Ok, I need help and fast!

I'm running after effects CS3 right now for a little video i'm doing, and it is due in 4 days!!!!

A Couple Problems:

1) The previewing is starting to sloooowww doowwn. Before it would preview with lightning speed, but now it previews soo slow. So now, I have to wait forever for it to just ram-preview a 10-15 second segment of the clip!!!

I have upgraded the RAM, from 1 GB to 3 GB. Worked for a little while, but it slowed down again.


2) Timing! The video just doens't sync up with the sound? When I preview it in After Effects, everything is fine! But when I render it onto my computer and play it...SOME parts are not lining up. I don't know why, its not too bad but it'll cost me!

I have checked that the FPS is right, but it still doesn't work

3) When I'm rendering to my computer...it seems to stop rendering at the very last second...like it just stops? I don't know if thats affecting anything but I just click stop and its fine. But I thought I should mention it in case it has to do with anything?


Please guys, i'm in URGENT need of help right now. This very video could change my WHOLE video editing career, (its for a contest)
So PLEASE HELP ME OUT!

What are your system specs, sounds like you might have a bit of a resource problem.
Processor is the most important, if you do not have at least a dual core 2.0 ghz processor you might be getting as much as you are going to get.

After Effects is a very processor intensive application, the more you do the more it slows down. What kinds of effects are you working on?

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Dell Precision 490; 2 x Xeon 3.0 Dual Core Processors, 4gb RAM, ATI Stealth 512mb Video, X-Fi ExtremeMusic Sound Card, 2 x 250gb SATA II , 1 x 750gb SATA II; Premiere Elements 1-4, Premiere Pro CS3, After Effects 7-CS3, Soundbooth, Photoshop http://muvipix.com

System:
Windows XP Service Pack 2

Specs:
Intel Core 2 CPU
1.86 GHz, 3.00 GB RAM

So I need at least 2.0 ghz processor? right?

Well I was going to have 3D particles flying around, but I shut that layer off so it would render faster.
Not really anything crazy, the segment that i'm doing right now is the intro.
Background is a Radial Ramp, Fonts have linear ramps as well as a drop shadow.
And the text is moving..but thats all.

I really don't recommend doing major effects on a Laptop, the drives and memory are too slow, and the graphics are not near what they need to be and not enough video memory.
Do you have a 7200rpm drive in that laptop or a 5400rpm drive? It makes a lot of difference.

I have AE7 on my laptop but don't do much with it, too slow and mine is a 2.0ghz Core 2 Duo with nVidea Quantro graphics and 4gb of RAM. Now on my dual - dual core Xeon 3.0 with 4gb of RAM and 3 SATA 7200rpm hard drives it is not nearly as slow. You still have to remember that this is very intensive stuff, it isn't going to render fast. There are still some animations that can take 12 or more hours to render a 5 minute clip.

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Dell Precision 490; 2 x Xeon 3.0 Dual Core Processors, 4gb RAM, ATI Stealth 512mb Video, X-Fi ExtremeMusic Sound Card, 2 x 250gb SATA II , 1 x 750gb SATA II; Premiere Elements 1-4, Premiere Pro CS3, After Effects 7-CS3, Soundbooth, Photoshop http://muvipix.com

I'm not running it on my laptop. Its on my desktop.

But i found a way around it. I just rendered out the parts that I finished, cut them out and then keep on going. That way there isn't too much info in one comp.

Its working so far, the timing is good now. thanks guys!