition Proxy Render Caching Rendered Frames on Disk Changing Your Project Cache Location Managing Cache Files Known Issues and Limitations Temporally Dependent Plug-ins Compositions flagged as 3D layers Composition that Contain Audio Troubleshooting Managing Cache Files GridIron Software Inc. Page 6

7 What Are Cache Files? Creating Cache Files The Cache Manager Tool Viewing Cache Data Deleting Caches Moving Caches Cache Settings The Default Cache Location Maximum Cache Size Exceeding the Cache Size Limit Enabling Cache File Creation Support Tool...75 Performance...77 Measuring Performance Gain Variables that Affect Nucleo Pro Performance Temporally Dependent Plug-ins CPU Intensity of your Composition Amount of RAM Installed on your Computer Multi-threaded Effects After Effects Settings for Previews Anti-virus Software Close Unused Applications FileVault on Mac OS X Hyper-threading Not Seeing a Speed-up? Let us Know! Licensing...81 Obtaining a Serial Number Activating Your License Online Purchases...83 Orders by Fax or by Mail...83 GridIron Sales...83 Moving Your License...84 Upgrading Nucleo License to Nucleo Pro...85 Nucleo Pro Updates...86 Uninstalling Nucleo Pro...87 Getting Help...88 Contacting GridIron Software...89 Appendix 1: GridIron Nucleo Pro License Agreement GridIron Software Inc. Page 7

8 About Nucleo Pro GridIron Nucleo Pro is a performance and workflow extension for digital video production software that uses the power of multi-cpu and multi-core computers to improve your productivity and workflow. Nucleo Pro optimizes your workflow and enhances the performance of previews and renders in Adobe After Effects 7.0 (and above) by utilizing the CPU power on your multi-cpu or multi-core computer to its fullest. Multi-core processors are computer processors designed specifically for power hungry software applications like those used in digital content creation. A multi-core processor provides two or more execution cores in one physical processor to increase computing throughput. This provides faster performance by allowing processors to execute several tasks in parallel on each of the separate processing cores. Several Multi-core processors are currently available from following vendors such as AMD, Apple/IBM, and Intel. Multi-core processors will improve general computing performance with better system efficiency and handling of multiple applications running at the same time. However, only specifically designed software applications (with multi-threaded code) can take full advantage of the increased capabilities of multi-core processors as well as multiprocessor computers. This User Guide is designed to help you put Nucleo Pro to work right away so you can immediately begin expanding your creative boundaries GridIron Software Inc. Page 8

9 System Requirements The following are the minimum and recommended system requirements for your After Effects Workstation computer: Computer Systems with multiple CPUs, multi-core CPUs, or Hyper-Threaded CPUs installed (performance gain on hyper-thread CPUs is less dramatic). Operating System Nucleo Pro supports all Windows and Mac OS X operating systems supported by Adobe After Effects 7.0 and above RAM 2GB (2GB per CPU/Core recommended 1 ) Disk 20MB of available hard-disk space for installation Software Requirements Adobe After Effects 7.0 (or later) Standard or Professional editions must be installed before installing Nucleo Pro. Terminology In this document we discuss the features of Nucleo Pro using the following terminology: a. Background Process/Instance After Effects processes that do not have a window associated with them. There can be many of these. b. Foreground Process/Instance The After Effects process that presents the user interface (i.e. window). There should only be one (1) of these. Multi-processing in After Effects CS3 As of Creative Suite 3, After Effects has included the ability to use all CPU and memory resources using a multi-processing approach like Nucleo Pro. This is manifested in the Multi-processing check box available in the AE preferences. This feature does not provide any of the background or speculative rendering/previewing capabilities of Nucleo Pro only faster renders and preview (like standard Nucleo). AE s multi-processing and Nucleo Pro are not designed to work in conjunction with one another. If Nucleo Pro is installed and enabled, the multi-processing feature of AE CS3 1 Windows XP Home and Professional only support up to 4 GB of RAM. To use more RAM you will need to run Windows XP 64-bit GridIron Software Inc. Page 9

10 must be disabled. In fact, Nucleo Pro can not be enabled until multi-processing option is disabled and AE restarted. This restriction is in place to save you the headaches that would arise when both AE and Nucleo Pro launch background After Effects processes, thus consuming inordinate amounts of CPU and RAM before you ve even thought about doing a render. How Nucleo Pro Improves your Workflow Nucleo Pro improves your workflow by providing six unique features to Adobe After Effects (AE). Fast Preview and Fast Render Using Adobe After Effects alone when previewing and rendering on multi-cpu or multicore computers, your additional CPUs can be significantly under utilized (CS3 multiprocessing option not-withstanding). The Fast Preview and Fast Render features of GridIron Nucleo Pro divides the work ordinarily performed on a single processor by Adobe After Effects and allows it to run in parallel on multiple cores, just like a multithreaded application. Nucleo Pro ensures that you are fully utilizing the power of your dual-processor or multi-core CPUs provide when rendering and previewing with After Effects. When you start After Effects with the Nucleo Pro plug-in installed background instances of the After Effects are started on your computer. Nucleo Pro uses the background After Effects processes to render a subset of the frames in your compositions and utilize the idle processing power of your additional CPUs. By using both background and foreground instances of After Effects (the instance you use to create your projects), Nucleo Pro can maximize the use of your CPUs. For current Nucleo users the Nucleo Pro Fast Preview and Fast Render features are identical to the Nucleo Preview and Render features. Background Render When you perform renders with the Adobe After Effects Render Queue you are locked out of After Effects. This means you must wait until your render is completed before you can continue working in After Effects. With the Nucleo Pro Background Render feature you no longer need to sit idle waiting for your After Effects renders to complete. Nucleo Pro provides its own Background Render Queue. Simply add items to the After Effects Render Queue and then click on the Composition->Nucleo Pro Background Render menu. Nucleo Pro will transfer the queued items on the After Effects Render Queue to the Nucleo Pro Background Render Queue and render the items in the background GridIron Software Inc. Page 10

11 Nucleo Pro will by default, override the Render button in the After Effects render queue. This can be changed by using the Render Options menu from the Nucleo Pro status icon s control menu. You are now free to work on another composition or project within After Effects while your render progresses. If you need to add more items onto the Nucleo Pro Background Render Queue from the same or different After Effects project simply add them to the After Effects Render Queue and click on the Nucleo Pro Background Render menu again. Nucleo Pro will append the new render queue items onto the Background Render Queue and render them in turn. Background Rendering of 3D Projects Nucleo Pro 3 allows you to put more projects on your background render queue. Simply drag and drop projects from 3D applications such as Cinema 4D, Maya, 3D Studio Max, Lightwave, and more, and Nucleo Pro will manage the renders in the background while you work. Spec-Preview With Spec-Preview enabled as you create your composition Nucleo Pro automatically and continuously renders it and fills in your AE RAM Cache. Nucleo Pro detects when you make a change to your composition and re-renders any modified frames. Nucleo Pro can also create cached disk files (scratch files) of the rendered frames. When you close and re-open a composition Nucleo Pro will automatically fill in the AE RAM Cache with the pre-rendered frames from your last editing session of the composition using the disk cached version of the frame. Therefore when you close and re-open a composition the AE RAM Cache will automatically return to the same state as when you last worked on the composition. For information on cache files, refer to the Managing Cache Files section of this document. Spec-Render With Spec-Render enabled as you create your composition Nucleo Pro automatically and continuously renders it. Spec-Render instead of filling in the AE RAM Cache like Spec- Preview will render your composition to your final output format. Nucleo Pro automatically detects when you make a change to your composition and re-renders any modified frames. Nucleo Pro allows you to select the Render Settings and Output Module template to use for the final output. Spec-Render can greatly reduce or eliminate entirely the wait time for a final render. Commit to Disk If you have layers in your timeline that are complete but are costing you time when previewing, Nucleo Pro allows you to commit those layers to disk. Simply select the 2010 GridIron Software Inc. Page 11

12 layers and have Nucleo Pro render out only those layers using background After Effects processes. When the render is complete, the selected layers in your composition are nondestructively replaced with the rendered footage item. Nucleo Pro allows you to select the Render Settings and Output Module template to use for the render so the rendered footage item will be in the format you choose. Pre-composition Proxies Pre-comp proxies are new way of keeping your AE proxies cached and up to date. All you do is tag a composition for proxying and Nucleo Pro 3 will render it in the background and use the rendered output as the proxy. If you make changes to that composition, Nucleo Pro 3 will update the necessary frames and re-apply the proxy for you GridIron Software Inc. Page 12

13 Getting Started Downloading You can download a trial version of Nucleo Pro for free from our web site at The free download is fully functional but all frames are watermarked. Installation To install Nucleo Pro: 1. Open the GridIron Nucleo Pro.zip (GridIron Nucleo Pro.dmg on Macintosh) by double clicking on it. 2. On Windows double click on the Setup.exe file. On Macintosh double click on GridIron Nucleo Pro.pkg 3. Follow the prompts to install the software. You will need to accept a License Agreement to install GridIron Nucleo Pro. 4. Re-start After Effects. If After Effects was running when you installed Nucleo Pro you must re-start After Effects to have After Effects load the Nucleo Pro plug-in. Once you have installed Nucleo Pro the remainder of this guide will help you use the complete set of Nucleo Pro features. Purchasing a License Once you ve completed your trial of the Nucleo Pro software, you can purchase a license from within Nucleo Pro by accessing the Licensing menu of the Nucleo Pro Status Icon in the system tray (Windows)/menu bar (Mactinosh). You can also go directly to our website at There is a 3-step process to have your copy of the software fully licensed: 1. Obtain a serial number - selecting the Purchase option opens a browser to our purchase web-site. Upon entering the necessary purchase details, you are ed a license serial number. 2. Download the Non-Trial version Once you made your purchase a new download will be made available in your account. It is this version of the software that can and must be activated before it is usable. 3. Activate your serial number - once you have received the serial number, you need to activate it by selecting the Activate option from the Licensing submenu of the Nucleo Pro control menu. This will launch the Activation tool. To activate, simply cut and paste the serial number into the Activation tool and hit the Activate button. Nucleo Pro takes care of the rest GridIron Software Inc. Page 13

