User Guide

21
Submitting After Effects Batches with the Generic Render Command:
The following template is a good starting point for using the Generic Render plug-in to
render After Effects projects:
[EXECUTABLE] -project [INPUT] -comp "Comp 1" -RStemplate "Multi-Machine
Settings" -OMtemplate "Multi-Machine Sequence" -s [START FRAME] -e
[END FRAME] -output [ITEM]/strategies[####].psd
Where:
[EXECUTABLE] = /Applications/Adobe\ After\ Effects\ 6.5/aerender
[INPUT] = /SHARED_VOLUME/Projects/AEProjs/Wine_Country/QMproject.aep
[START FRAME] = 0
[END FRAME] = 544
[STEPS] = Not Used
[ITEM] = /SHARED_VOLUME/Projects/AEProjs/Wine_Country/output
In the example above, “Comp 1” is the name of the composition in your After Effects
project and “strategies[####].psd” is the output file name. Since you cannot select an
output filename in the template’s Item field before it has been rendered, first select the
output directory, then add the filename to the Item field.
Note: In the example, /SHARED_VOLUME/Projects/ is the shared volume. If you created
the project on a computer that is not using the shared volume, copy the project to the
shared volume, open After Effects, and relink any missing media.
 After Effects makes good use of multiprocessor systems, but on projects that are not
CPU-bound, two rendering services per node give you better results.
 After Effects custom template information is stored in Users/username/Library/
Preferences/Adobe After Effects 6.5 Prefs/. If you would like to use custom Render
Setting and Output Module templates in an Apple Qmaster cluster, copy this file to
the same location on each node in the cluster. Then you can specify your templates
when using the -RStemplate or -OMtemplate options.
The above example includes many additions to the shipping After Effects template.
In order to render After Effects in a distributed environment you must render an
image sequence. There are some things that are user specific which must be edited
every time, such as the comp name (Comp 1), output file name (test[####].psd), and
possibly output module and render settings. After Effects provides Render Setting
and Output Module templates specifically for this environment. You can use custom
After Effects render and output templates if you wish, but the output must be an
image sequence. After Effects stores its custom template information in ~/Library/
Preferences/Adobe After Effects 6.5 Prefs. If you would like to use your custom
Render Setting and Output Module templates in the cluster, copy this file to the
same location on each node in the cluster. Then you can specify your templates
when using the -RStemplate or -OMtemplate options.