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BG Renderer CS 3
This is the CS3 version of the BG Renderer. It now runs as an embedable panel that is saved as part of your workspace. It also utilizes the built in multiprocessing support that was added in CS3. This script takes whatever items are queued and ready in the render queue and sends them to render in the background allowing you to keep working in After Effects.
Watch this Screencast for Installation and Usage instructions, the instructions apply the same for Windows:
To install you need to put the script inside a folder called ScriptUI Panels inside the Scripts folder.
If a ScriptUI Panels folder does not exist you will need to create it.
To run the script select it from the WINDOW menu (instead of the Scripts menu). Once the script palette opens you can drag it and embed the panel and it will be saved with your workspace.
Troubleshooting:
•Make sure you don’t have any illegal characters in your path or your project file. Illegal characters include accents, apostrophe’s and eccentric punctuation
•BG Renderer only runs in English, it will fail if you are running a different language.
| Download: BG Renderer (this version is cross-platform) |
| *******v1.4 has been tested and works great with CS4******** |
version history:
v1.4 fixed additional issues with Leopard
v1.3 fixed issues with MacOS 10.5 Leopard
v1.2 fixed aerender path issue with Windows 64bit systems
v1.1 added terminal instructions, and MP Ram check and warning on Mac
v1.0 updated for CS3
I’m looking at the BG renderer CS3, but don’t see where it can be downloaded. Where can I get it?
Thanks!
Hi Sean,
Just click on the word BG Renderer CS3 where is says Download above
My PC is WINDOWS.
How do I use it?
To cope with the tutorial, please.
thank you.
The steps are exactly the same on Mac and Windows. Just follow the tutorial as if it was on a PC.
script runs fine! thanx!!
I have a path problem. In the terminal it says that there is path problem. I have AECS3, an iMac intel dual core 20 inchs. The AE file is in an external drive. I wanted to render the movie on my desktop. Am I doing something wrong?
Ok I found (with the help of Lloyd Alvarez) the problem. I speak French. So I had a folder name with an accent. Without the accent, everything works fine.
Just a big thanks
title
[...] BG Renderer screencast shows how to do the [...]
Each time I attempt to render I am faced with:
Without Multi-Core
“Unable to execute script at line 1. Expected: )”
With Multi0Core
“ERROR: XML_ERROR_INVALID_TOKEN (313/14)
Unable to execute script at line 1. Expected: )
Running After Effects CS3 on 32bit Windows Vista operating system with administrator privileges enabled and UAC disabled.
Am I to presume vista simply isn’t supported?
P.s
Forgot to mention that I\’ve attempted to use AE under Windows XP SP2 compatibility mode.
Hi, I just install the BG render, works well but the window doesn’t fit in my workspace, looks like an older script version (like a windows window) floating arround.
can you give me a hand please? thanks.
by the way very nice scripts, keep going and we will love you
One of … if not the handiest plugins/addons ever.
great stuff … thank you.
Lloyd very kindly replied to my comment and resolved the issue I was having with my error codes, which had nothing to do with the fact I was using Vista or CS3.
It was simply to do with my project’s name which included illegal characters:
“Josh Pyke’s Fill You In - Music Video Showcase.aep”
I renamed the project abc.aep and all rendered as it should.
Thanks again Lloyd!
I hope my donation has made its way to you.
Great Script!
But it wont render any Format on my machine (Athlon DC 2400 GHz, 2Gb).
For example if i use illustrator Files in a Project it wont render and If i choose png as output Format.
Anyway, great work
[...] AfterEffects scripts http://aescripts.com/ AfterEffects BG Renderer CS3 http://aescripts.com/2007/08/30/bg-renderer-cs-3/ AfterEffects BG Renderer AE7 http://aescripts.com/2006/11/30/bg-renderer-for-ae7/ how to install [...]
Hi, i’ve downloaded the BG Render, script twice now and I’m pretty certain that it’s in the right place ie: ae/scripts/scriptUI panels, Opened up after effects and tried to use it but get the same error message every time. invalid path the one that say’s you may have illeagle characters. Please advise, is there a way around this problem?
thanks
John
Don’t forget to check the name of your project for illegal characters, not just the output path and folder… It took me a long time to figure it out
[...] fan of Lloyd Alvarez, actually of the scripts that he writes on AEscripts.com. Specifically the background renderer that has found its way onto every AE workstation I come in contact with. I had to buy him a beer [...]
Thank you for a great script. Works like a charm!
I wonder if there is a way to execute this through another script? I’ve just made a multi render script and would like to use this new render method instead of AE’s own.