14 Upgrading Nucleo License to Nucleo Pro To upgrade a Nucleo license to a Nucleo Pro license select the Purchase option from the Nucleo Pro control menu. When connected to our purchase web-site click on the Upgrade to Nucleo Pro button. Upon entering the necessary purchase details, you will be ed a Nucleo Pro license serial number. You must then download the Non-trial version of the software from your account and then activate your license by selecting the Activate option from the Licensing submenu of the Nucleo Pro control menu. For more information on Nucleo Pro licensing please see the Nucleo Pro Licensing section of the document. Using Nucleo Pro When Nucleo Pro is first installed on your system it remains dormant until After Effects is started. When After Effects is started the Nucleo Pro plug-in is loaded the following changes are made to the After Effects interface. The Composition menu in After Effects is modified to contain menu items that allow you to access the Nucleo Pro features Background After Effects processes are started. The Nucleo Pro Status icon will appear on the Windows system tray or the Mac OS X Menu bar. Keyboard shortcuts are added to the After Effects Shortcuts file (and a dialog is display to show that this has occurred). The features of Nucleo Pro and the behavior of the interface are described in later section of this manual GridIron Software Inc. Page 14

15 Status Icon The status icon provides you with an at a glance view of the current state of Nucleo Pro. You can immediately see whether or not Nucleo Pro is enabled, disabled, loading or working on a Nucleo Pro task you have initiated (for example, a Fast Preview etc.). The Nucleo Pro Status icon also provides access to the control menu and status messages. The status icon is displayed on the Windows system tray or the Mac OS X menu bar when After Effects is started. The icon is removed from the system tray or menu bar when you exit After Effects, which indicates that the plug-in is no longer active. Before using any Nucleo Pro feature you should ensure the Status icon is in the Enabled state. Refer to the table below for Nucleo Pro state indicators. Status Icon Description Disabled (Black) When Nucleo Pro is disabled Nucleo Pro actions cannot be initiated. The Nucleo Pro menus in After Effects will be disabled (grayed-out) and the After Effects background processes are terminated. Loading (yellow) Loading of Nucleo Pro occurs when After Effects is started (assuming Nucleo Pro has not been disabled) or when Nucleo Pro transitions from a Disabled to Enabled state. During the loading phase, background instances of After Effects are started to process Nucleo Pro actions. When Nucleo Pro has determined the background instances of AE have successfully been started it will transition to Enabled. Nucleo Pro can not be used until it has reached the Enabled state. Enabled (Red) When Nucleo Pro is in Enabled state you can initiate a Nucleo Pro action. The Nucleo Pro menus in After Effects will be enabled and the background After Effects processes used by Nucleo Pro have been started and are awaiting work. Busy (green) You have initiated a Nucleo Pro action and Nucleo Pro is busy working on that action. The status icon may flash between the idle (enabled) and busy states as the background After Effects processes render frames and await new frames to be assigned to them GridIron Software Inc. Page 15

16 Nucleo Pro Status Pop-up Messages The Nucleo Pro Status icon will use a pop-up window to display Nucleo Pro events. Events include Nucleo Pro state transitions, informational messages, warnings and errors. Each pop-up describes the event that has occurred and, if necessary, the steps required to resolve issues. Examples of pop-up messages include: Nucleo Pro is Initializing Nucleo Pro is Ready Software Update Available The Render Queue has no queued items Nucleo Pro license has not been activated Clicking on the pop-up window will open your default web browsing application to the Nucleo Pro Session History. Nucleo Pro Pop-up Windows (MAC OS X versions) 2010 GridIron Software Inc. Page 16

17 Control Menu Right clicking (clicking on Mac OS X) on the Nucleo Pro Status icon presents you with a control menu that provides the following selections: View the Nucleo Pro Session History Enable and Disable Nucleo Pro Enable or Disable status pop-up windows Open a Nucleo Pro application window (i.e. the Background Render Queue, the Cache Manager, the Support Tool, and Last Status windows). Specify the behavior of Fast Previews Specify the behavior of the After Effects Render button. Specify the performance level at which to operate Adjust Nucleo Pro s CPU and RAM use on your system Purchase and activate your Nucleo Pro license Upgrade to the latest version of Nucleo Pro Determine the currently installed version of Nucleo Pro Nucleo Pro Control Menu 2010 GridIron Software Inc. Page 17

18 Viewing Your Nucleo Pro Session History The Nucleo Pro Session History records information about the operations performed with Nucleo Pro. During an After Effects session the following information will be recorded in the session history. When Nucleo Pro was last Enabled. Includes the date and time. When Nucleo Pro was last Disabled. Includes the date and time. License Activation Succeeded or Failed. Includes the time and date along with the reason for any failure. When a Nucleo Pro operation was started. Includes the following information: o The project and composition name. o The start date and time. o The type of Nucleo Pro operation. Can be one of: Fast Render (in Nucleo known as Nucleo Render) Fast Preview (in Nucleo known as Nucleo Preview) Spec-Preview Spec-Render Background Render Commit to Disk Any warnings or errors that occur: o The time and date of the warning or error o The reason it occurred. o If applicable a link to our web-site for trouble-shooting. When a Nucleo Pro operation completed or was stopped. Includes: o Whether stopped by user or ran to a successful completion. o The date and time the operation ended. o For Fast Previews the number of frames rendered by After Effects vs. Nucleo Pro. You can display the session history at anytime by selecting Session History from the control menu (or on Windows by double clicking the status icon). If you restart After Effects the previous session history is cleared and a new one created for the new After Effects session GridIron Software Inc. Page 18

19 Disabling Nucleo Pro When Nucleo Pro is first installed on your computer it is enabled by default. When you start After Effects, Nucleo Pro loads automatically and is available to aid in the processing of your After Effects previews and renders. You can disable Nucleo Pro at anytime while After Effects is running by selecting Disable from the control menu. The Disable menu item is only visible if Nucleo Pro is currently enabled. When Nucleo Pro is disabled the Nucleo Pro related items in the Composition menu of After Effects will be disabled (grayed-out) and the background instances of After Effects will be terminated. The status icon will indicate that Nucleo Pro is disabled. If you exit After Effects with Nucleo Pro disabled, it will still be disabled the next time you start After Effects. To use Nucleo Pro, you will need to re-enable it manually. Enabling Nucleo Pro If Nucleo Pro is disabled you can re-enable it at any time by selecting Enable from the Nucleo Pro control menu. The Enable menu item is only visible if Nucleo Pro is currently disabled. Enabling Nucleo Pro will re-enable the Nucleo Pro related items in the After Effects Composition menu and start background instances of After Effects on your workstation. When you first enable Nucleo Pro the icon will turn yellow indicating the plug-in is loading. Once loaded the icon will turn red indicating Nucleo Pro is enabled and idle and therefore ready for use. If you exit After Effects with Nucleo Pro enabled, it will be enabled automatically the next time you start After Effects GridIron Software Inc. Page 19

20 Selecting Fast Preview Behavior Nucleo Pro allows you to select the type of After Effects preview to emulate when you use the Nucleo Pro - Fast Preview menu item or the Shift+Spacebar keyboard short cut. To select your preview behavior: 1. Right click (click on Mac OSX) the status icon to display the control menu, 2. Open the Fast Preview Options submenu, 3. Choose the appropriate behavior. The default setting for Fast Previews is to emulate an After Effects RAM preview. If the Move Play-head (slower) option is selected, during previews Nucleo Pro will advance the play-head in the AE timeline. Due to the negative impact on performance, this option is OFF by default. Note: this feature is available for Mac OS X only. After Effects on Windows does not allow third party applications, like Nucleo Pro, to use this feature GridIron Software Inc. Page 20

21 Selecting the Render Button Behavior Nucleo Pro allow you to assign behavior to the Render button in the After Effect Render Queue window. To do so: 1. Right-click (click on MAC OS X) on the status icon to display the control menu, 2. Open the Render Options submenu, 3. Select a render style. When Nucleo Pro is installed, the default is to add items in Queued state to the Background Render Queue and run a background render when the Render button is pressed. Disabling Status Popup Windows The progress of a Nucleo Pro operation is often presented using a popup window. This can be handy at times, but has also been found to be distracting to some. Nucleo Pro gives you the option to switch these status Popups on or off. This is done using the Enable/Disable Status Popups menu item. If Popups are enabled, the menu will display Disable Status Popups to allow you to switch them off. If Popups are disabled, the menu will display Enable Status Popups to allow you to switch them on Even when status Popups are disabled, errors and warning windows will continue to be displayed GridIron Software Inc. Page 21

22 Open a Nucleo Pro Application Window To open the Nucleo Pro Background Render Queue, Cache Manager or Last Status GUIs select the appropriate option from the Nucleo Pro Control Window menu. For more information about the Background Render Queue, Cache Manager, and Support Tool please refer to the corresponding sections of this manual GridIron Software Inc. Page 22

23 Selecting the Performance Level You can choose how aggressive Nucleo Pro will be in utilizing CPU and RAM resources on your system by selecting a performance level. To do so: 1. Right-click (click on MAC OS X) on the status icon to display the control menu, 2. Open the Performance Level submenu, 3. Select a performance level. Maximum Foreground and background processes run at same priority Consume as much memory as required Computer may seem unresponsive at times during preview and renders Excellent performance Normal (recommended) Background processes run at reduced priority Attempt to leave memory free for other applications Computer will remain responsive Good performance When changing performance levels, Nucleo Pro will reinitialize. This means any operations that are currently in progress must be aborted. This is expected behavior and required to adjust memory limits for the background After Effects processes GridIron Software Inc. Page 23

24 Resource Settings You can make custom adjustments to the number of CPUs and the amount of RAM used by Nucleo Pro by using the Resource Settings dialog. Resource Settings Menu Item (Windows version shown) Nucleo Pro attempts to leave a certain amount of RAM free on your system. The default amount is 512 MB (left free). You can adjust this low-watermark for RAM using the controls provided in the Resource Settings dialog shown below. Resource Settings Window (Windows version shown) Changing the number of CPUs determines the number of the background AE processes used by Nucleo Pro. The number AE processes created will be the number CPUs selected plus one. This also effects the RAM use on your system since each AE process uses a certain amount of memory just by running. Important! Changes made via this dialog will not take effect until After Effects has been restarted GridIron Software Inc. Page 24

