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Troubleshooting aeRender on a Mac
Does anyone know why launching aeRender on my Mac creates the following output? I can’t type anything once it’s launched. It sort of locks up and appears to exit.
Thanks in advance for and advice. I’ve read the frolicking manual already.
Here’s the Terminal output when I double-click aeRender:
ForrestM-1466:~ fmaready$ /Applications/Adobe\ After\ Effects\ CS4/aerender ; exit;
aerender version 9.0.2×42
USAGE:
1] aerender renders After Effects comps. The render may be performed either
by an already running instance of AE or by a newly invoked instance. By
default, aerender will invoke a new instance of AE, even if one is
already running. To change this, see the “-reuse” flag below.
2] aerender takes a series of optional arguments.
Some are single flags, like “-reuse”. Some come in flag-argument
pairs, like “-project project_path”. And one comes in a triplet,
-mem_usage image_cache_percent max_mem_percent.
3] aerender with 0 arguments, or with any argument equaling “-help”
or “-h”, prints this usage message.
4] The arguments are:
“-h” print this usage message
“-help” print this usage message
“-reuse” use this flag if you want to try and reuse
an already running instance of AE to perform the
render. By default, aerender will launch a new
instance of After Effects, even if one is already
running. But, if AE is already running, and the
“-reuse” flag is provided, then aerender will
ask the already running instance of AE to perform
the render. Whenever aerender launches a new
instance of AE, it will tell AE to quit when
rendering is completed; otherwise, it will not
quit AE. Also, the preferences will be written
to file upon quit when the “-reuse” flag is
specified; otherwise it will not be written.
“-project project_path” where project_path is a file path or URI
specifying a project file to open.
If none is provided, aerender will work with the
currently open project.
If no project is open and no project is provided,
an error will result.
“-comp comp_name” where comp_name specifies a comp to be rendered.
If the comp is in the render queue already, and
in a queueable state, then (only) the first
queueable instance of that comp on the render
queue will be rendered. If the comp is in the
project but not in the render queue, then it will
be added to the render queue and rendered.
If no -comp argument is provided, aerender will
render the entire render queue as is. In this
case (no -comp), the only other arguments used
will be -project, -log, -v, -mem_usage, and
-close; the -RStemplate, -OMtemplate, -output,
-s, -e, and -i arguments will be ignored.
“-rqindex index_in_render_queue” where index_in_render_queue specifies a
render queue item to be rendered. Options that make
sense when rendering a single render queue item
are available like with the -comp flag.
“-RStemplate render_settings_template” where render_settings_template
is the name of a template to apply to the render
queue item.If the template does not exist it is
an error.
Default is to use the render template already
defined for the item.
“-OMtemplate output_module_template” where output_module_template
is the name of a template to apply to the
output module. If the template does not exist
it is an error.
Default is to use the template already defined
for the output module.
“-output output_path” where output_path is a file path or URI
specifying the destination render file.
Default is the path already in the project file.
“-log logfile_path” where logfile_path is a file path or URI
specifying the location of the log file.
Default is stdout.
“-s start_frame” where start_frame is the first frame to render.
Default is the start frame in the file.
“-e end_frame” where end_frame is the last frame to render.
Note, this is “inclusive;” the final frame
will be rendered.
Default is the end frame in the file.
“-i increment” where increment is the number of frames to
advance before rendering a new frame. A value
of 1 (the default) results in a normal rendering
of all frames. Higher increments will repeat the
same (frame increment-1) times and then render a
new one, starting the cycle again. Higher values
result in faster renders but choppier motion.
Default is 1.
“-mem_usage image_cache_percent max_mem_percent”
where image_cache_percent specifies the maximum
percent of memory used to cache already rendered
images/footage, and max_mem_percent specifies
the total percent of memory that can be
used by After Effects.
“-mp” use this flag to use multiple processes to
render multiple frames simultaneously
“-v verbose_flag” where verbose_flag specifies the type of
messages reported. Possible values are ERRORS
(prints only fatal and problem errors) or
ERRORS_AND_PROGRESS (prints progress of rendering
as well).
Default value is ERRORS_AND_PROGRESS.
“-close close_flag” where close_flag specifies whether or not to
close the project when done rendering, and
whether or not to save changes. If close_flag is
DO_NOT_SAVE_CHANGES, project will be closed
without saving changes. If close_flag is
SAVE_CHANGES, project will be closed and changes
will be saved. If close_flag is DO_NOT_CLOSE the
project will be left open; but the project is
left open only if using an already-running
instance of AE, since new invocations of AE must
always close and quit when done.
Default value is DO_NOT_SAVE_CHANGES.
“-sound sound_flag” where sound_flag specifies whether or not to play
a sound when rendering is complete. Possible
values are “ON” or “OFF”.
Default value is “OFF”.
“-version” displays the version number of aerender to the
console. Does not render.
“-continueOnMissingFootage”
Do not stop rendering on missing footage. Log and
render with placeholder color bars.
5] EXAMPLES:
To render just Comp 1 to a specified file:
aerender -project /Volumes/Stuff/projects/proj1.aep -comp “Comp 1”
-output /Volumes/Stuff/output/proj1/proj1.mov
To render everything in the render queue as is in the project file:
aerender -project /Volumes/Stuff/projects/proj1.aep
To render frames 1-10 using multi-machine render:
aerender -project /Volumes/Stuff/projects//proj1.aep
-comp “Comp 1” -RStemplate “Multi-Machine Settings”
-OMtemplate “Multi-Machine Sequence” -s 1 -e 10
-output /Volumes/Stuff/output/proj1/frames\[####\].psd
logout[Process completed]
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4 Replies
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Bummer. Im having the same issue? Did you ever figure this out?
Thanks!
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This happens because aerender is a command line program (it doesn’t have a GUI) meant to run in terminal. It takes arguments (file paths for instance) so that it can render compositions in project files. That output (as with many command line programs) is what happens when you run it with no arguments—it shows you the help file.
If you want to render comps in your render queue in a project on a Mac for example, you’d run something like:
/Applications/Adobe\ After\ Effects\ CC\ 2015/aerender -project "the/path/to/the/project_file.aep"You can also type in the first part up to and including -project and then type a quote and drag the actual aep into the terminal at that point then put a closing quote, hit enter and it should render any compositions in that project that are set to render.
Joe Clay
Workbench.tv -
I don’t know why this didn’t cross my mind! Thanks Joe. This is great! Thanks for taking the time. This should make it easy to access it using python etc….
-Jacob
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No problem! I actually do tutorials, and I ended up actually explaining this this week. So if you need any more info for some reason:
https://workbench.tv/tutorials/2016-06-03_UsingAerender/Joe Clay
Workbench.tv
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