AE Render File Question, Multi or Single? at DVinfo.net

Liam Carlin · February 11th, 2008, 11:47 AM

Hi there,

Just a quick question regarding best render practice in AE. i am working on a music video which is 7:43 mins long and im using the particluar plugin with my work.

i know that you can rack up hefty render times with trapcode as 3rd party plugin and it really rinses your CPU Ram etc.

So i tired to render a sample of the comp i had made and bearing in mind this was not the full finished project the render time originally was estimated at 44 hours and then when it finally sorted its self out the render was then 25 hours! i got 9 hours in as i left it overnight and think there must be a better way.

i cannot afford nucleo pro at the moment but i know it would save me a lot of time with the BG render feature.

im going a little out of the way of the story here.....

so what i noticed when i originally started the the sample render which was the full 7:43 it took a long long time for it to use my Ram, i have 2gb and usually when i have smaller comps i can have it at 74% of Ram used in a matter of seconds and away it goes and just renders.

So after my lovely 9 hours of rendering i quit it and decided there must be a better way. i cut the song up into 30 sec chunks and it has had some pretty good times of 10 mins per clip but this is dependant on effects etc.

so ive basically answered my own question but is it better to render the one big file or loads of little ones? does that make sense and does anyone else have any other lovely stories of rendering?

Thanks

Liam

Shawn McCalip · February 11th, 2008, 01:22 PM

One thing that I'll do for bigger projects is to pre-render nested compositions. You can build up your effects and everything normally, but instead of rendering everything all at once, render just a couple of bottom layers or your background, and then insert the rendered footage into your comp. If a certain effect dramatically increases your render time, try rendering only that layer with the offending effect uncompressed with an alpha channel. Once you replace the layer with your rendered footage, your computer won't have to process the effect anymore, hopefully saving you loads of time.

Hope this helps!

Liam Carlin · February 11th, 2008, 03:02 PM

Thanks for that Shawn,

I forgot about the pre render option. ah i think thats what i need to do. i was reading another thread on a different forum offering the same advice!

pre render all the way. its the time that i dont have and all them minutes are valubale :)

Thanks again Shawn :)

February 11th, 2008, 11:47 AM	#1
Liam Carlin Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: UK Posts: 154	AE Render File Question, Multi or Single? Hi there, Just a quick question regarding best render practice in AE. i am working on a music video which is 7:43 mins long and im using the particluar plugin with my work. i know that you can rack up hefty render times with trapcode as 3rd party plugin and it really rinses your CPU Ram etc. So i tired to render a sample of the comp i had made and bearing in mind this was not the full finished project the render time originally was estimated at 44 hours and then when it finally sorted its self out the render was then 25 hours! i got 9 hours in as i left it overnight and think there must be a better way. i cannot afford nucleo pro at the moment but i know it would save me a lot of time with the BG render feature. im going a little out of the way of the story here..... so what i noticed when i originally started the the sample render which was the full 7:43 it took a long long time for it to use my Ram, i have 2gb and usually when i have smaller comps i can have it at 74% of Ram used in a matter of seconds and away it goes and just renders. So after my lovely 9 hours of rendering i quit it and decided there must be a better way. i cut the song up into 30 sec chunks and it has had some pretty good times of 10 mins per clip but this is dependant on effects etc. so ive basically answered my own question but is it better to render the one big file or loads of little ones? does that make sense and does anyone else have any other lovely stories of rendering? Thanks Liam __________________ www.basicproduction.co.uk

February 11th, 2008, 03:02 PM	#3
Liam Carlin Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: UK Posts: 154	Thanks :) Thanks for that Shawn, I forgot about the pre render option. ah i think thats what i need to do. i was reading another thread on a different forum offering the same advice! pre render all the way. its the time that i dont have and all them minutes are valubale :) Thanks again Shawn :) __________________ www.basicproduction.co.uk

February 11th, 2008, 01:22 PM	#2
Shawn McCalip Major Player Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Anchorage, AK Posts: 315	One thing that I'll do for bigger projects is to pre-render nested compositions. You can build up your effects and everything normally, but instead of rendering everything all at once, render just a couple of bottom layers or your background, and then insert the rendered footage into your comp. If a certain effect dramatically increases your render time, try rendering only that layer with the offending effect uncompressed with an alpha channel. Once you replace the layer with your rendered footage, your computer won't have to process the effect anymore, hopefully saving you loads of time. Hope this helps!