25 Purchasing or Activating a Nucleo Pro License The free trial version of Nucleo Pro you download from GridIron will watermark (place a red X on) the results of your previews and renders until your license is activated. This version can not be activated. In order to get a fully functional version of Nucleo Pro you must purchase a license from our website. Once you have a license, a download is made available from your account. None of the Nucleo Pro features will be available until this version is activated. You can Purchase and Activate a Nucleo Pro license by selecting the Licensing- >Purchase or Licensing->Activate menu from Nucleo Pro control menu. If you use an HTTP proxy for outside internet access you can set your proxy settings using the Licensing->HTTP Proxy Settings menu. Ask your network administrator or Internet Service Provider (ISP) if you are unsure about proxy settings. Nucleo Pro licenses can not be shared among workstations as the license is tied to the machine on which it is activated. If you have more than one workstation in your studio you must license Nucleo Pro on each workstation separately. Please refer to the Licensing section of this document for more details of purchasing and activating a license GridIron Software Inc. Page 25

26 Getting Nucleo Pro Software Updates Each time After Effects is started Nucleo Pro determines if a newer version of the Nucleo Pro software exists. If an update is available the Nucleo Pro Status icon will display a pop-up message. To get the software update either click on the displayed pop-up message or right-click (click on Mac) on the status icon and select Get Latest Updates from the control menu. Selecting this option will open your default web browser to the GridIron Nucleo Pro download site in the trial version. In a licensed version of Nucleo Pro, clicking this link will open the default browser to GridIronSoftware.com log-in site. No personal information of any kind is communicated during this check. Nucleo Pro Version Information To determine the version of Nucleo Pro that is installed on your computer simply: 1. Right-click (click on Mac) the status icon to display the control menu, 2. Select the About Nucleo Pro option. Nucleo Pro About Box 2010 GridIron Software Inc. Page 26

27 Feature Interactions Nucleo Pro operates only one feature at a time. This allows every feature to make full use of the available CPU and RAM. If there is a feature running and you request another feature to run, you will be asked if you want to terminate the original. For instance if you are running a commit to disk and decide to initiate a background render, Nucleo Pro will display a warning as shown below. Operation Interruption Warning A similar warning will be presented any time one feature attempts to interrupt another. Spec Preview and Spec Render are exceptions to this rule. Spec operations will: 1. Automatically get interrupted to allow other features to run. 2. Automatically restart once the interrupting feature completes or is stopped. Spec Preview can be interrupted by Spec Render, and vice versa but only one will ever be active at any time. If you enable Spec Preview while another operation is progress, the Nucleo Pro Spec Preview menu item will show an adjacent checkmark, but the preview will not be initiated until the current operation completes or is stopped GridIron Software Inc. Page 27

28 Fast Preview Nucleo Pro supports the emulation of After Effects RAM, Shift RAM, and Standard (spacebar) previews. For current Nucleo users a Nucleo Pro Fast Preview is synonymous to a Nucleo Preview. Nucleo Pro does not does change the way After Effects normally renders frames. It simply renders a subset of the frames in the background using the extra CPU resources available on your multi-processor or multi-core computer. The level of performance gain realized using Nucleo Pro may vary. It will depend on the effects used and complexity of the composition being previewed. Using After Effects Previews If you start regular After Effects previews using either menus (under Composition--> Previews) or keyboard short-cuts (the 0 key or the spacebar) Nucleo Pro will not be used. Starting/Stopping Nucleo Pro Fast Previews You can use Nucleo Pro to process your preview with as few as three simple steps: 1. Like a regular After Effects preview choose the area of your composition that you want to preview. 2. Enable Nucleo Pro if it is Disabled and wait until the Nucleo Pro Status icon indicates Nucleo Pro is Ready. 3. (Optional) Select the type of preview you want Nucleo Pro to emulate using the Fast Preview Options submenu of the control menu. The default is to emulate Standard (spacebar) preview. 4. Initiate the preview by using the Nucleo Pro - Fast Preview item under the After Effects Composition menu OR the Shift+Spacebar keyboard short-cut. Once the preview has been started, the status icon will flash green as the Nucleo Pro renders frames using the background After Effects processes GridIron Software Inc. Page 28

29 Using the After Effects Composition Menu Nucleo Pro provides a menu item under the After Effects Composition menu to start and stop your Fast Previews (see below). Fast Preview Item in the Composition Menu Using the Keyboard Short-cut When Nucleo Pro is loaded into After Effects for the first time, it attempts to add a new shift+spacebar keyboard short cut for After Effects. The next time you run After Effects, the added short cut is available for use. Holding down the shift key then pressing the spacebar can be used to start and stop Nucleo Pro Fast Previews. Note: If the act of inserting the short cut is unsuccessful you will be notified via a pop-up warning from the status Icon. If this happens you will have to use the menu item from the After Effects Composition menu as described in the previous section to start a Nucleo Pro fast preview GridIron Software Inc. Page 29

30 Selecting your Fast Preview Behavior Nucleo Pro allows you to select the type of After Effects preview to emulate when you use the Nucleo Pro Fast Preview. To select the preview behavior: 1. Right click (click on Mac OS X) the status icon to display the control menu, 2. Open the Fast Preview Options submenu and make a selection. Fast Preview Options Menu The default setting for this option is to emulate Standard (spacebar) preview. If the Move Play-head (slower) option is selected, during fast previews Nucleo Pro will advance the play-head in the AE timeline. Due to the negative impact on performance, this option is OFF by default. Note: this feature is available for Mac OS X only. After Effects on Windows does not allow third party applications, like Nucleo Pro, to use this feature. What is the difference between preview behaviors? After Effects offers many ways to preview a composition, the main ones are: 1. Standard (or spacebar) preview 2. RAM Preview 3. Shift RAM Preview 2010 GridIron Software Inc. Page 30

31 The table below describes the preview methods and how Nucleo Pro Fast Preview emulates them: Preview Type Standard Preview RAM Preview Shift-RAM Preview After Effect Behavior 1. Starts play-head in the timeline. 2. Starts from current playhead location. 3. Displays current frame in viewer window. 4. Fills in green line. 5. Displays current frame in the info section of viewer window. 6. Will write frame data to disk cache (if enabled) when RAM has been exhausted. 1. Does not start the playhead in the timeline 2. Displays current frame in the viewer window. 3. Fills in the green line 4. Stops when RAM is exhausted. 5. Loops over previewed frames in accordance with the Loop setting the Time Controls palette. 6. Honors all settings specified in the Time Controls palette. Same as RAM preview, but honors the Shift-RAM preview settings of the Time Controls palette. Nucleo Pro Emulation Behavior 1. Starts the play-head in the timeline. 2. Starts from beginning of Work Space. 3. Does not display current frame in viewer window. 4. Fills in green line. 5. Does not display current frame in the info section of the viewer window. 6. Will write frame data to disk cache (if enabled) when RAM has been exhausted. 1. Does not start the playhead in the timeline 2. Does not display current frame in the viewer window. 3. Fills in the green line 4. Stops when RAM is exhausted. 5. Loops over previewed frames in accordance with the Loop setting the Time Controls palette. 6. Honors the Skip frame, and Loop settings specified in the Time Controls palette. Same as Nucleo Pro emulation of RAM preview except it honors the Skip frame and Loop settings of the Shift-RAM preview settings in the Time Controls palette GridIron Software Inc. Page 31

32 Tracking Preview Status To assist in the tracking of previews, Nucleo Pro uses a pop-up based progress bar to indicate the status of each preview. You can dismiss the pop-up window at any time during the preview by clicking the X in the upper right hand corner of the window. To restore the progress pop-up, select the Window- >Last Status option from Nucleo Pro control menu. Known Issues and Limitations Please refer to the README file provided with any of release of Nucleo Pro. The README will indicate the current set of known issues. The README file can be found under the GridIron Nucleo folder within your After Effects plug-ins directory. Although Nucleo Pro supports most Preview features and settings there are a few exceptions. These exceptions exist since Nucleo Pro is a plug-in to After Effects and as such does not have access to the all the features After Effects provides. Unsupported items include: Temporally Dependent Plug-ins Nucleo Pro does not support the use of temporally dependent plug-ins. Temporally dependent plug-ins require the results of a previous frame to render the current frame. Your fast preview will succeed if you are using this type of plug-in however the frames will be rendered without the aid of Nucleo Pro and therefore no performance gain will be realized. Please refer to the Nucleo Pro Performance section of this document for more details. Camera Nucleo Pro will only preview frames for the Active Camera. You must have the Active Camera selected to see the timeline being updated. Your Nucleo Pro fast preview will still continue if the Active Camera is not selected, but you must select the Active Camera to see the updated green line. Region of Interest Nucleo Pro only renders entire frames and does not support Region of Interest. Your Nucleo Pro fast preview will still continue if the Region of Interest is selected, but you must disable Region of Interest to see the updated green line GridIron Software Inc. Page 32

33 Troubleshooting The status icon will display a pop-up message if a problem occurs during a Nucleo Pro operation. Clicking on the pop-up message will display the Nucleo Pro session history. In the session history, problem entries are highlighted (red for errors, yellow for warnings) and contain a hyper-link to the Nucleo Pro support web site where more detailed information and troubleshooting assistance is available GridIron Software Inc. Page 33

34 Fast Render Nucleo Pro provides the ability to optimize the rendering of items on the After Effects Render Queue. For existing Nucleo users a Fast Render is synonymous with a Nucleo Render. The level of performance gain realized using Nucleo Pro may vary. It will depend on the effects used and complexity of the composition being rendered. Starting a Nucleo Pro Fast Render To use Nucleo Pro Fast Render to process the items in your render queue, simply use the following steps: 1. Add items to the After Effects Render Queue. 2. Set your Render Settings and Output Module settings as normal. 3. Start your Fast Render by clicking on the Render button in the After Effects render queue or by selecting Nucleo Pro - Fast Render under After Effects Composition menu. Nucleo Pro - Fast Render Item in Composition Menu If you do not want to use Nucleo Pro for your renders you can: 1. Disable Nucleo Pro (using the Disable menu from the control menu) GridIron Software Inc. Page 34

