Pre-Rendering
Last updated
Last updated
(Added in version 2.5)
Pre-renders the selected groups, regular layers, Precomp Clones & precomps. (Win: Ctrl+F2, Mac: no default shortcut).
Renders in selection order. Already rendered elements will be used in containing elements - that's why you preferably want to select (= render) a Precomp Clone that's contained in another one before the containing clone.
In addition to selected layers, the function also renders selected precomp items in the project panel (if no layer in your current comp is selected).
When pre-rendering a group or regular layer, the function effectively renders group's/layer's Precomp Clone, so if they don't have an existing, corresponding clone, it will be created.
After finishing, the render will be set as an AE proxy to the project item of the Precomp Clone or precomp.
Please note that there is a difference between an AE Proxy and a WF Proxy:
All Workflower pre-renders will be set as an AE Proxy to the pre-rendered Precomp Clone or precomp.
A WF Proxy is a lower-quality version of a pre-render that can be rendered additionally (if enabled). You can toggle the WF Proxy on and off.
This means that both the regular render AND the WF Proxy render will be set as an AE Proxy.
To customize the image format, potential WF proxy, footage interpretation, output path and more, go to the Pre-Rendering Settings.
To create a new pre-render version, simply execute the function again. The old version will be deleted from disk (can be disabled in the Pre-Render Settings).
With no layer selected, pre-renders either entire the comp or all groups in comp. Renders the latter from bottom to top. To exclude certain groups when pre-rendering all groups, use Mark Pre-Render State and choose to skip.
Pre-rendered Group Clones are identifiable by a capital Ｒ icon. Pre-rendered precomp layers, pre-rendered Dependent Clones as well as pre-rendered group headers are identifiable by a lowercase ｒ icon:
For visible pre-renders to appear in final render, set AE's Proxy Use to Current Settings in your final render's Render Settings (or to any other setting with AE proxy usage).
To show actual layers of pre-rendered Precomp Clone, execute Show Clone Layers (Ctrl/Cmd+click on 'Cloning'-button):
To show the Precomp Clone itself or precomp itself instead of the pre-render, execute Show / Hide Pre-Render:
To show/hide WF Proxy of pre-render, execute Show / Hide Pre-Render WF Proxy:
To either unset or delete a pre-render, select the desired layers with pre-render and execute Delete Layer / Clone / Group.
It will give you the option to either:
Unset the pre-render but keep the layer as well as the pre-render file on disk
Remove the layer but keep the pre-render file on disk
Remove the layer as well as remove the pre-render file on disk
By default, Workflower will pre-render only the portion of in- and out-points of all layers within the pre-render element combined (whether it be a layer, group, clone or precomp).
Pre-rendering trimmed elements, however, requires FFmpeg to be installed. In case, FFmpeg was not installed successfully during the initial Installation of Workflower, you can install it manually by going to Settings > Pre-Rendering > Miscellaneous. If FFmpeg is not installed, the entire duration will be rendered.
Tip for trimming a comp to be rendered: To quickly trim all layers within a comp to a certain area (without expanding trims), you can set AE's work area to it and then execute Trim Layer to Layer with no layer selected.
Please note: Concerning video files (not image sequences), elements will only be rendered trimmed when the in-point is more than 60 frames into the composition. Given a short in-point like this, rendering those empty frames using AE is the more efficient method. However, on in-points longer than this, the missing empty frames will be concatenated using FFmpeg.
The Pre-Render Settings allow you to customize the format, output, performance and miscellaneous settings.
Please note that format and output settings are saved on a project-basis whereas performance and miscellaneous settings are saved across the entire application. To make the current format and output settings the standard for all new projects, click on Current Settings to Default in New Projects. Shift+click on the button to reset the default to the standard settings.
You may save and load format and output settings as Pre-Render Profiles.
All Pre-Render output module templates are created with a Straight (Unmatted) alpha. This is highly recommended too when creating your own templates. Altough Premultiplied (Matted) is possible to use too, only Straight (Unmatted) guarantees to retain information beyond the rendered alpha matte.
