Render multiple comps at various settings + still of each using token naming

[Greg5CD6]

I have a project that has within it 4 comps that are the same material, but with different formatting, aspect ratio, etc.  I need to find a way to hit a single button, and trigger automated actions to render each of the 4 comps to mp4 using automated naming (Project_Comp.mp4), then render a specific still for each as a poster frame (Project_Comp.jpg) into the project folder.

This needs to be automated (single action renders all) because I will be again and again making a copy of the template project folder, renaming the project, swapping out text and images, then rendering the batch of various format outputs.  It would be very time consuming to set up all the renders each time.

I'm looking into token naming now, and assuming that bit will be easy, but ot sure how to set up the automatic render actions.  My first inclination is to just save the template with a render queue ready to go... but not sure if that would reflect changes made after reopening the file with new name, and also I need mp4 which AFAIK uses ME render rather than AE's queue.

Happy to look up whatever I need, but time crunched, and hoping to at least get a few pointers as to correct terminology, etc to get this going today.

[Mylenium]

The obvious answer would have to be to create a script and adhere to a specific naming convention that some string code in teh script can latch on to. For the poster frames you might want to add a marker or fixed time that can also be used by the script. Of course if you genuinely re-save a new version of the project every time and can ensure that the output locations don't change and you don't get in trouble by accidentally misplacing/ deleting source files or overwriting existing outputs just including the project name as a variable in teh render queueu naming template might suffice. For the MP4 part I wouldn't bother with AE. Simply render to an intermediate format and let AME handle this as a watch folder process, with the benefit being that a) the AE renders would be faster to begin with, b) you can continue to work in AE while AME does its thing in teh background and c) the compression efficiency and encoding times in AME would be much faster, to. the old gag applies: Shun DynamicLink like the devil if you can.

Mylenium