Track dependencies of a watch-folder render – Adobe After Effects CS3 User Manual

Page 632

AFTER EFFECTS CS3

User Guide

627

In each render engine, choose File > Watch Folder, and select the watch folder that you’ve created.

Create your projects and compositions, and set them up in the render queue with the render settings and output

modules you want to use. (All render items in the project must have output names; otherwise the Enable Watch
Folder Render option in the Collect Files dialog box isn’t available.)

Choose File > Collect Files to copy completed projects to your specified watch folder. Once you choose Collect

Files, After Effects copies the project or composition and all source files to the watch folder.

Note: After Effects can’t copy source files that are larger than 2 GB using the Collect Files command: you must copy them
manually to the (Footage) folder in the Collect Files folder.

Choose For Queued Comps from the Collect Source Files menu (unless you’re manually moving source files), and

then select Change Render Output To. This option creates a folder on the networked server for rendered files—all of
the render engines need access to this folder to complete their rendering tasks.

Select Enable Watch Folder Render, click Collect, and name the Collect Files folder.

Save the Collect Files folder to a networked computer, preferably to a networked server.

Monitor the progress of the render engines by using a web browser to view HTML pages saved in the watch folder.

After Effects generates these pages automatically when the rendering begins. Click the Reload button in your
browser to see the updated status. These HTML pages will describe any errors that occur.

After Effects renders the item to the specified destination folder and, if necessary, to the overflow volumes you have
specified in the Output preferences (see “Overflow volumes and segment settings” on page 629). When After Effects
finishes rendering all of the queued items in a given project, it closes that project without saving it and then scans
the watch folder for new projects to render. Because it doesn’t save the project, After Effects ignores any Post-Render
Actions in the Output Module settings dialog box that specify to import the item when it is rendered.

Track dependencies of a watch-folder render

You can track render dependencies when you render over a network by setting Post-Render Action options. When
you set these options, After Effects confirms that all of the items that it needs to render are ready and available. For
example, if one item depends on another to render, and the first has not finished rendering or has received an error,
the second does not render.

You can use this process to render a single QuickTime or AVI movie from a watch-folder render. The movie is
actually created on only one computer.

Note: This procedure assumes that you have already created a multiple-computer watch-folder. (See “Set up watch-folder
rendering” on page 626.)

In the Render Queue panel, drag the output module to the Project panel. After Effects creates a placeholder for

that item's output.

Drag the placeholder back to the Render Queue panel.

Set the render settings and output module settings for the placeholder, and click Render.