To quickly access the Pre-Render Settings from the Main Menu, right-click on the Pre-Render button. Additionally, you have access to other features by holding one of the modifier keys when hovering over the Pre-Render Settings...-button:
Shift+Click: Open Pre-Render Path
Ctrl/Cmd+Click: Open Currently in Timeline Selected Pre-Render in File Browser...
Alt/Option+Click: Find / Remove Pre-Renders in Folder Path
If you want to find unconnected pre-rendered files (in case you switched your computer for example), or you want to remove old pre-renders, you can do so by going to Settings > Pre-Rendering > Output and click on Find / Remove Pre-Renders in Folder Path (or right-click on the Pre-Render button, then Alt/Option+click on Pre-Render Settings...)
Please note that removing pre-render files cannot be undone!
When executing Pre-Render, sometimes Workflower queues the renders but then stops before starting the render with this error: An unexpected error occurred while exporting a composition. Error Code: 3. Please restart After Effects and retry the export.
Workaround: To our knowledge, this problem only occurs very infrequently. Simply restart After Effects or your computer, and try executing Pre-Render again. This should get rid of the error. If it doesn't, please contact customer support.
When executing Pre-Render, sometimes After Effects freezes after finishing the render, and it has to be force quit it or it crashes with this error message: After Effects quit unexpectedly.
Workaround: In our testing, this problem only occurs infrequently. Simply restart After Effects or your computer, and try executing Pre-Render again. (Sometimes, you have to restart a second time.) This should get rid of the error. If it doesn't, please contact customer support.
(Added in version 2.5)
Shows or hides pre-renders. (Win: Ctrl+Alt+Space, Mac: no default shortcut).
Needs either pre-rendered Precomp Clone, group or contained layer of group with pre-rendered Precomp Clone, or pre-rendered precomp layer selected.
With no layer selected, shows/hides all pre-renders in comp or comp's pre-render.
If you want to show the layers of a pre-rendered group/clone instead of the Precomp Clone itself, please use Show Clone Layers.
(Added in version 2.5)
Shows or hides WF proxies (= Workflower's proxies) of pre-renders.
Needs Precomp Clone or precomp layer with pre-render WF proxy selected.
With no layer selected, shows/hides all WF proxies in either your comp or the entire project.
Before pre-rendering, it is recommended to hide all WF proxies in order to pre-render with full quality.
To avoid confusion with After Effects' proxies, Workflower's pre-render proxies are consistently called WF Proxies (as opposed to AE Proxies).
If you want to show or hide only footage AE proxies, right-click on the Show / Hide Pre-Render WF Proxy button and click on Show/Hide Footage AE Proxies.
(Added in version 2.5)
Renders the current frame as Photoshop file, opens it in Photoshop and imports it into After Effects' timeline (only available via Main Menu: Alt/Option-click on Pre-Render-button).
The file is opened in the Photoshop version matching your After Effects version (otherwise the latest installed Photoshop version).
Customize the format in the Pre-Rendering settings. It's recommended to use Straight (Unmatted) alpha settings as Photoshop doesn't recognize a premultiplied alpha properly.
Push Frame to Photoshop always uses the Main Render Settings as well as the Pre-Render output path.
(Added in version 2.5)
Marks a pre-render element with a specific render state (only available via Main Menu: Right-click on Pre-Render-button, then click on Mark Pre-Render State).
Marks an element (group, Precomp Clone or precomp) to only render a still.
The function uses the Photoshop output module.
This function adds a marker named [[[STILL PRE-RENDER]]] to the element. Do not modify or remove this marker as only the exact name signals the still state.
Remove the still state by executing the function again.
Marks a group to be skipped when pre-rendering all groups:
Useful on groups that only contain utility layers, groups with only very few layers that don't need pre-rendering, or groups with adjustment layers (since they can't be rendered only by themselves).
This function adds a marker named [[[SKIP PRE-RENDER]]] to the group header. Do not modify or remove this marker as only the exact name signals the skip state.
Remove the skip state by executing the function again.
