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house embers 2
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May 24, 2023
Answered

rendering a file in QuickTime format

  • May 24, 2023
  • 2 replies
  • 3516 views

im attempting to render a file in after effects. In the output module custom settings i selected "quicktime" because i assumed this would render it as an apple prores 422 HQ video. when it is done rendering and i try to open it in my finder window im unable to open it

 

im working off a macbook pro

Correct answer Rick Gerard

There are a bunch of Render Module presets in the Render Queue. The High Quality preset in the current versions of After Effects are already set up to give you 8-bit ProRez 422 files. The Hight Quality with Alpha will give you ProRez 444 with an Alpha channel (transparency). 

 

I always edit the Output Module templates using the Edit/Templates/Output Module menu to get the highest bit rate possible because I usually work on projects requiring as much color information as possible. I encourage you to explore the templates, do some research on video formats and standards, and establish your own settings. If you do not have time to do that homework, rely on the existing templates. That goes for the Adobe Media Encoder too. If you don't have a pretty good understanding of the standards, it's pretty easy to foul up a render by monkeying with the controls.

2 replies

R
Rick GerardCorrect answer
Community Expert
May 25, 2023

There are a bunch of Render Module presets in the Render Queue. The High Quality preset in the current versions of After Effects are already set up to give you 8-bit ProRez 422 files. The Hight Quality with Alpha will give you ProRez 444 with an Alpha channel (transparency). 

 

I always edit the Output Module templates using the Edit/Templates/Output Module menu to get the highest bit rate possible because I usually work on projects requiring as much color information as possible. I encourage you to explore the templates, do some research on video formats and standards, and establish your own settings. If you do not have time to do that homework, rely on the existing templates. That goes for the Adobe Media Encoder too. If you don't have a pretty good understanding of the standards, it's pretty easy to foul up a render by monkeying with the controls.

    Conrad_C
    Conrad_C
    Community Expert
    May 25, 2023

    “QuickTime” is not a specific format, it’s a container for many potential video and audio formats and codecs. Everything from today’s ProRes, to the Cinepak codec from QuickTime 30 years ago. The problem is that Apple has dropped some of the oldest codecs, so if you weren’t being more specific than “QuickTime” then it might have been set up to render something that’s no longer supported.

     

    What you want to do in the Output Module Settings window is click the Format Options button, and then in the QuickTime Options dialog box that appears, click the Video Codec menu to specifically tell the Output Module which QuickTime codec you want it to use. You can see that on my Mac, it defaults to the over 30-year-old Animation codec, not ProRes. If on your Mac the Video Codec is set to anything other than ProRes 422, go on to select the ProRes 422 variation you want, and then render the comp again.

     

     

    If you are wondering why the .mov file in the macOS Finder is not playable, select it, choose File > Get Info, expand the More Info section, and look at the Codecs line. Then check to see if the codec is one of those that is no longer supported by Apple in macOS, such as one of the old 32-bit codecs. In my example below, my .mov file uses the H.264 codec, which is fully supported in current versions of macOS, so it plays as expected.

     

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