Adobe After Effects is a famous video editing and compositing software used by both professionals and beginners. It includes a variety of tools and features for creating spectacular visual effects, motion graphics, and animations.
However, for Adobe After Effects to operate smoothly and efficiently, your computer must fulfill the following system requirements.
In this article, we will discuss the minimum to best system requirements for Adobe After Effects. We will begin by discussing the minimum and suggested system requirements, as well as why they are required for optimal performance.
Minimum System Requirements For After Effects
The minimum system requirements are the absolute minimum specifications needed to run Adobe After Effects. Although the software may run on a computer that meets these requirements, it may not perform optimally, and the user may experience lag, slow rendering times, and other issues.
Minimum system requirements for Adobe After Effects on Windows:
- Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 (64-bit) V20H2 or later is required to run Adobe After Effects. This ensures that the software is compatible with the latest operating system and that users can access the latest features and tools.
- Processor: Adobe After Effects is a complex software that requires a lot of processing power. The minimum requirement is Intel or AMD Quad-Core Processor. This ensures that the software can take advantage of multiple cores to speed up rendering times and improve performance.
- RAM: Adobe After Effects requires a minimum of 16 GB of RAM. This is because the software uses a lot of memory to store and manipulate large files and footage. With 16 GB of RAM, the software can run multiple processes simultaneously without slowing down or crashing. This especially helps while a lot of layers in a composition.
- GPU: The graphics processing unit (GPU) is responsible for rendering the images and video in Adobe After Effects. The minimum requirement is 2GB of GPU VRAM. This ensures that the software can render complex visual effects and animations without lag or stuttering.
- Hard Disk Space: Adobe After Effects requires 15GB of available hard-disk space for installation.
Minimum system requirements for Adobe After Effects on Mac:
- Operating System: MacOS Big Sur v11.0 or later is required to run Adobe After Effects.
- Processor: The minimum requirement is Intel, Native Apple Silicon, Rosetta2 Supported Quad-Core Processor. This guarantees that the program can utilize numerous cores to shorten rendering periods.
- RAM: Adobe After Effects for mac requires a minimum of 16 GB of RAM.
- GPU: The minimum requirement is 2GB of GPU VRAM.
- Hard Disk Space: Adobe After Effects requires 15GB of available hard-disk space for installation.
Recommended System Requirements
The recommended system requirements are the specifications needed to run Adobe After Effects optimally. Meeting these requirements will ensure that the software runs smoothly and efficiently.
The recommended system requirements for Adobe After Effects on Windows:
- Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 (64-bit) V20H2 or later is recommended for optimal performance.
- Processor: 8-Core or above for Multi-Frame Rendering is recommended. Multi-Frame rendering saves a lot of time, which is essential while working on a long-form project.
- RAM: Adobe After Effects recommends a minimum of 32 GB of RAM or more.
- GPU: A graphics card with 4GB of GPU VRAM or more is recommended for optimal performance.
- Hard Disk Space: Additional 64GB of space is recommended for caching. A fast internal SSD (preferably NVMe) with at least 80GB of available space can read and write data quickly, reducing the time it takes to load files and render projects.
The recommended system requirements for Adobe After Effects on Mac:
- Operating System: Adobe recommends using the latest version of macOS to ensure compatibility with After Effects. The recommended version is macOS Monterey v12.0 or later.
- Processor: The recommended processor for After Effects on Mac is an 8-Core or above for Multi-Frame Rendering.
- RAM: Adobe recommends a minimum of 32 GB of RAM or more for optimal performance with After Effects on Mac.
- GPU: The recommended GPU for After Effects on Mac is 4GB of GPU VRAM or more.
- Hard Disk Space: Extra 64GB of space.
Best System Requirements For Adobe After Effects
To begin with, there is no single greatest machine for anything.
There’s what you require and what you can pay.
However, if you’re using After Effects for animation, design, and editing, in this section I’m going to break down the four components that you should invest in and also what’s best for Adobe After Effects System Requirements.
To commence, you don’t need a high-end computer to create outstanding work. Amazing work from ten years ago was done on technology that is now ten years outdated.
Amazing work was done on ink and paper 100 years ago, and many believe some old cave artworks were intended to move and flicker in the firelight. You can make great work on not-so-great systems. It might just take a little longer.
When building the best PC for Adobe After Effects, the main intention is to start working and rendering 4K projects. Some of the professionals also like to work on multiple After Effects versions at the same time to cut down on time taken.
1. CPU
I would always suggest a good CPU with around 8 cores to animators.
Nowadays, any modern 8-core Processor has extremely fast clock speeds. So, when working in the After Effects timeline, Illustrator, or Photoshop, it usually utilizes one core, but you want that one core to be quite quick.
In general, the more processors a machine has, the slower each core is.
If you want to do 2D modeling and animation, you should presumably get a 32-core or 64-core AMD Threadripper CPU.
You’ve got all these cores that aren’t going to be doing anything in After Effects, to be honest.
2. RAM
I would always suggest at least 16 gigabytes of RAM for a 2D artist, but for a pro, it would have to be somewhere between 32 and possibly 64 gigabytes, based on how complicated your sequences are.
