User Guide

CHAPTER 12
382
Rendering a Movie
Network performance
There is no limit to the number of systems you can use for rendering; in general, the more
systems, the faster the rendering. However, if too many systems are used across a busy
network, network traffic may be significant enough to slow down the entire process. You
can detect network slowdown by observing the time spent in the Compressing & Writing
stage in the Show Details section of the Render Queue window.
Note: Adobe does not provide technical support for general network configuration; consult
your network administrator.
Tracking discrepancies and load-sharing (Mac OS only)
With After Effects for Mac OS, you can use Finder labels to track discrepancies and load-
sharing when rendering with multiple systems. When the After Effects application is given
a Finder label, it renders each frame with the same label. If you give each copy of After
Effects a different label, you can track single frames to a particular copy of the application.
For example, if you discover a discrepancy in a certain frame created with network
rendering, you can adjust options in the copy of After Effects that rendered the frame. You
can also view the difference in rendering speed between the networked systems by
counting the number of frames for each label, and then make any necessary adjustments
to balance the workload.
To give the After Effects program a Finder label:
1 Quit After Effects.
2 Select the After Effects icon, and then choose a label from the Finder’s Label menu.
Starting After Effects in watch-folder mode (PB only)
You can start After Effects in watch-folder mode automatically. Simply save a project called
Watch This Folder.aep. After Effects will watch the folder containing the project if you
open that project. To start After Effects in watch-folder mode when you start your
Windows or Mac OS computer, create a shortcut (Windows) or alias (Mac OS) to the
Watch This Folder.aep project and move it to your Startup folder (Windows) or your
Startup Items folder (Mac OS).
UG.book Page 382 Wednesday, February 21, 2001 12:05 PM