Using Proxies On Compositions That Include 3D Layers?

Report · Sep 06, 2023

I'm building a project that uses a decent share of 2D files (Image Sequences, Images, Vectors, etc.) in a 3D space.

In order to speed up performance and the final renders I'm using proxies when I can; however on compositions that include 3D layers, the proxy turns off the 3D of these layers. Here are 2 pictures to illustrate this:

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With the proxy OFF, the inside layers are still maintaining their 3D position and rotation

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With the proxy ON, the inside layers act as one 2D layer of footage. The only way to control it in 3D is via the controls over the whole composition

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Here is a reference of the comp and general proxy settings.

(Don't mind the resolution lol, that is just a placeholder atm)

I'm pretty sure the reason for this issue is that a proxy is basically just making a piece of footage out of my comp and that footage obviously won't carry over any 3D properties.

I'm curious then:

. Is there a proxy format that can include 3D properties / display the elements as 3D objects?

. Can I pre-render the comp as a 3D Sequence of some kind?

. Or are there any other ways to improve the performance of previews, scrubbing, rendering, and exporting of these 3D comps?

The main goals I'm hoping to achieve with this are to speed up the final export, and the general playback of everything. Any tips that could help with those on their own would be greatly appreciated too!

Report · Sep 06, 2023

No, no and no. AE's 3D renderer is simply too stupid and too limited for any of this. the way to speed up things would be to buy plug-ins, but apparently even that doesn't really work since for instance Element 3D seems to be broken in recent versions.

Mylenium

Report · Sep 07, 2023

Hmm in that case would you have any tips on how I could speed up just the final export of the project? Either through the render queue or media encoder?

Report · Sep 07, 2023

The Render Queue is almost always faster than the Media Encoder. If the project is complex and there is any danger of the render failing at some point, rendering an image sequence is a very good idea. You can pick up where the render fails and not waste any render time. You can also fix those 20 frames the client wants fixed by rendering only the 20 frames you need to fix.

Using the High-quality (Pro Rez) render setting can give you a higher bit-depth production master, which is always a good idea, and the Media Encoder will now render a 30 fps HD H.264 file from a ProRez file on my system at about two times real-time. The same goes for Premiere Pro. I can transcode a 5-minute video in a little more than two and a half minutes.

The other suggestion I would make would be to keep your comps to one shot or just the transition between two shots. If you have stitched together a bunch of complex comps in a long main comp, use the Composition/Pre-Render option to render and replace the complex comps in your main comp with a Production Master. This will not add any render time to the entire project, and if you are going directly to an H.264 delivery product for a client or streaming, it will save you time in the long run.

I hope this helps. I work mostly on feature films and documentaries, and I render almost all of my finalized comps to production masters and finalize the edit in Premiere Pro or Davinci. No matter the software a major production company (Pixar, Disney) uses to create visual effects or animation, Rendering the shots and then editing in an NLE is the workflow they use.

Report · Sep 07, 2023

Thanks for the details and different options here! I can see all of them coming in handy for me on this project.

Just to confirm as I'm not 100% familiar with the term, is the (Pro Rez) render setting you mention the Apple ProRes codec within the QuickTime render format?

Like in the example below:

Report · Sep 07, 2023

The High-Quality Output Module preset is all set up for Pro-Rez rendering. I have edited my presets (Edit/Templates/Output Module) so that High Quality is the default and set the color to Trillions and Straight Color because that is my go to rendering setting for 16-bit or 32-bit comps.

Report · Sep 07, 2023

Thanks for clarifying. I'll take a look at my template settings and run some tests of similar settings for my next renders.