ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS 7.0
User Guide
628
When rendering across a network that includes volumes using different network or operating systems, such as
Windows, Mac OS, Novell, and UNIX
®
, make sure that you specify output files using a file-naming convention that’s
compatible with all rendering or destination volumes.
Project considerations
Make sure that you install all fonts, effects, and compressors used in the project on all computers monitoring the
watch folder. If a computer monitoring the watch folder can’t find fonts, effects, or compressors used in a project, the
render fails.
Collect Files folder considerations
If you save the Collect Files folder to a networked computer other than a server, don’t run a render engine on that
computer. Avoid saving the Collect Files folder to a local disk, the root level of a disk (such as C: in Windows or the
Macintosh HD in Mac OS), or a shared folder, all of which can signify different locations to each render engine. All
render engines must interpret the path the same way.
Once the collected files appear in the watch folder, all monitoring render engines start rendering automatically. If you
prefer, you can use the Collect Files command to store compositions and their source footage to a specified location
and then initiate the watch-folder rendering process later. Doing so renders the projects in alphabetical order, rather than
the order in which they were saved to the location.
To set up watch-folder rendering (Pro only)
1
Install the After Effects render engine on as many computers as you want to involve in network rendering.
Note: If rendering time is unusually slow, you may be rendering to too many computers, and the network overhead
required to track rendering progress among all computers is out of proportion to the time spent actually rendering
frames. The optimal number depends on many variables related to the network configuration and the computers on it;
experiment to determine the optimal number for your network.
2 Create a watch folder called AE Watch Folder on a system that’s accessible to all of the After Effects render engines
on your network.
3 In each render engine, choose File > Watch Folder, and select the watch folder that you’ve created.
4 Create your projects and compositions, and set them up in the Render Queue with the render settings and output
modules you want to use. (All render queue items in the project must have output names; otherwise the Enable
Watch Folder Render option in the Collect Files dialog box isn’t available.)
5 Choose File > Collect Files to copy completed projects to your specified watch folder. Once you choose Collect
Files, After Effects copies the project or composition and all source files to the watch folder.
Note: AfterEffectscan’tcopysourcefilesthatarelargerthan2GBusingtheCollectFilescommand:youmustcopythem
manually to the (Footage) folder in the Collect Files folder.
6 Choose For Queued Comps from the Collect Source Files menu (unless you’re manually moving source files), and
then select Change Render Output To. This option creates a folder on the networked server for rendered files—all of
the render engines need access to this folder to complete their rendering tasks.
7 Select Enable Watch Folder Render, click Collect, and name the Collect Files folder.
8 Save the Collect Files folder to a networked computer, preferably to a networked server.
9 Monitor the progress of the render engines by using a web browser to view HTML pages saved in the watch folder.
After Effects generates these pages automatically when the rendering begins. Click the Reload button in your
browser to see the updated status. These HTML pages will describe any errors that occur.
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