35 2. Re-assign the behavior of the render button Render Options menu of the Nucleo Pro control menu in the status icon. When you start a fast render using Nucleo Pro, a back-up copy of your project file is saved in a folder called Nucleo Backups under the same folder as your project file. Since Nucleo Pro has to save the project file at the end of a render (in order to update render queue status), the back-up file ensures you can reverse any changes made to the project during a render (such as the effects of import and replace post render actions). Nucleo Pro will inform you of the back-up location with the following reminder window at the start of each render (unless the don t show this again option has been selected). Fast Render Project Backup Dialog When a Nucleo Pro fast render is started a dialog box appears indicating that the render has begun. Pressing the Stop button will terminate the render and leave any un-rendered items in queued state. Tracking Fast Render Status Nucleo Pro performs all rendering activity using background After Effects processes. This allows for the manipulation of the render queue items without affecting the view in the main After Effects Render Queue window. Since all activity related to rendering occurs in the background, status is limited in the main After Effect Render Queue window. To assist in the tracking of render status, Nucleo Pro sets the state of the appropriate render queue items to Rendering and uses a pop-up based 2010 GridIron Software Inc. Page 35

36 progress bar to indicate the status of each render queue item. You can dismiss the pop-up window at any time during the preview by clicking the X in the upper right hand corner of the window. To restore the progress pop-up, select Window->Last Status from the Nucleo Pro control menu. Stopping a Nucleo Pro Fast Render To stop a Nucleo Pro fast render click on the Stop button on the Nucleo Pro Fast Render dialog box. Fast Render Stop Dialog Known Issues and Limitations Please refer to the README file provided with any of release of Nucleo Pro. The README will indicate the current set of known issues and issues that have been resolved. The README file can found under the GridIron Nucleo folder within your After Effects plug-ins directory. Although Nucleo Pro supports most After Render Queue features and settings there are a few exceptions. These exceptions exist since Nucleo Pro is a plug-in to After Effects and as such does not have access to the all the features After Effects provides. Pausing a Nucleo Pro Fast Render Since all render activities are performed by background After Effects processes, there is no way for the user to modify the render queue after the render has been initiated unless the render is stopped and restarted GridIron Software Inc. Page 36

37 For this reason, Nucleo Pro does not offer the pause/resume functionality because no changes could be introduced to the render queue even in a paused state. Temporally Dependent Plug-ins Nucleo Pro does not support the use of temporally dependent plug-ins. These plug-ins require the results of a previous frame to render the current frame. Your render will succeed if you are using such a plug-in; however the frames will be rendered without the aid of Nucleo Pro and therefore no performance gain will be realized. Please refer to the Nucleo Pro Performance section of this document for more details. Troubleshooting The status icon will display a pop-up message if a problem occurs during a Nucleo Pro Fast Render. Clicking on the pop-up message will display the session history. In the session history, problem entries are highlighted (red for errors, yellow for warnings) and contain a hyper-link to the Nucleo Pro support web site where more detailed information and troubleshooting assistance is available GridIron Software Inc. Page 37

38 Background Render Nucleo Pro provides the ability to render items on your After Effects Render Queue in the background while you continue to work in After Effects. Starting a Nucleo Pro Background Render To use Nucleo Pro Background Render to process the items in your render queue, simply use the following steps: 1. Add items to the After Effects Render Queue. 2. Set your Render Settings and Output Module settings as normal. 3. Start your Background Render by selecting Nucleo Pro - Background Render under After Effects Composition menu (or if Nucleo Pro Background Render is selected in the Render Options of the status icon, you can just hit the AE render button.) Nucleo Pro Background Render Item in Composition Menu 2010 GridIron Software Inc. Page 38

39 Render Options Menu Background Render Life Cycle When you initiate a background render the queued items of the After Effects render queue go through the following life cycle: 1. The queued items on the After Effects render queue are copied to the background render queue and are then set to Unqueued. 2. The background render queue is displayed showing all items to be rendered. 3. The first item on the background render queue immediately starts rendering. 4. When an item is finished rendering it is moved to background render queue history. (See the Background Render Queue History section for more details). 5. The next item on the background render queue is then rendered. 6. When all items in the background render queue have been rendered you will be notified by the Nucleo Pro status icon via a pop-up window. Adding Compositions to the Background Render Queue At any time you can append new items onto the background render queue. You can add more items from the current project you are working on or items from a different project. For the current project simply add new queued items onto the After Effects render queue and click on the Nucleo Pro-Background Render menu in the After Effects composition menu. Or just click the Render button in the AE render queue if the Render Options have been set to background render in the Nucleo Pro status icon. Queuing Compositions from Other Projects You can add render items for a different After Effects project at any time. Simply open the new project, add the appropriate compositions to the After Effect Render Queue, configure the render settings and output settings, then click on the Nucleo Pro Background Render menu to append the queued items for this project onto the Background Render Queue. Or just click the Render button in the AE render queue if the Render Options have been set to background render in the Nucleo Pro status icon GridIron Software Inc. Page 39

40 Background Render Queue The Background Render Queue window allows you to control and view the status of your background renders. Background Render Queue Window Opening the Background Render Queue The background render queue GUI can be is opened in one of two ways: 1. When you have queued items on the After Effects render queue and select Composition->Nucleo Pro Background Render from the After Effects main menu. The background render queue will open automatically to display the render queue items that have been added to it. 2. Click (right-click on Windows) on the Nucleo Pro status icon and select Window- >Background Render Queue from the drop-down menu GridIron Software Inc. Page 40

41 Render Status and Control The background render queue has three main panels. 1. Render Status and Control 2. Render Item Details 3. Queued Items Viewing Background Render Status The top section of the background render queue displays the status of the currently rendering item. It indicates the composition name and project being rendered, the percentage complete progress of the render, the estimated time remaining and the elapsed time for rendering the active item. Stopping a Background Render Using the Stop button you can stop the render of the current item. If you stop the render of an item you must re-add the item back onto the background render queue to render it again. When re-queued, the item will added at the bottom of the list of queued items. If you have stopped a background render and have other items on the queue, you can click on the Render button to start background rendering the next item. Pausing and Resuming a Background Render To pause a background render click on the Pause button in the background render queue. To restart a paused background render click on the Continue button. The background render will continue rendering the item that was paused. Render Item Details The Render Item Details section is the middle section of the background render queue Window and allows you to view the Render Settings and Output Module Settings for the currently selected item. The following items can be selected: 1. Click on the Status and Control panel to see the render details of the currently rendering item. 2. Click on a queued item to see its details 3. Click on an item in the History window to see its details. The History window is explained later in this section. Queued Items The lower section of the background render queue contains a list of the items waiting to be rendered. These items are rendered in the order they appear in the list GridIron Software Inc. Page 41

42 Prioritizing Render Queue Items At any time you can change the order that items will be rendered by dragging an item higher or lower in the queued items list. This allows you to raise or lower the render priority of any item. If you need to have an item rendered immediately you must stop the current item being rendered, move the required item to the top of queued items list and then start the background render again. Background Rendering of 3D Projects Nucleo Pro 3 allows you to put more than After Effects projects on your background render queue. Simply drag and drop projects from the 3D application listed below and Nucleo Pro will manage the renders in the background while you work. Supported 3D Applications Nucleo Pro 3 supports the following 3D applications and versions: Application Minimum Version Platforms Maxon Cinema 4D 9.6, 10 Windows Mac OS X ( ) Autodesk 3ds Max 9 Vista (32 and 64 bit) Windows XP Pro 32 bit (SP2) Windows XP Pro x64 Autodesk Maya 8.5 Windows XP Pro 32 bit (SP2) Windows XP Pro x64 Mac OS X ( ) Apple Shake 4.1 Mac OS X ( ) Softimage XSI 6.01 Windows XP Pro 32 bit (SP2) Windows XP Pro x64 NewTek Lightwave 9.2 Windows XP Pro 32 bit (SP2) Window XP Pro x64 Mac OS X ( ) 2010 GridIron Software Inc. Page 42

43 Starting a 3D Background Render To start rendering a project from any of the supported 3D applications you can: Drag and drop a project file from the finder/explorer onto the Background Render Queue. Select Add Render Job from the File menu of the Background Render Queue and select the project file. Click the Add Job button in the lower left corner of the Background Render Queue window and select the project file. Having performed either of the above actions, you will be presented with the external render dialog window. This dialog (Cinema 4D example shown below) allows you to configure the render job to your liking. When you have completed the configuration just hit the Add Job button to have the new item added to the queue. Add 3D Render Job Window (C4D) Trouble Shooting Nucleo Pro makes every effort to automatically discover the installed location of your 3D applications. If you find that Nucleo Pro complains about the format not being support, it can often be related to being unable to locate the application associated with the project GridIron Software Inc. Page 43

44 In these situations you can tell Nucleo Pro where to look for the application using the Nucleo Support Tool. Launch the Support Tool from the Window menu of status icon control menu and select the 3D Renderers option as shown below. From this tool you can specify the location of the application by setting Executable field to Specify and entering the full path to the applicationin the Path field. Once you have completed the configuration hit the Apply button and restart After Effects if it was running GridIron Software Inc. Page 44

45 Background Render Queue History When the background rendering of item is completed, that item is moved from the render queue into the background render history. Opening the Background Render History To view the background render history click on the Show History button located at the bottom left corner of the Background Render Queue window. Background Render Queue History Window The render queue history window lists previously rendered compositions. The history window presents the following information: 1. The composition that was rendered. 2. The project that contained that composition. 3. The final status of the render. 4. The start data and time of the render 5. The time required to render the composition. Selecting an item in the history window will present all of the render settings and output module settings details in the Background Render Queue window GridIron Software Inc. Page 45

