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Is there any way to lock off other layers in a composition to make the render time less?
hi there
Basically I have a composition that is about 1 minute long and each time I add something on it takes longer to render. Even simlpe pans and zooms will take longer…is there a way I can tell it to only render certain layers or something? It just gets so annoying sometimes when you move a keyframe by a couple of frames and have to re render the whole thing!
thanks in advance
dan
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5 Replies
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You might want to use the phrase “refresh the comp window”, since “render” in the AE context, generally refers to rendering a still or movie to a file, not to the screen. 🙂
Regarding your question, from AE’s point of view, when part of the frame has changed, the entire frame has changed and needs to be refreshed.
To speed up workflow on a heavy comp, it’s a good idea to solo the layer that you’re working on. Only make visible what you really need to see at that time.
… or you could pre-render and import the layers that you’ve finished.Steve
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Cool thanks for your help, can I ask a couple of questions regarding what u mentioned?
Is there a quick way to solo a layer, or do u have to go through each layer deselecting the eyeball? What exactly do you mean pre-render and then import the layers that you’ve finished? sorry if that seems to dozy, just didnt fully understand. Also, finally, if I import a 2 gb video footage file but crop it so that there is about 10 seconds, will this slow down AE because it is a big file…should i crop the file in premiere and then save it as 10 seconds and then import into AE, or does it not make much difference?
Thanks again for your help!
Dan
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First, search the AE help for “solo”. 🙂
To “pre-render” a layer, solo it, and render the comp. In the output module, there should be a “post-render action” button. You should choose “import”. Check the help to explain the other options. When done, you can drag the rendered movie into the comp just over the source layer that you just rendered, and hide the original source layer. (Rather than delete the source layer, I usually do that, just to keep the original layer around in case I need to change it and re-render.)
Regarding your other question, AE is slowed down by the size of the frame or source frames that it is rendering at that moment. It doesn’t care how many frames come before or after. In other words, if you were going to render 10 seconds, trimming (not “cropping”) the source footage to 10 seconds wouldn’t speed up AE.
However … there may be a slight disk-reading speed advantage to clearing unnecessary items off the drive containing sources for the comp, so AE doesn’t have to look at as many files or frames when looking for the source footage. But that would be minimal.
To find out where your “make movie” rendering bottleneck is, hit the little “current render details” triangle in the render queue when rendering. If you see the words “retrieving frame” onscreen longer than a quick flash, AE is slowed down when reading the source files. The longer you see a message in the details, the more likely it is that you’re looking at your bottleneck.
By the way, don’t leave the render details visible for too long — writing all those messages can slow down your render. 🙂
Steve
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Will all respect Dan, 9 out of 10 of your questions at the Cow are found in your manual. I’d read it first and know the app itself before posting. If everyone used the Cow as their manual, this forum would clog up with unnecessary questions making it harder to answer questions that need people’s true experience, advice, and ideas.
Solo buttons for example are AE 101. You paid for the manual. Let it guide you with all the answers you could want about the mechanics. Then all of your friends at the Cow will be happy to share techniques on how to IMPLEMENT the AE tools in new and creative ways.
my 2 cents.
Chris Smith
https://www.sugarfilmproduction.com -
I’m sorry, I do keep forgetting about the manual, i know thats a bad excuse, and so I will do my best to keep all questions to a more challenging level…and that dont have answers in the manual. sorry again, dont want to annoy anyone here, but you have all been really helpful.
thanks
dan
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