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ULTRACHROMA
ULTRACHROMA
Known Participant
November 5, 2018
Question

Workflow and work-arounds for 16-bit and multiple outputs?

  • November 5, 2018
  • 1 reply
  • 1554 views

TL;DR: help pls need to streamline!

Hi all - hoping someone can offer a bit of advice on my current situation as I'm not quite sure how to work around these problems. Technical details follow - thanks in advance!

Scenario:

Need to have outputs for a project delivered in two+ formats, one of which should be greater than 8 bits per channel (hereafter referred to as BPC). This is non-negotiable as it is a client delivery requirement.

In example:

  1. myComp.mov = RGBA 16BPC, encoded with CineForm
  2. myComp.mp4 = RGB 08BPC

Ideal workflows, in order of preference:

  1. Enqueue & render "myComp.ext" to both outputs at once (MP4 + MOV) via Media Encoder (AME)
  2. Enqueue & render "myComp.ext" to both outputs at once (MP4 + MOV) via AE
  3. Enqueue & render "myComp.ext" to one uncompressed output via AE, into a Watch Folder (WF) and have AME re-encode to delivery formats (MP4 + MOV)

Problem(s):

  1. After Effects does not seem to offer an export option for uncompressed or unconstrained output at 16BPC. There are two formats available upon export which are video files (as opposed to sequences) which are AVI and Quicktime, neither of which have options for uncompressed 16 BPC output.
  2. After Effects no longer includes an option to render to MP4 directly.
  3. Problems 1 & 2, combined, prevent the ideal workflow #2 as rendering from AE to WF can only be done via a compressed format, resulting in two passes of compression for the MOV output.
  4. Workflow #1 is currently a cumbersome process:
    • Items sent to AME via "Queue in AME" default to the last encoding preset
    • Adding and changing the output for multiple items at once quickly becomes a slog as the number of items queued and number of outputs increase:
      • Each queue item must be selected in order to bulk change the output; fortunately this can be done with SHIFT+click;
      • The outputs must be changed to the desired format, likely requiring 2 clicks (one for format, one for preset);
      • The queued items then need a second output, requiring a second click;
      • The second output format must then be selected for each queued item to be changed, and unfortunately SHIFT+click selects all of the outputs which means that one must very carefully select every third row in the AME queue for each item; I.E. 10 queued items = 10 clicks with clicks 2+ requiring modifier "CTRL"
    • AME currently (AFAICT) does not have an option to set outputs to a default format / preset, nor does it have the option to set outputs to have multiple output formats / presets.
This topic has been closed for replies.

1 reply

ULTRACHROMA
ULTRACHROMAAuthor
Known Participant
November 16, 2018

Fortunately I've found an interim solution to my conundrum; with FFAStrans it's possible achieve the desired outcome. In this post I share a workflow and details:

Workflow Examples and Repository - FFAStrans forum

R
Community Expert
Rick GerardCommunity Expert
Community Expert
November 16, 2018

If you are getting paid for your work you will pay for this the first time you use it: RenderGarden | by Mekajiki\

If your average render is 10 minutes Render Garden will wrap up in less than 4 and deliver multiple copies in multiple formats including h.264 MP4 at the same time. All of your cores can be utilized and you can continue to work in AE almost like it was the only app open. The only thing I notice is that the cooling fans come on with I'm using RG...

ULTRACHROMA
ULTRACHROMAAuthor
Known Participant
November 17, 2018

Thank you, Rick Gerard, for your answer!

I have tried RenderGarden in production and found it to be impressive, but ultimately it added complication to my workflow rather than alleviating frustration and streamlining.

It is worth evaluating, for those who have not given it a spin, but it's not for me at this time.

Interestingly, both RenderGarden and FFAStrans lean on FFmpeg to do the heavy lifting, IIRC. You may wish to explore FFAStrans for the transcoding portion of your own workflow. It's absolutely free, and it's amazingly robust.

A few caveats: it won't render for you "out-of-the-box" as RG will, and it can be infuriatingly arcane.

I'm sure that a workflow could be developed for it which would incorporate rendering: there is a node/module that can execute commands (with arguments, variables, flags, etc.)

This means that FFAStrans could invoke AERENDER in much the same way as RenderGarden, BG Render, and RenderBoss.

In fact, the abilities of FFAStrans are such that I can say with confidence that a workflow could be developed that would rival RG, BgR, or RB. What can you do when you combine all of the capabilities of FFmpeg, plus those of AviSynth, command-line execution, "farm" functionality, watchfolders, conditionals, variables, et cetera?

Personally I don't have the skillset to develop such a workflow on my own, but I'd welcome the chance to work with someone to create it for the benefit of the AE community. Please get in touch if you're interested in collaborating!

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