46 Removing Items from the History To remove a render item from the history, simply highlight the item (or items using shift+click) by clicking, then press the Remove button. Caution! Once removed, the data associated with these render items is destroyed and can not be recovered. Sending Rendered Items Back to the Original AE Project It is often useful to keep the render information for a composition associated with the project. Typically this is done by leaving rendered items on the After Effects render queue. When the Background Render Queue is used, the items that were originally created on the AE render queue may or may not be saved when the project is closed. Those AE render queue items are not updated (with render times etc.) when the background render completes, so if maintaining that render information is important to you you can import completed render information back into the AE render queue of the project from which they came. To import a completed background render into its AE render queue, select an item from the history and press the Send to AE button. Caution! Sending items from the history back into AE causes those entries to be permanently removed from the Background Render Queue history. Post Render Actions When rendering projects in the background, Nucleo Pro uses backup copies of the AE project file to work from. Therefore any post render action that has been specified will be honored, but applied to the backup copy that Nucleo Pro is using NOT the copy of the project being used in the main After Effects window. This allows the background render queue to realize any performance gain that may be accomplished through using post render actions, however, the original project files will not see the effects of a post render action. Known Issues and Limitations Please refer to the README file provided with any of release of Nucleo Pro. The README will indicate the current set of known issues and issues that have been resolved. The README file can found under the GridIron Nucleo folder within your After Effects plug-ins directory. Although Nucleo Pro supports most After Render Queue features and settings there are a few exceptions. These exceptions exist since Nucleo Pro is a plug-in to After Effects and as such does not have access to the all the features After Effects provides GridIron Software Inc. Page 46

47 Temporally Dependent Plug-ins Nucleo Pro does not support the use of temporally dependent plug-ins. These plug-ins require the results of a previous frame to render the current frame. Your render will succeed if you are using such a plug-in; however the frames will be rendered without the aid of Nucleo Pro and therefore no performance gain will be realized. Please refer to the Nucleo Pro Performance section of this document for more details. Troubleshooting The status icon will display a pop-up message if a problem occurs during a Nucleo Pro Background Render. Clicking on the pop-up message will display the session history. In the session history, problem entries are highlighted (red for errors, yellow for warnings) and contain a hyper-link to the Nucleo Pro support web site where more detailed information and troubleshooting assistance is available GridIron Software Inc. Page 47

48 Spec Preview Spec Preview (a.k.a. Speculative Preview) can best be described as a continuous, opportunistic, and automatic RAM Preview. The feature - when enabled - will start rendering the frames of your composition in the background while you work. As rendered frames are available, they are used to fill in your After Effects RAM cache (that is, the green line in your timeline window). It will continue to do so until your RAM has been exhausted (like RAM Preview) or until told to stop. How It Works Spec Preview is continuously scanning your composition s timeline looking for frames that need rendering. When it finds one, that frame gets rendered and submitted to the green line as a frame that is ready for viewing. As you make changes, sections of your composition s RAM cache will become invalidated (meaning the frames need to be rerendered). Spec Preview will automatically detect the modifications and re-render only the necessary frames. Enabling and Disabling Spec Preview To activate the Spec Preview feature you select the Nucleo Pro Spec Preview option from the After Effects Composition menu (you can also use the keyboard shortcut associated with the menu item.) This menu item acts a toggle switch for the feature, you use the same menu or key stroke to both enable and disable it. By default Spec Preview is disabled. When enabled, the Spec Preview item in the Composition menu will have a small checkmark to the left of the item label. This checkmark disappears when the feature is disabled. The presence of the checkmark provides an easy way to determine whether Spec Preview is on or off for a particular composition. Spec Preview is a per-composition feature this means that you must enable it for any composition you wish to use it on. However, once you ve enabled or disabled Spec Preview for a comp, the setting will be remembered the next time you open that project. This saves you from having to manually reset your Spec Preview preferences each time you open a project GridIron Software Inc. Page 48

49 Configuring Spec Preview Spec Preview operates on a specific composition at the resolution selected in After Effects. Further configuration of the Spec Preview is done using the Nucleo Pro Settings item accessible from the After Effect Composition menu. Upon selecting the menu item you will see the following dialog. Nucleo Pro Project Settings Window Compositions listed in this dialog will indicate whether Spec Preview is enabled via the value shown in the Spec Mode column. To configure Spec Preview for any given composition, simply click the Settings button adjacent the composition and the following dialog will appear GridIron Software Inc. Page 49

50 Nucleo Pro Composition Settings Window The Composition Settings dialog box allows you to store per-composition preference settings for Spec Preview. Each composition that has Spec Preview applied can be uniquely configured. So what do all those settings mean? Essentially there are only 3 things to configure: 1. What frame range to speculate over. 2. Where to start speculating. 3. The order in which frames are placed in the RAM cache (i.e. the green line). The first three options in the settings dialog above allow you to decide what range to operate for this composition. You can choose the Work Area, the entire Timeline, or a custom frame range. The Start render from current time check box is on by default and simply means that rendering will start at the position of the Current Time Indicator (CTI) at the instant the feature is enabled. If you want the frames to be rendered starting at the beginning of the composition, you simply uncheck this box. Spec Preview with Start from Current Time Indicator enabled 2010 GridIron Software Inc. Page 50

51 The Render around current time indicator check box is off by default but allows you to change the order in which frames are rendered. By default, Spec Preview will render frames sequentially (i.e. frame 1, then 2, then 3, and so on ) starting from the current time indicator and extending left to right. Spec Preview with Render around Current Time Indicator enabled By checking this checkbox, frames will be rendered in a cluster starting from the current time indicator and expanding outwards in both directions. For instance, if the CTI is at frame 10, Spec Preview render frames as follows: 10, 9, 11, 8, 12, 7, 13, 6, 14, and so on. Tracking Status When Spec Preview detects that frames need to be rendered, it presents a popup window as shown. This window shows the progress of the Spec Preview in terms of the number of frames that need to be re-rendered. Status popup windows can be closed by clicking the X in the upper right corner. If you do not wish see the popup windows at all, they can be disabled from the Nucleo Pro status icon. However, even with status disabled you can always get the status of your preview by selecting Show Status from the Window submenu of the status icon or by hovering over the status icon itself. Stopping Spec Preview To stop a Spec Preview you must disable it by selecting the Nucleo Pro Spec Preview menu item from the Composition menu of AE. This will set the menu item to unchecked indicating that the feature is disabled. Using the Nucleo Pro Stop menu item will not stop any Spec operation (Preview or Render). Spec operations are special cases, there are meant to be running continuously so to stop them they must be disabled GridIron Software Inc. Page 51

52 Caching Preview Frames on Disk Nucleo Pro s Spec Preview feature allows for a persistent frame cache in After Effects. This allows you to have preview frames instantly loaded into the AE RAM cache (green line) when a project loads. Enabling and Disabling Persistent Frame Caching Persistent frame cache settings are stored per-project. If a project has frame caching enabled, it is enabled for all composition in the project that have Spec Preview applied. To enable or disable frame caching, simply select the Nucleo Pro Project Settings item from the AE File menu and click the Enable cache file creation for Spec Preview button in the following dialog. Nucleo Pro Project Settings Window Changing Your Project Cache Location If you need to change the cache location (for space or performance reasons), you can select a new location using the Nucleo Pro Project Settings dialog shown above. Simply click the Browse button to select a new location GridIron Software Inc. Page 52

53 If you have any existing cache files associated with the project you will be asked what you want to do with those files. Cache Location Change Dialog Your options are to: 1. Keep the files but move the files to the new location ( Migrate ) 2. Delete them and allow the cache data to be re-generated. Managing Cache Files With caching enabled, Nucleo Pro could be generating a lot of files and consuming a lot of disk space. To help manage the data generated from frame caching, Nucleo Pro includes the Cache Manager tool. This tool organizes cache data on a per-project basis and allows you to: 1. Monitor the disk space occupied by caches. 2. Move caches around. 3. Remove caches from the disk. For more detailed information on cache management please refer to the Cache Management Tool section of this guide. Known Issues and Limitations Please refer to the README file provided with any of release of Nucleo Pro. The README will indicate the current set of known issues. The README file can be found under the GridIron Nucleo folder within your After Effects plug-ins directory. Although Nucleo Pro supports most Preview features and settings there are a few exceptions. These exceptions exist since Nucleo Pro is a plug-in to After Effects and as such does not have access to the all the features After Effects provides GridIron Software Inc. Page 53

54 Temporally Dependent Plug-ins Nucleo Pro does not support the use of temporally dependent plug-ins. Temporally dependent plug-ins require the results of a previous frame to render the current frame. Your fast preview will succeed if you are using this type of plug-in however the frames will be rendered without the aid of Nucleo Pro and therefore no performance gain will be realized. Please refer to the Nucleo Pro Performance section of this document for more details. Camera Nucleo Pro will only preview frames for the Active Camera. You must have the Active Camera selected to see the timeline being updated. Your Spec Preview will still continue if the Active Camera is not selected, but you must select the Active Camera to see the updated green line. Region of Interest Nucleo Pro only renders entire frames and does not support Region of Interest. Your Spec Preview will still continue if the Region of Interest is selected, but you must disable Region of Interest to see the updated green line. Troubleshooting The status icon will display a pop-up message if a problem occurs during a Nucleo Pro operation. Clicking on the pop-up message will display the Nucleo Pro session history. In the session history, problem entries are highlighted (red for errors, yellow for warnings) and contain a hyper-link to the Nucleo Pro support web site where more detailed information and troubleshooting assistance is available GridIron Software Inc. Page 54