I can’t seem to dock the render into the Workspace as shown on the demo. I’m using After Effects CS3 on XP SP3. All I can get it to do is sit on top.
Please help.
To dock the panel you need to grab the left side of the tab (it has a bunch of dots on it) and drop it onto your workspace where you’d like it.
This script is great! I formerly used the console manually but this is way smoother.
Have you considered adding an email and/or sms notification to this script? I prefer to do ALL my heavy renders in the terminal using aerender. I find they have a much lower failure rate than through the AE GUI. This is why I am reluctant to just use the render_and_email.jsx script that AE ships with. That one addition would make this script absolutely perfect for my workflow as i have renders that regularly take between 2 and 12 hours.
I like the script, it saved me many lives. Thank you…
charisti
http://www.ninc.at
[...] script for After Effects CS3, and it now resides in its own panel, ready for use at any time. You can get it from Lloyd’s site, which also includes a movie showing how to install and use it and a link to buy Lloyd a beer for [...]
[...] After Effects Scripts » Blog Archive » BG Renderer CS 3 [...]
Thanks for the great script. I installed on my Mac Pro just as you did in the video but it does not show up as a choice in my window menu. Any ideas?
[...] processes used by the main AE application and therefore does not apply to aerender which is what BG Renderer uses, so if you use BG Renderer and want to use MP successfully you might want to stock up on some [...]
This looks great, but I don’t know how to use. The link to the tutorial movie crashes both Mozilla Firefox 3.01 and Internet Explorer 6. Any other way to get info on use? Is it as simple as making the folder and putting the file in it?
great and stable render method! love it!
I am getting a error message saying “error parsing properties list” whenever AE starts up and when i look at console it says ERROR: XML_ERROR_INVALID_TOKEN (3252/2).
I am working on a Mac OS 10.4.11 using CS3.
I have an odd error. I downloaded BG Renderer and installed it to the proper Adobe folder directory on my Windows XP SP2 PC. I created a comp called Comp1 and then rendered it as an uncompressed AVI using BG. Everything worked fine. Later I tried to render in Quicktime Photojpeg. This failed. The script asked if I should save the project file first. So I said yes and then it seemed to flash the Command window. The command window stays up for like 1/2 a second. It changes the render queue from “Queued” to “Unqueued” but no file is rendered. I switched to AVI again and now that failed in the same manner. I tried a few more file types - all w/the same results. I tried to make the script dockable and that made no difference. I closed AE, deleted the script files, added the script files back, and it failed in the same way. I restarted my computer and nothing will get it back to working like the first time. The only thing I can guess is that the script is launching the Command window but the script is not executing. Any ideas?
Thanks
Hi,
I just found the BG Render Script for CS 3 and I was realy happy aboud it. Thanks for this realy helpul timsaving script.
But now it don´t works and i absolutly don´t know why or how i could fix the problem. Everytime i try to BG Render a Comp i get this masage: “BG_Renderer_temp_file.term” couldn´t open because it is damaged. Where is this file…where does ist come from and how can I restore it?
Hey Roland,
Apple must have changed something in the latest 10.5 upgrade but the fix is to go into the Settings tab in the Preferences in Terminal and select all the BG_Renderer_temp_file.term shells and hit the - (minus) button at the bottom to delete them. Things should start working again. Apparently Terminal stores all the shells now and it must reach some limit. I imagine you will need to do this every few months.
-Lloyd
Hi Lloyd, good script.
In m case it has a random behavior, sometimes when I click RENDER, it opens a DOS windows and tells me LICENSESTATE DISABLING, it does this for some seconds and so begins rendering till the end, maybe do you know the root of this problem??
Thanks in advance.
Hi Carlos,
I would suggest re-installing After Effects and see if you still see the problem. If you want to do a test before you re-install try running aerender in the command line. Goto START->RUN and type CMD then navigate to the After Effects folder where aerender.exe lives and run aerender.exe. If you get the same licensing issue then there is an issue with aerender and you will need to reinstall.
Hi and thanks for this great timesaver!
thing is, I have yet managed to get it working.
Setup: AECS3 WinXPproSP3.
Installed properly.
When I click BGR, a window pops up notifying that the projects must first be saved. Click OK, then a notepad dock opens, telling me that a bgrender.bak does not exist and if I want to create one. Click Ok.. and that is it.
Nothing happens, no bg process and the render queue item gets unchecked.
Any suggestions?
Hi I’m on Vista Home Premium 32Bit. Been getting this Error,
ERROR: XML_INVALID_tOKEN (313/10)
running AE CS3
any idea’s?
Excellent job. Thank you Lloyd !