Render Queue

Just as you would with editing and animation programs such as Premiere, Photoshop, or Flash, you can export movies from After Effects by using File > Export.

  • Go to the Main Menu > File > Export > Add to Render Queue

Even though the Render Queue might seem intimidating at first glance, you shouldit has many important and useful features.  For one, you can use the queue to make slight changes to a render and then export a clip again. Furthermore, you can use the function to make low-resolution preview files from standard- or high-resolution settings. In actuality, the Render Queue will streamline your production process.

To Open the Render Queue

In order to export a composition, you must make sure that it is active. Find the composition in the After Effects project menu and double click the composition icon to make sure that it is open. Then, referring to the Main Menu, go to either

  • File > Export > Add to Render Queue, or
  • Composition>Make Movie or Composition> Add to Render Queue

Both options will work. You can also call up the render queue by going to Window > Render Queue.

Render Queue Overview

  1. The “All Renders” section provides an overall status of sequences while they are being rendered:
    • Render Button (plus Pause & Stop Buttons)
    • Important messages
    • RAM currently used
    • Date when the job was started
    • Etc.
  2. The “Current Render” segment provides a status of the render while After Effects calculates and exports material. The section includes a status bar that indicates the time that has elapsed during the rendering process, the amount of time that remains, etc. The menu also provides an expandable “Current Render Details” section, which gives ongoing information as the software processes each composition, layer, stage, estimated final file size, etc. Part of the Current Render, you will find links to the specific compression and movie format settings that you must set before After Effects starts rendering. The details include:
    • Render settings:
      • Quality
      • Resolution
      • Effects settings
      • Time span (i.e., to render either an entire project, the work area, or to set a particular region)
      • Frame rate
      • Audio output
      • Etc.
    • Output module settings:
      • Format (i.e., QuickTime, AVI, image sequence, etc.)
      • Format option (i.e., to choose various compression settings)
      • Stretch (i.e., to export a non-square video resolution)
      • Etc.
    • Output to (i.e., to choose specifically where to save rendered files)

The Rendering Process

For the following examples, I will use “movie formats” as a compression option. However, there are a variety of other compression settings that you can apply to an export , everything from a TIF or Targa sequence to compressing web files with the H.264 or Sorensen codecs.

Again, as I wrote above, in order to export a composition, you must make sure that it is active. If you are not already working on the composition that you intend to render, you should go to the After Effects project menu and double click the composition icon to open it in a timeline. Then, after referring to the main menu, go to either:

  • File > Add to Render Queue
  • Composition > Add to Render Queue

From the the Render Queue Window, there are several settings that you should make.

Render Settings

In the lower-half of the window, select Render Settings (if you cannot find the settings, make sure to open the expandable button found to the left of the “Comp Name”). You will undoubtedly notice that “Based on…” is “underlined.” With After Effects, underlined text means that it links to a dialogue box.

Click on the “Based on…” information to open the Render Settings window. You should then enter the following settings:

Composition:

  • Quality: Best, Draft, or Wireframe. You would choose “Best” for a final output, and “Draft” for preview files.
  • Resolution: Full, Half, Third, or Quarter. Similarly, you would select “Full” for a final output, and the others for preview files.
  • Proxy Use: Use All Proxies
  • Effects: All On

Time Sampling:

  • Time Span: Choose either “Work Area Only” or “Length of Comp.”
  • Frame Rate: Choose either “Use comp’s frame rate” or “Use this frame rate” and enter an appropriate value.
  • Clicking “Set” will allow you to enter custom time span settings for the composition.

Once you press OK, After Effects will take you back to the Render Queue window, where you should then click on Output Module “Based on Lossless.” Here you will use the Output Module Settings to select the output and video format, file dimensions, etc.

Output Module Settings

Composition:

  • Format: You can choose formats that include QuickTime Movie, AVI, or Image Sequences (such as PSD, PNG, TIF or Targa, etc.)
  • Post-Render Action: With this feature, you could pre-render one of the Compositions in your project in order to flatten and cut down on processing, and then re-import the clip into the project. To do so, choose “Import” or “Import & Replace Usage.”

Video Output:

  • Format Options: Click on the button to open the Compression Settings. This is where you can choose a range of codecs for a couple of reasons:
    • For intermediate processing purposes (with an alpha channel), final output, or archiving purposes, use:
      • None
      • Animation
      • PNG Sequence
      • TIF Sequence
      • TGA Sequence
    • To output a version for marking, you should reduce the dimensions from HD to a lower resolution and use “H.264″ as a compression algorithm. With the Compression Settings, you can adjust the settings for “frames per second,” “compressor quality,” and “aspect ratio.”
  • If you choose to render a clip for intermediate work (i.e., flatten a Comp and re-import it as a movie file, you might have to include an alpha channel in order to maintain transparent components. If so, make sure that you do the following:
    • Format Options: choose “Animation” or “None” as a compressor
    • Channels: select “RGB + Alpha”
    • Depth: Millions of Colours +
  • Special Note – For exporting PNG Image Sequences (a good “lossless” file format to bring into another program like Premiere). Under “Format,” do the following:
    • Choose “PNG Sequence”
    • Post Render Action: At this point, select “None” (or you could choose to immediately import the sequence back into your project, or even import and replace footage on the Timeline)
    • Video Output:
      • Channels: Choose “RGB” (you could also choose RGB + Alpha, or Alpha alone for a variety of different compositing options)
      • Depth: Millions of Colours
    • Format Options: Click on the Format Options Button and choose “Compression > None”

Resize:

This is a very important section to consider if you are rendering work this originally HD and you also plan to create a version for the web, or to hand in for marking:

  • Rendering at: 1280 (width) x 720 (height)
  • Resize to: Enter “640 x 360″ as a new value.
  • Select “Lock Aspect Ratio to 16:9
  • Resize Quality: High

Again, once you press OK, After Effects will take you back to the Render Queue window, where you should then click “Output To …” This is where you will use the “Output Movie To” settings to enter a name for the movie and save it in an appropriate location.

The following is an example for a PNG sequence:

  • Save in: A directory of your choice
  • File name: Give the sequence a short name (e.g., walk_[#####].png
  • Save as type: Targa [*.png]

Once you press Save, After Effects will take you back to the Render Queue window once more. In order to export a composition, you must select the Comp Name and then click on “Render.”

After Effects allows you to organize several jobs in sequence, to be queued for rendering later. You can also delete items in the queue, by selecting a particular job and then pressing the Delete key on your keyboard.

In particular, you can render a file again if you like, or you can duplicate render settings and then adapt the duplicate. This is useful if you want to make a low-resolution version of a higher-resolution file.

To duplicate something that is in the Queue, click on the job to highlight it, and then go to the After Effects main menu to choose Edit > Duplicate. With this option, the software will provide a name for the file that is next in sequence. However, if you choose “Duplicate with File Name,” you can reuse the original name of the movie and therefore overwrite the file.


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