55 Spec Render When enabled Spec Render (a.k.a. Speculative Render) will start rendering the frames of your composition in the background while you work. The final rendered file will be placed wherever you instruct Nucleo Pro to put it. How It Works Spec Render is continuously scanning your composition s timeline looking for frames that need rendering. When it finds one, that frame gets rendered and written to disk as a single frame. As you make changes, sections of your composition will become invalidated (meaning the frames need to be re-rendered). Spec Render will automatically detect the modifications and re-render only the necessary frames. Once all frames have created, Spec Render quickly generates the final output using the pre-rendered frame files. Spec Render uses two (2) phases to generate the final output. The first phase performs a sequence render to a sequence of Photoshop files that act as the persistent frame cache for the composition. As you work to build up the composition, Spec Render will be continuously regenerating the sequence of cache files until an opportune time to generate the final movie presents itself. The second phase of Spec Render uses the cache files generated from the first phase to create the final output in the format that you specified. Enabling and Disabling Spec Render To activate the Spec Render feature you select the Nucleo Pro Spec Render option from the After Effects Composition menu (you can also use the keyboard shortcut associated with the menu item.) This menu item acts a toggle switch for the feature, you use the same menu or key stoke to both enable and disable it. Selecting the menu item presents the following dialog where the render settings and output settings are specified. Spec Render Configuration Window 2010 GridIron Software Inc. Page 55

56 Once started using the dialog shown above, Spec Render is enabled on the composition until your project is closed, at which time the feature is turned off. Using Settings Templates Spec Render operates using templates for both Render Settings and Output Module Settings. You can modify or create new templates for Render or Output Module settings by selecting the appropriate menu from the Edit->Templates menu in After Effects. Important! If you modify or add new templates, you must disable and re-enable Nucleo Pro before starting either a Spec Render or Commit to Disk operation. This is required to ensure that all background processes are made aware of the template modifications. Failure to restart Nucleo Pro will result in erroneous render results. Tracking Status When Spec Render detects that frames need to be rendered, it presents a popup window as shown. This window shows the progress of the Spec Render in terms of the number of frames that need to be re-rendered. Spec Render operates using two passes. This is reflected in the status dialog as follows: 1. The first 50% of the status represents the progress in creating the intermediate frame cache files. This means that when the status reaches 50% - all of the caches files have created. 2. The last 50% of status represents the progress in creation of the final output file. When the status reaches 100% the render file has been created in the specified location. You can dismiss the pop-up window at any time during the render by clicking the X in the upper right hand corner of the window. To restore the progress pop-up, select Window->Show Status from the Nucleo Pro control menu. Stopping Spec Render To stop a Spec Render you must disable it by selecting the Nucleo Pro Spec Render menu item from the Composition menu of AE. This will set the menu item to unchecked indicating that the feature is disabled. Using the Nucleo Pro Stop menu item will not stop any Spec operation (Preview or Render). Spec operations are special cases, there are meant to be running continuously so to stop them they must be disabled GridIron Software Inc. Page 56

57 Caching Render Frames on Disk The Spec Render feature creates intermediate frame caches files on disk. These files are kept as part of the persistent cache data for a composition. This allows you to have rendered frames re-used when a composition is Spec Rendered at a later date. Changing Your Project Cache Location If you need to change the cache location (for space or performance reasons), you can select a new location using the Nucleo Pro Project Settings dialog below. Simply click the Browse button to select a new location. Nucleo Pro Project Settings Window If you have any existing cache files associated with the project you will be asked what you want to do with those files GridIron Software Inc. Page 57

58 Cache Location Change Dialog Your options are to: 1. Delete them and allow the cache data to be re-generated. 2. Keep the files but move the files to the new location ( Migrate ) 2010 GridIron Software Inc. Page 58

59 Managing Cache Files With caching enabled, Nucleo Pro could be generating a lot of files and consuming a lot of disk space. To help manage the data generated from frame caching, Nucleo Pro includes the Cache Management Tool. This tool organizing cache data on a per-project basis and allows you to: 1. Monitor the disk space occupied by caches. 2. Move caches around. 3. Remove caches from the disk. For more detailed information on cache management please refer to the Cache Management Tool section of this guide. Known Issues and Limitations Please refer to the README file provided with any of release of Nucleo Pro. The README will indicate the current set of known issues and issues that have been resolved. The README file can found under the GridIron Nucleo folder within your After Effects plug-ins directory. Although Nucleo Pro supports most After Render Queue features and settings there are a few exceptions. These exceptions exist since Nucleo Pro is a plug-in to After Effects and as such does not have access to the all the features After Effects provides. Temporally Dependent Plug-ins Nucleo Pro does not support the use of temporally dependent plug-ins. These plug-ins require the results of a previous frame to render the current frame. Your render will succeed if you are using such a plug-in; however the frames will be rendered without the aid of Nucleo Pro and therefore no performance gain will be realized. Please refer to the Nucleo Pro Performance section of this document for more details. Troubleshooting The status icon will display a pop-up message if a problem occurs during a Nucleo Pro Fast Render. Clicking on the pop-up message will display the session history. In the session history, problem entries are highlighted (red for errors, yellow for warnings) and contain a hyper-link to the Nucleo Pro support web site where more detailed information and troubleshooting assistance is available GridIron Software Inc. Page 59

60 Commit To Disk If you have layers in your timeline that are complete but are costing you time when previewing, Nucleo Pro provides the ability to commit those layers to disk. This allows you to convert a contiguous set of layers to a rendered movie or image sequence and have that output added back into the composition as footage layer which replaces the selected layers. This operation occurs in the background while you continue to have responsive control of After Effects. The render area ranges from the first frame of the earliest layer in the timeline to the last frame of the latest layer in the timeline. Starting Commit to Disk To start a commit to disk, simply select the layers then choose the Nucleo Pro Commit to Disk menu item from AE s Composition menu. After doing so you are prompted with the following dialog. Commit to Disk Configuration Window Once initiated, a new placeholder layer is added to the composition. This layer is called Commit in Progress. DO NOT DELETE this layer before the commit operation has completed. When the Commit to Disk render is complete, the selected layers in your composition are non-destructively replaced with the rendered footage item. The new footage layer is added above the first layer in the selected range. The original layers are made invisible, shy, and locked and a new footage item containing the rendered material will have been added to the project. Because your original layer are made into shy layers, you can use the Hide shy layers button in the composition Timeline window, to completely hide them from view (thus cleaning up the timeline considerably) GridIron Software Inc. Page 60

61 Using Settings Templates Commit to Disk operates using templates for both Render Settings and Output Module Settings. You can modify or create new templates for Render or Output Module settings by selecting the appropriate menu from the Edit->Templates menu in After Effects. Important! If you modify or add new templates, you must disable and re-enable Nucleo Pro before starting either a Commit to Disk or Spec Render operation. This is required to ensure that all background processes are made aware of the template modifications. Failure to restart Nucleo Pro will result in erroneous render results. Tracking Status Nucleo Pro performs all Commit to Disk rendering activity using background After Effects processes. This allows for you to continue working in After Effects while the commit progresses. Since all activity related to rendering occurs in the background, status is limited in the main After Effects window. To assist in the tracking of render status, Nucleo Pro uses a pop-up based progress bar to indicate the status of the Commit to Disk render item. You can dismiss the pop-up window at any time during the preview by clicking the X in the upper right hand corner of the window. To restore the progress pop-up, select Window->Last Status from the Nucleo Pro control menu. Stopping Commit to Disk To stop a Commit to Disk you must select the Nucleo Pro Stop item from AE s Composition menu. Stopping a commit to disk operation will remove the placeholder footage ( commit in progress ) layer, and unlock the selected layer group. Thus restoring your project to the state it was in before the commit to disk was started. Transfer Modes If transfer modes have been specified on layers within the set to be committed to disk, then those transfer modes are applied during the rendering process. The resulting footage layer which replaces the selected set will NOT have a transfer mode specified since they have already been rendered GridIron Software Inc. Page 61

62 Track Mattes If track mattes are being used on layer within the set selected for commit to disk, the Commit in Progress placeholder layer and the rendered footage layer will be placed below the last layer in the selected range. This is done to ensure that the new layer does not interfere with any defined track mattes. Known Issues and Limitations Please refer to the README file provided with any of release of Nucleo Pro. The README will indicate the current set of known issues and issues that have been resolved. The README file can found under the GridIron Nucleo folder within your After Effects plug-ins directory. Although Nucleo Pro supports most After Render Queue features and settings there are a few exceptions. These exceptions exist since Nucleo Pro is a plug-in to After Effects and as such does not have access to the all the features After Effects provides. Temporally Dependent Plug-ins Nucleo Pro does not support the use of temporally dependent plug-ins. These plug-ins require the results of a previous frame to render the current frame. Your render will succeed if you are using such a plug-in; however the frames will be rendered without the aid of Nucleo Pro and therefore no performance gain will be realized. Please refer to the Nucleo Pro Performance section of this document for more details. Troubleshooting The status icon will display a pop-up message if a problem occurs during a Nucleo Pro Fast Render. Clicking on the pop-up message will display the session history. In the session history, problem entries are highlighted (red for errors, yellow for warnings) and contain a hyper-link to the Nucleo Pro support web site where more detailed information and troubleshooting assistance is available GridIron Software Inc. Page 62

63 Pre-composition Proxies Pre-composition Proxies are new way of keeping your AE proxies cached and up to date. All you do is tag a composition for proxying and Nucleo Pro 3 will render it in the background and use the rendered output as the proxy. If you make changes to that composition, Nucleo Pro 3 will update the necessary frames and re-apply the proxy for you. How It Works With Pre-composition Proxies, Nucleo is continuously scanning any tagged composition s timeline looking for frames that need rendering. When it finds one, that frame gets rendered and written to disk as a single frame. As you make changes, sections of your composition will become invalidated (meaning the frames need to be rerendered). With Pre-composition Proxies enabled, Nucleo will automatically detect the modifications and re-render only the necessary frames. Once all frames have created, the proxy for the tagged composition is set to the image sequence that was just rendered in the background. Tagging a Composition for Proxying To mark a Composition for proxying you can: 1. Select the composition layers in your timeline and then select the "Nucleo Pro - Add Pre-comp Proxy" menu item from AE's Composition Menu. (You can also use the keyboard shortcut) OR 1. Select "Nucleo Pro - Settings" from the Composition menu. This will display the Nucleo Pro Settings dialog window. 2. Locate the appropriate composition(s) in the list and select "Precomp Proxy" from the Mode drop-down list. 3. Click OK to dismiss the dialog window. 4. Select "Nucleo Pro - Precomp Proxies" from the AE Composition menu to enable proxy processing. The menu item will gain a check mark when the proxy processing is enabled GridIron Software Inc. Page 63

