AE Render Backwards

[Boris2016]

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.

[Boris2016]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Kevin+Hilt  wrote

If I understand correctly, imagine computer A is set to render 0-500 and computer B is set to render 501-1000. You hit start on both, and A finishes in 1 hour because those frames are easy, so it sits there doing nothing. After an hour, B is only on frame 750 because it hit some more intensive frames.

Sorry my mistake, so in my version you set computer one to do frames 0-1000 and computer two to complete 1000-0.

[Boris2016]

Gutter-Fish  wrote

Maybe I'm being dumb but I don't understand why rendering from frame 1000 to frame 500 would be any faster than rendering from frame 500 to frame 1000?  Why would one be faster than the other?  This question is for anybody.

It won't -  thats not the point. So with that example again.

This fictional 1000 frame sequence is very simple for the first 500 frames and very complex for frames 501 to 1000

By setting Computer two to work backwards from 1000; come morning lets say it's completed frames 1000-750 and computer one had completed frames 0-750 so in effect all frames are crunched.

The alternative / normal way would have been to set computer two rendering 501-1000 so in the morning computer one would have completed frames 0-750 and computer two would have completed frames 501-750 leaving frames 751-1000 still to be done.

[ToolfarmJP]

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

[Andrew Yoole · Accepted solution]

You can follow directions here

Automated rendering and network rendering in After Effects

to set up an automated network render farm.

[Rick Gerard]

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.

[Terry Wayne Ranson]

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. 

[Rick Gerard]

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.