32 gigabytes of Memory should suffice for a pro or a mid-level animator doing rudimentary 2D animation.
Someone who does a lot of compositing and motion graphics on after-effects will need 64, and these are for pros who use these tools daily.
3. Storage
You’ll need a speedy SSD drive, which is now quite cheap.
SSD drives are becoming bigger, larger, and cheaper and they’re extremely quick.
It’s important to have a proper SSD drive on which you’re running your Windows operating system and you’re running your projects as well.
You can have a second drive, which is going to be for your project files and system cache for Adobe After Effects cache. You need to separate the operating system and project files always.
This is because if your C drive is doing all its back-end elements to run the operating system.
Whilst also you’re using it to read and write high-resolution video footage and textures and anything really into your projects, you could run into a bottleneck where a hard drive might just not be fast enough to read and write all of those things at once.
Also if your C drive gets corrupted or fails for some reason, you don’t want to lose all of your project files at the same time. This way you can take out the C drive, buy a new one, reinstall the operating system and you’re good to go without having to try to resurrect or recover your files.
4. GPU
For a 2D designer, you don’t want anything more than an RTX 4080 or a 4090, which is considered a mid-range graphics card. After Effects and Photoshop and all that kind of software doesn’t utilize anything beyond the RTX 4080 as much.
There are instances where having a better graphics card will make things a little bit faster and snappier, but once again, it depends on what plugins you’re using, and how complex your scenes and setups are.
For a designer and animator, just any mid-range graphics card will do fine. If your budget is running a little bit lower, you could buy a 3050 or a GTX 1660, which has a little bit less VRAM and a little bit less raw performance, but it’s good enough for design.
When it comes to a 3D artist who is starting to use things like Redshift or Octane, that’s where you’d want to invest a lot of money or as much as you can in a GPU because when it comes to rendering times or just rendering feedback as you’re changing your lighting and materials realtime.
The more cards you have you can potentially speed up your rendering as well. You can start with one graphics card and upgrade to more later.
That brings it down to the nuts and bolts, and the overall balance of the different components you invest in. GPU generally helps crunch some of those bigger files or formats or just working faster in the timeline but that would be my recommendation for a 2d animator.
My recommendation on Best System Requirements For Adobe After Effects
Now cutting short the small talk, I hereby list the best system spec for Adobe After Effects
- Processor: Intel’s Core i9 13900K and i7 13700K or AMD’s Ryzen 9 7950X
- GPU: RTX 4090 24GB, overkill but future proof
- RAM: 64GB RAM or more
- Do not forget to invest in a good monitor (at least 2k resolution).
Conclusion
Adobe After Effects is a powerful video editing and compositing software that runs smoothly and efficiently on computers with adequate processing power, memory, and storage. Users can create stunning visual effects and animations without experiencing lag or slow rendering times even by reaching the minimum system requirements mentioned above.
When using Adobe After Effects on Windows or Mac, other variables such as internet connection, display resolution, and graphics driver must be taken into account to ensure optimum performance.
Other Considerations
In addition to the system requirements listed above, there are other factors to consider when using Adobe After Effects on Windows and Mac. These include:
- Internet connection: An internet connection is required for software activation and validation of subscriptions. A high-speed internet connection is recommended for downloading updates and accessing online resources. It is also mandatory for remote work and utilizing cloud services.
- Display: A high-resolution display with a minimum resolution of 1920×1080 is recommended for optimal performance. A larger display size is also recommended for working on large projects.
- Doesn’t matter what is your OS of choice, keeping it updated is also a must for faster performance and less power consumption while rendering in.
- The use of high-quality cables is a must to prevent any mishap with your computer.
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Adobe After Effects will not work on a 32-bit working system. After Effects CC 2015 and higher necessitate a 64-bit running system as well as compatible hardware.
GeForce RTX 4080 16GB or RTX 4090 24GB are the best GPU for Adobe After Effects.
No, Adobe After Effects cannot run on all types of operating systems. After Effects is designed to work on Windows and macOS.
Intel Core i9 or AMD Ryzen 9 are the best CPU for Adobe After Effects.
Certainly, Adobe After Effects can be used offline. After Effects is a desktop-based application that can be loaded and used on your computer without the need for an internet connection. But to utilize its cloud-based features you do need the internet.
While a three-button mouse isn’t necessary for basic After Effects activities, it can be useful for more complex workflows or users who prefer to use a mouse with more buttons and features.
It’s worth noting, however, that After Effects supports keyboard shortcuts, which can be a more effective option than using a mouse for certain operations.
Yes, After Effects can operate on 8GB of RAM, but it may not provide optimum speed, particularly for more complex tasks. After Effects requires at least 8GB of RAM, but Adobe suggests 16GB or more for optimum efficiency.
Adobe After Effects and Adobe Premiere are both professional-level video editing tools, but they serve distinct goals and have different workflows.
While both programs necessitate some degree of skill and expertise to use successfully, some users may find After Effects more difficult to learn and use than Premiere, while others may find the reverse to be true.