64 Nucleo Pro Project Settings Window Enabling and Disabling Pre-composition Proxy To activate the Pre-composition Proxy feature you select the Nucleo Pro Precomp Proxy option from the After Effects Composition menu. This menu item acts a toggle switch for the feature, you use the same menu to both enable and disable it. The menu item will display a check mark indicating whether or not the feature is enabled. Configuring Pre-composition Proxies You can change the Render Settings and/or Output Module template used by any given composition with Pre-comp Proxy enabled. To do so, select Nucleo Pro Settings from the AE Composition menu. When the Nucleo Pro Project Settings windows appears, click the Settings button adjacent the composition. The following dialog will be shown GridIron Software Inc. Page 64

65 Pre-composition Proxy Setting Dialog Select the appropriate Render Settings or Output Module template from the drop down lists provided. Notice that you cannot select the output location for rendered proxy frames. These are directed to the Nucleo Pro cache directory. If you need proxy frames in a specific disk location, you need to change the cache directory associated with the project. This can be done from the Nucleo Pro Project Settings window. Using Templates Pre-composition Proxies operate using templates for both Render Settings and Output Module Settings. You can modify or create new templates for Render or Output Module settings by selecting the appropriate menu from the Edit->Templates menu in After Effects. Important! If you modify or add new templates, you must disable and re-enable Nucleo Pro before starting either a Spec Render or Commit to Disk operation. This is required to ensure that all background processes are made aware of the template modifications. Failure to restart Nucleo Pro will result in erroneous render results. Tracking Status Nucleo Pro 3 will present a pop-up status window with a progress bar to allow you to monitor the state of your proxy renders. Compositions will be rendered in the order that they appear in the Nucleo Pro Settings dialog. A new pop-up will appear for each composition rendered. You can dismiss the pop-up window at any time during the render by clicking the X in the upper right hand corner 2010 GridIron Software Inc. Page 65

66 of the window. To restore the progress pop-up, select Window->Show Status from the Nucleo Pro control menu. Stopping Pre-composition Proxy Render To stop the rendering of all proxied compositions, you can either set the Spec Mode for individual compositions in the Nucleo Pro Settings dialog, or disable Pre-comp Proxies by selecting the "Nucleo Pro - Pre-comp Proxies" item in the AE Composition menu ensuring that the check mark is off. Using the Nucleo Pro Stop menu item will not stop any Spec operation (Preview, Render, or Pre-composition Proxy). Spec operations are special cases, there are meant to be running continuously so to stop them they must be disabled. Caching Rendered Frames on Disk The Pre-composition Proxy feature creates frame caches files on disk. These files are kept as part of the persistent cache data for a composition. This allows you to have rendered frames re-used when a composition is proxied at a later date. Changing Your Project Cache Location If you need to change the cache location (for space or performance reasons), you can select a new location using the Nucleo Pro Project Settings dialog below above. Simply click the Browse button to select a new location. Nucleo Pro Project Settings Window 2010 GridIron Software Inc. Page 66

67 If you have any existing cache files associated with the project you will be asked what you want to do with those files. Cache Location Change Dialog Your options are to: 1. Keep the files but move the files to the new location ( Migrate ) 2. Delete them and allow the cache data to be re-generated. Managing Cache Files With caching enabled, Nucleo Pro could be generating a lot of files and consuming a lot of disk space. To help manage the data generated from frame caching, Nucleo Pro includes the Cache Management Tool. This tool organizing cache data on a per-project basis and allows you to: 1. Monitor the disk space occupied by caches. 2. Move caches around. 3. Remove caches from the disk. For more detailed information on cache management please refer to the Cache Management Tool section of this guide. Known Issues and Limitations Please refer to the README file provided with any of release of Nucleo Pro. The README will indicate the current set of known issues and issues that have been resolved. The README file can found under the GridIron Nucleo folder within your After Effects plug-ins directory. Although Nucleo Pro supports most After Render Queue features and settings there are a few exceptions. These exceptions exist since Nucleo Pro is a plug-in to After Effects and as such does not have access to the all the features After Effects provides GridIron Software Inc. Page 67

68 Temporally Dependent Plug-ins Nucleo Pro does not support the use of temporally dependent plug-ins. These plug-ins require the results of a previous frame to render the current frame. Your render will succeed if you are using such a plug-in; however the frames will be rendered without the aid of Nucleo Pro and therefore no performance gain will be realized. Please refer to the Nucleo Pro Performance section of this document for more details. Compositions flagged as 3D layers If a composition has been proxied (whether using Nucleo Pro or not) and it exists as a 3D layer in a parent composition, then you will not see the effects of lighting and camera changes applied in the parent composition. This is because the preview is simply reading the frame data for the layer from the rendered images on disk and not computing any associated 3D effects. Composition that Contain Audio If a composition has been proxied (whether using Nucleo Pro or not) and that composition contains audio, the sounds will not be played while the proxy is enabled. This is because proxies in AE are limited to video data only. Troubleshooting The status icon will display a pop-up message if a problem occurs during a Nucleo Pro Fast Render. Clicking on the pop-up message will display the session history. In the session history, problem entries are highlighted (red for errors, yellow for warnings) and contain a hyper-link to the Nucleo Pro support web site where more detailed information and troubleshooting assistance is available GridIron Software Inc. Page 68

69 Managing Cache Files What Are Cache Files? Cache files are on-disk representations of the frames created in After Effects. Nucleo Pro creates cache files during Spec Preview and Spec Render operations although the format of the files is different or each operation. Spec Previews cache files are created using an internal raw binary file format. Spec Render uses Photoshop (.psd) sequences as its cache file format. Both Spec Preview and Spec Render use cache files so that when areas of a composition s timeline are changed, only the modified frames will need to be rerendered. Spec Render, also uses its cache files as intermediate frame data which are used to create the final render. Nucleo Pro s cache files are persistent cache files. This means that they are left on the disk after the project has been closed or when AE is shutdown. They remain on the disk until removed using the Cache Manager tool. Because individual frames are stored on disk in this manner, it allows Nucleo Pro in the case of Spec Preview - to very quickly populate the AE RAM cache (i.e. green line in the timeline window) using pre-rendered frames read in from disk. It also allows a Spec Render to quickly regenerate a final output file because all of the render work associated with the frames is already done all that remains is the writing of the final output format which is a relatively fast operation. Creating Cache Files To create cache files for Spec Preview you must enable the cache file creation option using the Nucleo Pro Project Settings as shown below GridIron Software Inc. Page 69

70 Nucleo Pro Project Settings Windows For Spec Render, cache files are automatically created because they also serve as the intermediate frame data which is used to generate the final render. The Cache Manager Tool One can easily see how the Nucleo Pro disk caching could generate a lot of files and consume a lot of disk space. For this reason Nucleo Pro provides the Cache Manager tool (shown below) to allow for cache monitoring and cleanup. The Cache Manager provides the following functionality: 1. The ability to monitor and browse cache data. 2. The ability to delete caches. 3. The ability to change the cache location for a given project. 4. The ability to change the default cache settings for new projects GridIron Software Inc. Page 70

71 Cache Manager Window Viewing Cache Data Rather than point you at a directory structure, the Cache Manager organizes your cache data by AE project and composition name. This allows you to easily navigate the large amounts of cache data associated with both Spec Previews and Spec Renders. For each entry in the main section of the window, the Cache Manager summarizes the number of files in each cache and the amount of disk space occupied by those files. In addition, the last modified date and time is also provided. All of this information allows you to make decisions as to which caches should be kept and which should be cleaned up. Deleting Caches You can delete cache files for any combination of projects, compositions, or Spec Preview, Spec Render, or Precomp Proxy entries. You can delete a single entry by selecting the entry and: a. Clicking on the Delete button in tool bar b. Right clicking on the entry and selecting the Delete option from the menu. c. Hitting the delete key on the keyboard GridIron Software Inc. Page 71

72 To delete multiple entries, the Cache Manager supports multiple entry selection using either control-click or shift-click selection. You will be prompted to confirm the delete action. Once confirmed, the delete operation is final and can not be undone. Moving Caches If you decide that current cache location for a given project is not suitable (the disk is full, or not fast enough, etc.) you can use the Cache Manager to move the cache files associated with the project to a new location. Important! NEVER try to manually move your cache data. Nucleo uses a number of files in various locations to manage cache information and its association with an AE project. Trying to move it yourself will result in hair loss and stomach ulcers. To move the cache location for a project, select the project from the list and: a. Choose the File menu (in the Cache Manager not AE) and select Move cache to new location. b. Right click on the project and select Move cache to new location from the popup menu. You will be asked to navigate to the new directory. Once a new location is selected, Nucleo Pro will begin moving the cache data GridIron Software Inc. Page 72

73 Cache Settings From the Cache Manager you can change the default cache settings used by Nucleo Pro on new AE projects. Default Cache Settings Dialog The Default Cache Location The Root location for cache files settings allow you to choose an alternate location for disk cache data. Important! Changes made to the root cache location using the dialog above will apply only to AE projects for which no cache data already exists. If you need to change the location of cache files for a project, you can do so using the Move cache to new location command available in the Cache Manager. Likewise, if you have already modified the cache location for a project using the Nucleo Pro Projects Settings from the AE File menu, then changing the default cache root location will not automatically move cache files associated with the project, nor will it change the cache location already specified in those project settings. This setting will be used for any AE project that subsequently generates cache frames GridIron Software Inc. Page 73

74 Maximum Cache Size By default Nucleo Pro limits the amount of disk cache data to 20 gigabytes (20,000 megabytes). You can modify this limit by typing the appropriate numeric value (in MB) in the text field, or by using the spinner controls to the right of the text field. If you do not require a limit on amount of disk space that Nucleo Pro can consume, you can disable the limit by selecting the Unlimited max. cache size check box. Exceeding the Cache Size Limit At the start of Spec Preview and Spec Render operations, each will check the current disk space used for cache data and attempt to predict how much cache data the ensuing operation will generate. If the Maximum cache size is expected to be exceeded, then you will be presented with the following warning dialog. This dialog provides the following options: 1. Ignore cache limit for this session of AE All cache checking will be ignored until After Effects is restarted. 2. Disable cache limit checking Permanently disables cache checking. (Effectively setting the Maximum Cache Size to unlimited.) 3. Launch Cache Manager for manual cleanup. Starts the Cache Manager tool to allow you to cleanup the appropriate project cache data. Enabling Cache File Creation This setting is only applicable to Spec Preview. By default cache file creation for Spec Preview is off in Nucleo Pro. To enable disk caching for all subsequent uses of Spec Preview you can check this box. All compositions that have already had Spec Preview applied will not be modified to enable disk caching. For those compositions, disk caching must be enabled using the Nucleo Pro project settings for their respective AE projects GridIron Software Inc. Page 74

