After codecs plugin for after effects

[Walter Soyka]

Beyond direct H.264 export, AfterCodecs also supports ProRes (via ffmpeg) on Mac/PC, H.265, and Hap. (Note that the latest release of After Effects, v16.0.1, also supports native, official Apple ProRes encoding on Windows.)

If you don’t need those things, you don’t need AfterCodecs. If you do need those, AfterCodecs is great! Personally, I find the quality with its ffmpeg-based H.264 encoder is a bit higher than the MainConcept H.264 encoder that Adobe Media Encoder relies on.

Walter Soyka
Designer & Mad Scientist at Keen Live [link]
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
@keenlive   |   RenderBreak [blog]   |   Profile [LinkedIn]

[Nitai Lev-oren]

how much faster is the export with the plugin? they say 25% faster is true?

p.s : sorry for the ignorance what is ffmpeg?

[Walter Soyka]

[Nitai Lev-Oren] “how much faster is the export with the plugin? they say 25% faster is true?”

I haven’t benchmarked it, but there is a lot of extra overhead using Dynamic Link between Ae and AME to encode H.264.

There is a demo available if you’d like to try on your own.

[Nitai Lev-Oren] “what is ffmpeg?”

ffmpeg is “a complete, cross-platform solution to record, convert and stream audio and video” that is open-source. AfterCodecs builds on ffmpeg to bring a lot of its power and flexibility to Ae, Pr, and AME.

Walter Soyka
Designer & Mad Scientist at Keen Live [link]
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
@keenlive   |   RenderBreak [blog]   |   Profile [LinkedIn]

[Nitai Lev-oren]

but why use it instead of after effects own encoders?
what is the benefit of ffmpeg?

[Walter Soyka]

[Nitai Lev-Oren] “but why use it instead of after effects own encoders?”

After Effects doesn’t directly encode MP4/H.264 anymore. You’d have to use Dynamic Link to Adobe Media Encoder to make H.264 files. AfterCodecs allows you to encode H.264 directly from the render queue.

[Nitai Lev-Oren] “what is the benefit of ffmpeg?”

Speed and quality.

Walter Soyka
Designer & Mad Scientist at Keen Live [link]
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
@keenlive   |   RenderBreak [blog]   |   Profile [LinkedIn]