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MillimeterCS4 and 64-bit Systems, Part 1
Dec 8, 2008 12:00 PM, By Jan Ozer
What up with CS4?
In a press release issued on Nov. 20, 2008, Adobe announced CS4 version 4.0.1 and listed the following as one of the key benefits:
"Faster performance and responsiveness, with full support for 64-bit computing platforms to accelerate compute-intensive postproduction tasks. Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 version 4.0.1 is architected to take advantage of the additional memory available in 64-bit systems."
I copied this section to an e-mail, added a “huh?” to the end, and emailed it to my favorite PR folks at Adobe (and their agency). Actually, to be fair, I did ask a pertinent question or two. Here’s how the Q&A went with Premiere Pro product manager Giles Baker.
Question: How does CS4 work differently on a 64-bit Windows system than on a 32-bit Windows System?
Answer: CS4 runs the same on 32- and 64-bit systems, but its new architecture means that the software is able to take advantage of increased memory on 64-bit systems. We do this by splitting up the applications into multiple separate executables. Even though each executable is 32-bit (maintaining compatibility with 32-bit systems), each executable can access up to 4GB of its own memory, making the total amount of memory that can be used far higher.
As an example, Premiere Pro on its own runs as four separate processes. Adobe Media Encoder runs a single process but calls additional processes depending on the source of the content to be encoded. When using After Effects compositions via Dynamic Link, a separate, headless After Effects process provides the frames from the After Effects compositions. Encore also uses a similar scheme to split up processes.
Do CS4 users need to download anything special to run on 64-bit Windows?
Customers do not need to download anything special, and it works the same on Mac and Windows.
What are the 64-bit related additions to version 4.0.1?
4.0.1 improves performance in many areas, particularly playback and rendering, and many of these improvements build on the architectural changes that we added in 4.0. The actual architecture is basically unchanged between 4.0 and 4.0.1.
What types of project will benefit from running in 64-bit Windows, and what types of performance improvements can we expect?
Consider the following workflow:
- After Effects in use for compositing
- After Effects compositions used in the Premiere Pro timeline via Dynamic Link
- Premiere Pro editing HD content
- AME encoding a Premiere Pro sequence in the background
- Encore burning a Blu-ray Disc using content imported via Dynamic Link from Premiere Pro.
This will create approximately 10 processes, each of which can use a separate 4GB chunk of memory. This means it’s possible to achieve much higher stability with complex projects and workflows.
In addition, performance improves: Customers spend less time switching between applications and waiting for memory to page back in from disk. And more memory is available for frame caching so that when content is played, it will be available in the cache longer before it gets swapped out for more recently played frames. This translates into better editing interactivity, particularly for detail work on high resolution content.
Obviously this is a fairly intense workflow, but we frequently talk to customers that want to do similar things. And even with the more straightforward case of encoding a Premiere Pro timeline we’re able to use a lot of memory compared to running on a 32-bit system. That really helps when we get into large frame sizes and complex projects.
OK, that’s the story. Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll be pulling together some test scenarios to try to isolate the types of projects that really benefit from 64-bit Vista.
Continue the discussion on Crosstalk the Millimeter Forum.