75 Support Tool Nucleo Pro comes with a tool to assist in troubleshooting and reporting if things go wrong. You can access the support tool in to ways: 1. By launching it from Window sub-menu of the Nucleo status icon s control menu. 2. By running the executable application directly from the Nucleo Pro plugin folder. When the tool is launched you will be present with the following window. This screen describes the steps you should take when attempting to correct or diagnose a problem GridIron Software Inc. Page 75

76 The 3D Renderers section allows you to configure Nucleo Pro to launch the correct versions of your 3Dpplications. The Maintenance section allows you to clear out log, cache, and configuration files that may have become corrupt. The Support section allows you to adjust the logging detail level and to collect all logs created by Nucleo Pro. This is useful when working with GridIron support to diagnose problems. Creating a support package actually places a.zip file on your Desktop. This zip file can then be ed to GridIron support for analysis GridIron Software Inc. Page 76

77 Performance Measuring Performance Gain The only way to get a true measure of performance gain is to do the following: 1. Get the stand-alone time: Clear all caches in After Effects (Using the Edit->Purge->All menu item) Preview or render using only After Effects with Nucleo Pro DISABLED Measure and record the time to complete. 2. Get the Nucleo Pro time: Clear all caches. Preview or render with Nucleo Pro ENABLED Measure and record the time to complete. 3. Compare the two time measurements. To see typical performance gains using Nucleo Pro refer to the benchmark data available at Variables that Affect Nucleo Pro Performance Several variables determine the exact level of performance you can achieve with Nucleo Pro, such as the processing power and amount of installed RAM of your workstation. Performance will also vary depending upon several variables associated with your composition, such the effects and plug-ins used. In most cases, you will experience performance benefits from the use of Nucleo Pro. There are, however, certain circumstances where it will not be advantageous to use Nucleo Pro. Temporally Dependent Plug-ins While you will see a performance improvement with most plug-ins, there is a particular category of computationally intensive plug-in that is specially handled by Nucleo Pro: temporally dependent plug-ins. These are effects that use information from neighboring frames to calculate data relevant to the current frame. Because these effects require interaction between frames, they do not lend themselves to being divided and rendered independently on separate CPUs of your computer. If Nucleo Pro detects a temporally dependent plug-in in your After Effects composition only the foreground instance of After Effects will be used to the render the frames. While these plug-ins will not exhibit the performance improvement that is experienced with other computationally intensive effects, they will function normally. Temporally dependent plug-ins recognized by Nucleo Pro are enumerated in the following table GridIron Software Inc. Page 77

78 Company Plug-in Web Site 2d3 SteadyMove Pro Adobe Particle Playground Buena Digital Interference Revision Effects Algolith Red Giant Software Feedback Twixtor Time Stretch Video Gogh Noise Reduction (DNR, MTNR, MNR and MNR2) Film Fix For an updated list of known tight coupled plug-ins please see the FAQ What are tightly-coupled plug-ins and how do they affect performance? CPU Intensity of your Composition Nucleo Pro improves the performance of your previews and renders by maximizing the use of your computers CPU cycles. If you are working on a project that already uses nearly 100% of your computer s CPU then Nucleo Pro will not provide any performance benefit. To determine if After Effects compositions are maximizing the use of your CPUs please do the following: Windows: 1. Open Task Manager. 2. Switch to the Performance tab. 3. Start previewing or rendering your composition using After Effects without Nucleo Pro and watch the CPU meters. Mac: 1. Open the Activity Monitor (From Applications->Utilities). 2. Select Show CPU Usage from the Monitor menu. 3. Start previewing or rendering your composition using After Effects without Nucleo Pro and watch the CPU meters. If the CPU meters show maximum utilization (98%-100%) then your composition is already making the most of your hardware and Nucleo Pro will not provide further performance gain. Amount of RAM Installed on your Computer After Effects is a very RAM intensive program. You should have at least 1GB of RAM installed per CPU on your computer. For HD projects you should have 2GB of RAM per CPU. Nucleo Pro attempts to ensure that each After Effect process has access to the optimal amount of RAM while previewing and rendering. Meaning that each process will 2010 GridIron Software Inc. Page 78

79 consume RAM as required until it is determined that physical RAM is close to exhaustion. This ensures that After Effect will not be affected by disk accesses due to the use of virtual memory. Multi-threaded Effects Some visual effects are already optimized to take advantage of multi-processor and/or multi-core computers. Nucleo Pro is not able to provide additional speed improvements if the effects used in the composition already max out the available CPU resources. After Effects Settings for Previews If you need your previews to be faster you can combine the speed of Nucleo Pro with the faster preview performance you can achieve by reducing the resolution of your composition or using the RAM preview Skip Frame Preview setting in the After Effects Time Controls window. Anti-virus Software During renders files are written to disk. Many Antivirus software packages will interrogate every file creation to ensure the interception of destructive disk activity. These checks can be costly in terms of performance. To maximize render performance we recommend you configure your anti-virus software to exclude checks on the output path specified in the Output Modules. For further information, please refer to: Close Unused Applications If there are applications other than After Effects running on your system the amount CPU available for use by Nucleo Pro will be diminished. Nucleo Pro may not provide a performance gain. To maximize performance, please close other applications when using Nucleo Pro. Nucleo Pro attempts to detect other applications using CPU cycles when you start a fast preview or fast render and will display a warning via a pop-up message from the status icon. FileVault on Mac OS X The FileVault feature of Mac OS X secures a users home directory by encrypting its contents. If your home folder is secured using FileVault it should not be used for the After Effects disk cache or as an output location for any Output Modules in the render queue. Using FileVault for this data will adversely affect render performance GridIron Software Inc. Page 79

80 Hyper-threading Nucleo Pro can provide a performance benefit if your Windows computer supports hyper-threading. When using Nucleo Pro please enable hyper-threading if it is supported on your computer. Not Seeing a Speed-up? Let us Know! At GridIron we have strived to ensure performance gains on Fast Previews and Fast Renders (current limitations not withstanding). If you have a project that you think should be getting a speed-up but is not, please contact support@gridironsoftware.com with the details. We will work with you to address any Nucleo Pro related performance issue you may encounter GridIron Software Inc. Page 80

81 Licensing If you are running a trial copy, all Nucleo Pro functionality is available however, all frames rendered by Nucleo Pro will be watermarked. (Watermark consists of a red tint on the image along with a red X with an n at the center). With a full release copy of the software, none of the Nucleo Pro features (Fast Preview, Fast Render, Background Render, Commit to Disk, Spec Preview and Spec Render) will be accessible until your license has been activated. Nucleo Pro licenses cannot be shared amongst workstations. If you have more than one workstation in your studio you must purchase a copy of Nucleo Pro for each computer. Obtaining a Serial Number You can get a serial number by visiting or by selecting the Purchase option in the Licensing submenu of the Nucleo Pro control menu. After entering the necessary purchase information on the web site, a serial number will be ed to you. Activating Your License Your Nucleo Pro license is locked to a single, specific computer as determined by a network interface card (NIC). When you download Nucleo Pro and purchase a license you will be ed a serial number. Using the instructions below you can activate your license serial number: 1. Install the Nucleo Pro plug-in using the instructions in the section Installing Nucleo Pro in this document. 2. Start After Effects and the Nucleo Pro status icon will be displayed on Windows system tray and Mac OS X menu bar 3. Right-click (click on Mac) on the Nucleo Pro Status icon to display the control menu and select Activate from the Licensing submenu. 4. A window will appear prompting you for your serial number. Enter the serial number into the space provided and click the Activate button GridIron Software Inc. Page 81

82 Activation Window After Entering your serial number in the field provided, click the Active button. You will see the following popup window indicating that the Activation process has started. At this point Nucleo Pro is communicating with our web site to retrieve your license information. When you license has been installed properly, you will see the following message. Once your license is activated your previews and renders will no longer be watermarked. There is no reason to restart After Effects after your license is activated GridIron Software Inc. Page 82

83 Online Purchases To place an online order via our secure commerce server, visit Orders by Fax or by Mail You can download our order form (PDF) at Please print and complete the order form, then send it by fax to (613) or by mail to: GridIron Software 6 Antares Drive, Phase 1, Suite 100 Ottawa, Ontario K2E 8A9 Canada GridIron Sales To speak directly with a GridIron sales representative or to place an order by phone you can contact us at our general inquiry number: in North America or outside North America. You can also GridIron at sales@gridironsoftware.com 2010 GridIron Software Inc. Page 83

84 Moving Your License Your Nucleo Pro license is locked to a single, specific computer as determined by a computers system ID. The system ID is based on the network interface device (NIC) installed on your computer. Your Nucleo Pro license will become inactive if you: Replace or disable the NIC Nucleo Pro uses. For example, if you replace an older 100BaseT network card with a faster gigabit Ethernet card) Move your Nucleo Pro license from one computer to another. Please contact GridIron Software sales (sales@gridironsoftware.com) if you need to change your Nucleo Pro license. If possible please provide the following information: Your serial number The reason why you are moving the license The new System ID. To get your System ID please do the following: Windows Open a Command Prompt window Type ipconfig /all in the Command Prompt window. You should get a line in the output for Physical Address like this: Physical Address...0A B-37-7B Your System ID is 0A50703B377B Mac OS X Launch the System Preferences and click on Network In the Show field select Built-in Ethernet. Click on Ethernet tab to display the Ethernet ID Your System ID is 000a957bfde GridIron Software Inc. Page 84