Impact of Project Bit Depth on Render Settings in After Effects

[Fine Line]

If my After Effects project is set to 8-bit but I choose 16-bit in the render settings, will that result in an actual increase in color depth, or does it simply render the existing 8-bit data in a 16-bit format? Will it still utilize the original 16-bit data from the footage and effects during rendering?

[Rick Gerard]

Blurs, blend modes, 16-bit effects, color corrections, anti-aliasing, and everything else get a boost from 256 colors per channel (16.7 million possible colors) and only 256 different levels for an alpha channel to 281 trillion colors. That's a massive difference in the quality of everything from gradients to motion blur. Even if you start with 8-bit images or footage, the final render will be significantly better if you add any effect or animation.  I only create about one 8-bit comp for every hundred created at 16 or 32-bit. Almost all of my production master renders also have a higher bit depth. I only render 8-bit H.264 files as quick tests for client approval. All delivered production masters are at least 10-bit in color, and most are higher.

[Fine Line]

Thank you for you answer. If I set my project at 8bit (lower part of the project panel), and set it to 16bit in my render settigs, will it render at 16bit in a good way or it's messed up because the project is 8bit and the render settings is 16bit?

[Rick Gerard]

Your comp needs to be set to 16 bit.