Skip to main content
B
Boris2016
Known Participant
June 15, 2017
Answered

AE Render Backwards

  • June 15, 2017
  • 7 replies
  • 6829 views

Is it possible to make AE render an image sequence backwards? as in from last frame to first.

The idea being you can set another computer with identical files rendering forwards and they can meet in the middle.

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Andrew Yoole

You can follow directions here

Automated rendering and network rendering in After Effects

to set up an automated network render farm.

7 replies

R
Community Expert
Rick GerardCommunity Expert
Community Expert
May 26, 2023

Setting frame ranges in the Render Queue's Render Settings is very easy. I do it all the time. Sometimes I will replace ten frames in the middle of a render. 

Terry Wayne Ranson
Terry Wayne Ranson
Participating Frequently
May 26, 2023

I was trying to do this and while reading the answer just came to me. Even though it's an old thread I'll share. Put your comp inside another comp, making it a layer. Time reverse the layer and render. 

Andrew Yoole
Andrew YooleCorrect answer
Inspiring
June 20, 2017

You can follow directions here

Automated rendering and network rendering in After Effects

to set up an automated network render farm.

    R
    Community Expert
    Rick GerardCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    July 24, 2020

    If you want to speed things up and add safety while keeping all the advangates of using the render cue Render Garden is well worth the money and it will use all of your available system resources and allow you to continue to work on other comps while AE is rendering with almost no noticable reduction in performance. I use it on every render that is going to take more than three or four minutes, and it also supplies an mp4 at the same time I can send to the client for approval.

    ToolfarmJP
    Community Expert
    ToolfarmJPCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    June 19, 2017

    Hi,

    If you have a few sets of PC, I recommend you use the distribution rendering like Thinkbox deadline, you can set a chunk of the rendering frame. e.g. the total frame number is 1000. You set the balance of rendering frame number like 1-300 and 301-1000, depending upon the process speed of the PC. I guess 2 free licenses are available for trial. It is worth checking it.

    deadline.thinkboxsoftware.com

    Dave_LaRonde
    Dave_LaRonde
    Inspiring
    June 15, 2017

    Boris2016  wrote

    Is it possible to make AE render an image sequence backwards? as in from last frame to first.

    The idea being you can set another computer with identical files rendering forwards and they can meet in the middle.

    You can't do it with a simple "render backwards" command.  You have to jump through some hoops.

    But I'd guess everyone's asking this  -- why on Earth would you want to do that?

    B
    Boris2016Author
    Known Participant
    June 18, 2017

    some hoops?

    As explained - The idea being you can set another computer with a clone hard drive rendering forwards and they can meet in the middle.

    Dave_LaRonde
    Dave_LaRonde
    Inspiring
    June 19, 2017

    Oh.  Sorry.  Nope.  There are too many things in AE that rely on looking at the previous frames to create the current frame.  Trying to render out an image sequence in reverse order would result in a God-Awful mess if it could even be done at all.  Which it can't.

    A nice idea, but there's no way on God's Green Earth it will work.

    Martin_Ritter
    Martin_Ritter
    Legend
    June 15, 2017

    You can set up a second computer rendering the same comp. You must render the comp as PNG or TIFF or something like that and toggle the option to skip existing files. Your destination folder muss be accessible for both computers.

    Also, you can set different rendering-ranges on both computers, but the first way is easier to do.

    There is a plugin "BG Renderer" which will come in handy for this rendering workflow and I am also working on a render manager plugin for After Effects, which will come with a couple of useful features like parallelization, rendering presets and pipeline workflows. (But I guess I need till next year for a release - if you are interested you can write me an email at dev@vogelmoritz.de and I will notify you as soon as I have something).

    Cheers,

    Martin

    Terry Wayne Ranson
    Terry Wayne Ranson
    Participating Frequently
    May 26, 2023

    yes. It is possible. Put your comp inside another comp, effectively turning it into a layer. Time reverse the layer and render. 

    Mylenium
    Mylenium
    Legend
    June 15, 2017

    No. And depending on the kind of effects used it would not be efficient to begin with. Temporal effects for instance may be dependent on previous frames existing just like particle systems and similar stuff will need to run their simulations in full.

    Mylenium

      Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
      Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices