Thanks Mylenium! So to make sure I understand this correctly. The first four cores work on four separate processes meaning there are literally four iterations of AE open at the same time. While at the same time the other eight cores work just on the 1st iteration of AE and "help out" with whatever the 1st core is doing?
So if I have enough RAM to use all 12 cores then I would have 12 iterations of AE running at the same time and only one core working on each of the 12 iterations (no cores "helping" each other out)?
This is interesting then because I'd assume that if all 12 cores were working on one frame at a time each frame would finish drastically faster. However, rendering 12 frames at a time will take longer (per frame), but having them finish in bulk could make up for the difference compared to 12 cores working together.
It's obviously not a 1 to 1 ratio though; otherwise there would be no advantage to rendering multiple frames simultaneously. Which brings me to my last question:
What types of projects benefit from rendering multiple frames simultaneously, but slower vs single frames and a much higher rate? And the same vice versa? There has to be some way to get a rough idea without doing trial and error on every project.
Thanks again!
-Eric