Inspiring

Answered

Best rendering set up with multiple adjustment layers?

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
August 30, 2018
4 replies
3065 views

Hello there,

So, I'm working on a 4k (by which I mean 3840 x 2160) animated video. Each scene uses multiple (up to 100) 3D layers, 2D layers, and precomps, many with various transfer modes. On top of it all, I have three adjustment layers over the entire project (a synthetic aperture color adjust, a soft blur, and a vignette).

My question to you all is, do you think it would be "better" (by which I mean, easier on my computer / less likely to crash or run out of memory) to render each scene individually (I use TIFF sequences) and then re-render with the adjustment layers?

My thought there is that the computer doesn't have to think about adding the 3 adjustments to ALL those layers, rather, it would just add them to a single pre-rendered layer. However, I wonder if re-rendering like that will decrease the final quality? I think TIFF is lossless....but still. Also, it will certainly take longer.

Any thoughts on this?

PC info:

CPU: Intel 17-8700k @3.70Ghz

RAM: 64GB

Video Card: GEforce GTX 1070

OS: Windows 10 64bit

Let me know if you need any more info to evaluate the situation.

Thanks!

- Chris

rendering

This topic has been closed for replies.

Correct answer Dave Merchant

From a workflow point of view it's never good practice to bake the 'grading' into the render. It'll probably take an age to chunk through all your layers, and if you then want to tweak the vignette you're stuffed.

Rendering a 'flat master' image sequence in something lossless and in at least the same bit depth as your project won't lose any fidelity. PNG or TIFF for 8-bit, EXR if you're working in full 32-bit. Re-rendering the frame sequence with the adjustment layers on top will be extremely fast.

As to how much of an impact on RAM and timing those three layers have, likely not much but you can find out for yourself by disabling them, rendering a few frames and comparing the performance. Hidden adjustment layers don't figure at all in the render calculations.

angie_taylor

Legend

Hi there,

I've done a short, very rough tutorial to show you how I use the Proxy feature in After Effects as a switch to turn on full resolution, rendered sections of my composition. Very handy when working with clients or just to render out finished sections. I hope this helps.

By the way, make sure to use a lossless codec, or uncompressed in the Output Module and Best Quality in the Render Settings :-)

Full of EyesAuthor

Inspiring

Thanks for this tutorial, Angie! Very helpful to understand this feature and its various—including the more unconventional—uses. Thanks for taking the time to put this together.

angie_taylor

Legend

A pleasure :-)

angie_taylor

Legend

Also, why do you need three adjustment layers? Why not put all the effects on one adjustment layer?

I sometimes use the Proxy feature to render out a finished version of each comp as it’s completed. This way you can colour correct more quickly but you can use the proxy switch to change things if necessary.

Full of EyesAuthor

Inspiring

I'm using different transfer modes for each adjustment layer so--as far as I know--I have to use three different layers.

Also--I'm not sure I know about the Proxy feature....

angie_taylor

Legend

Check out the Adobe online help for instructions on creating proxy files. However when I use it, I tend to output full res, uncompressed, then use the Proxy file in my final render. Not how it was designed to be used but very useful.

D

Dave MerchantCorrect answer

Legend

From a workflow point of view it's never good practice to bake the 'grading' into the render. It'll probably take an age to chunk through all your layers, and if you then want to tweak the vignette you're stuffed.

Rendering a 'flat master' image sequence in something lossless and in at least the same bit depth as your project won't lose any fidelity. PNG or TIFF for 8-bit, EXR if you're working in full 32-bit. Re-rendering the frame sequence with the adjustment layers on top will be extremely fast.

As to how much of an impact on RAM and timing those three layers have, likely not much but you can find out for yourself by disabling them, rendering a few frames and comparing the performance. Hidden adjustment layers don't figure at all in the render calculations.

Full of EyesAuthor

Inspiring

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Dave+Merchant wrote
From a workflow point of view it's never good practice to bake the 'grading' into the render. It'll probably take an age to chunk through all your layers, and if you then want to tweak the vignette you're stuffed.

Very helpful, thank you!

Dave_LaRonde

Inspiring

The word "scene" raised my eyebrows. What's the duration of this comp?

You can make the FINAL render go faster by prerendering with no adjustment layers, importing the prerender and putting the adjustment layers on it. But will it speed OVERALL render time? That's a tough call. My guess is there would be little difference.

Full of EyesAuthor

Inspiring

Ah, sorry, by "scene" I mean composition. There will be about 15 scenes/compositions when all is said and done; each as a separate render, obviously.

Thanks for your thoughts. So, as far as memory / cpu use during the render itself, would the pre-render route reduce the load?

Dave_LaRonde

Inspiring

That depends on the application where your rendered comps will be used next. The stuff on the adjustment layers might be done faster in a video editing application, for example.

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