After Effects Tutorial: Faster Rendering with Multi-Machine Network Rendering

[AnalogX64]

Great tutorial.. I wish this multi machine rendering was done like a 3D Software like Bryce or Carrara. Where you simply install a Client on the additional machines and 1 main machine does all the job handling instead of having to run a separate render manually.

[beaupoor]

@AnalogX64 You actually can do that. I'm creating a tutorial as soon as I get a render farm set up (prob this weekend) to show how to do it. The OP posted the method farther up int he comments.

[AnalogX64]

@beaupoor Cool. Looking forward to it.

[AlfanetKayuara]

thank you

[bl1ppyboy]

does it have to be on a file server ?

can it not be on one of the 2 computers that are rendering ?

I ask because i only have 2pcs here

[rsmrt]

@bl1ppyboy It does not have to be on a file server. 1 of the 2 computers can share the source video. You can also have the source video copied to both computers. In fact, this way is even faster because it does not rely on network/server speed. One strategy that works for me, render half the video on one computer, and the other half on the second computer simultaneously. Then combine the image sequences on one of the computers for the final movie. You can do this with or w/o a network/server.

[bl1ppyboy]

@rsmrt

Thank you for the very fast reply and for the great tut btw.

I do not know if it would be any faster for me to do that ? (the 2 pcs render 50% each)

I think Im probably doing something wrong :)

Would it be possible to contact you via some other form of communication rather than your youtube comments ?

[rsmrt]

@bl1ppyboy Thx for the comments. Feel free to send me a message via YouTube or on my discussion forum (see the video description for links).

When you divide up the processing between two or more computers, you are basically rendering more content simultaneously because you now have multiple processors doing the work. This is likely only advantageous when you have content that requires a lot of processor power (when using CPU intense filters like denoise, motion blur, particles, etc).

[fsmaestro]

Do I have to have a license per machine?

[fsmaestro]

@fsmaestro yes, is the answer. :)

[rsmrt]

@fsmaestro Yes for the "easy" method I show here, you must have a license per machine. However, for single license multi-machine rendering, look up the "watch folder" method. I don't like it nearly as much, but with some tinkering you can achieve the same goal.

[fsmaestro]

@rsmrt awesome! Thanks so much - this will work great for me.

[castformfog]

Can I do this with Premiere?

[rsmrt]

@castformfog I don't think Premiere does network rendering, however I haven't tried it with the newer versions. I always use AE for editing video and network rendering. Google is normally where I go to find this kind of stuff out.

[MultiMixedMedia]

this doesnt let you keep audio?

[rsmrt]

@MultiMixedMedia - You must add the audio in the last step. To be more specific, image sequences don't use audio. Thus, the last step is importing the image sequence, and rendering the image sequence as a video. I simply move the audio into the final step and render the image sequence + audio as the final video. I'll update the description with more details.