I would suggest requesting a dedicated machine, off the coporate security protocols, that you can use as a render machine…
Another option is rendering to image sequences intead of video clips when you have a complex project. This will allow you to start and stop the render at will.
When I stop a render of an image sequence (at least in CS3) the render cue places a new render cue in line which which automatically picks up the frames where the first render left off.
After Effects has an option for numbering images, I leave mine set so that it numbers images based on frame number… So if something does super-crash and I can’t use the automatic restart that the cue makes, I can go to the render folder, and check the number on the last frame rendered. Then I can go back into my AE project, change the time from a clock counter to a frames counter, set my work area to start at the first frame that wasn’t rendered, and restart the render from that point without having to redo the entire thing.
As far as I know the only “post render” action you can do is set in the Output Module tab in a drop down menu, and does not include a log-off after render… There is also Aerender which is found here:
Windows: \Program Files\Adobe\Adobe After Effects CS3\Support Files
Mac OS: /Applications/Adobe After Effects CS3
It has lots of rendering options for automation, but I dont think it includes a log off method.
Brian Lynn