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How many comps in a project is ok?
Hello, I’m preparing to do an animation project where all compositing of shots will be done in AE, so I was wondering if it is possible to have all the shots as comps in one big project or will this be too heavy for my computer to handle.
I’m predicting somewhere between 60 to 100 shots, of various complexities but most of them with about five layers and ten effects.
It would be convenient for me to have them all in one project so i could stack them on the main timeline and tinker with rhythm and timing.
Does anybody have experience with this. I’m moderately skilled in ae but never had done a project of this size.
I’m working in 1920×1080 resolution, my comp is pretty shabby, 4 gb Ram and Intel Quad 2.40 GHz, but i’m used to working slowly, don’t mind to wait a bit more for rendering.
I just don’t want to make a big mistake that will later take a long time to resolve.
Thanks!
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9 Replies
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I did a project with over 600 comps and 8,000 expressions a couple of months ago.
Ae has no practical limit on these.
Walter Soyka
Designer & Mad Scientist at Keen Live [link]
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
@keenlive | RenderBreak [blog] | Profile [LinkedIn] -
Thanks a lot for the reply Walter!
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600 comps. wow, whats your setup?
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That’s what I’m wondering also!
My worry is that a large number of comps will, at some point, slow down the whole AE project.
I’m not planning to have all the hundreds of precomps in one short sequence, it is not a question of complexitiy.
It is just to have them all in one project where i will eventually lay them down on a timeline to see how the whole thing flows. To not have to go back and forth between sony vegas which I’m using for editing and AE. And also to reuse some comps, like texture and background animation in the separate shots.
The final editing will be done in Vegas, of course.
Does anybody have any suggestions? Am I planing this whole thing wrong?
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[Spiridon Mekas] “My worry is that a large number of comps will, at some point, slow down the whole AE project. “
Saving or opening takes longer as the AEP file size grows, but otherwise, a project with 600 comps feels the same as a project with 1 comp.
Even if I haven’t convinced you, you can always split up your project later if it grows too big.
Walter Soyka
Designer & Mad Scientist at Keen Live [link]
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
@keenlive | RenderBreak [blog] | Profile [LinkedIn] -
[Richard Garabedain] “600 comps. wow, whats your setup?”
This was a data visualization project. Animation was driven by expressions and data; the comps were organizational. We had many elements coming on and off screen at various times.
Walter Soyka
Designer & Mad Scientist at Keen Live [link]
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
@keenlive | RenderBreak [blog] | Profile [LinkedIn] -
One other piece of advice I will add is to use Autosave and/or Save and Increment (Ctrl+Alt+Shift+S) a lot.
Some people just keep saving over the same project file, again and again. This is not a safe practice. In the unlikely event that an application crash or file system problem causes some kind of project corruption, they have no recent backup in place.
Autosave and/or save and increment will ensure you have a recent version to fall back on and prevent you from losing all your work even if something disastrous happens to your current file.
Walter Soyka
Designer & Mad Scientist at Keen Live [link]
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
@keenlive | RenderBreak [blog] | Profile [LinkedIn] -
Ive learned that lesson the hard way. The day before the project was supposed to air, and lightning strikes the building or something, and we lost power. I lost everything. I had to turn a real special piece into garbage because it still hard to be done that day and sent over to the station.
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“Some people just keep saving over the same project file, again and again.”
Guilty as charged. I’m looking into Autosave and Save and Increment functions.
Thank’s for the sound advices! I must admit that i’m really a pedestrian in AE, relying on the skills i learned ten or more years ago. Much to be learned!
Again, thanks a lot Walter!
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