BG Renderer Pro
-
Compatibility After Effects Please check exact version compatibility under the "COMPATIBILITY" tab below
Adding to cart... [BG Renderer 2] kept me sane when I was onlining BRICK & STEEL. It's difficult to describe just how quickly this little panel will become an essential part of your After Effects workflow. -Stu Maschwitz (prolost.com)
I use this script daily, and this update is a must have. -Paul Conigliaro (motion designer/editor)
That's dirt cheap for background rendering. If only our editing applications like Final Cut Pro or Media Composer could do the same. In this day and age they should be able to that. -Scott Simmons (studiodaily.com)
Been using BG Renderer on current project. So nice to get email and txt msg especially when they crash in the middle of the night. -Danny Princz (AE Ninja & FXPHD professor)
Just installed Background Renderer 2.0 & it works like a charm! Text message updates when render is finished are sick. -Ryan Summers (via twitter)
BG Renderer is a script that allows you to render your Render Queue items in the background while you can continue working in After Effects. It runs as a dockable panel that is saved as part of your workspace. BG Renderer now comes in 2 flavors: Basic and Pro.
- With the all new basic version you can just render your queue in the background. We completely re-programmed how it works so that it is simple and easy and works every time.
- If you need options, then the Pro version is what you want. Besides being able to set prefs for the render, the pro version offer the very powerful post render actions which allow you to get growl notifications, send email (with log), send sms and even iPhone push notifications when your renders are done or you have an error. You can also send a terminal command to be executed after each item in the queue is done rendering and put the machine to sleep or shut it down. If you are using CS3 or CS4 and have CS5 installed, you can send your CS3 or CS4 render to the CS5 render engine to take advantage of the new 64-bit goodness while keeping your work project in the older version. Finally there is a new portable app/folder feature that makes it easy to create an ad-hoc render farm quickly by simply copying this portable app to all the machines on your network and just double-clicking it to launch the render on that machine.
FULL INSTRUCTIONS:
The most basic way to use the BG renderer is to simply setup whatever you would like to render in the Render Queue and hit "BG Render".
Once you start the render, a new terminal/batch will open. Keep this window open. Here you will see the render progress. Tip: On mac you can customize the look of the terminal window by going into the terminal preferences and adjusting the look in the settings tab.
ADVANCED SETTINGS: (Only available in Pro version)
BG RENDER PRIORITY:
Set it to Low if you plan on continuing to work in AE. It is recommended to have at least 2 GB of RAM per CPU for best performance.
MAX MEM USAGE:
This determines the maximum amount of memory allocated to it the BG Render will have available to use. Setting this over 100% will allow it to use virtual memory. The default setting is 120%.
MAX RAM CACHE:
This is the maximum amount of cache that the BG Render will attempt to use. Caching improves rendering speed but if you are getting out of memory errors try lowering this value. The less it tries to cache the more memory it will have to render with. The default setting is 60%.
MULTIPROCESSING:
It will use multiple processes to speed up rendering. Again, at least 2GB of RAM per cpu plus 2GB for the system is strongly recommended.
POST RENDER ACTIONS:
Click on the "Configure" button to configure the post render actions. All post render actions have the option of being executed at the end of each comp being rendered or at the end of the entire render queue. You also have the option of only being notified if there are any errors logged. You select this from the pull-down menu to the right of each action.
PLAY SOUND:
This will play the default After Effects render done sound.
CLOSE BG RENDER WINDOW WHEN FINISHED:
On windows simply check this option to have the batch window close automatically when BG Renderer is finished. On Mac you need to go into the Terminal Preferences->Settings and under the "Shell" tab select "Close the window" in the "When the shell exits:" dropdown.
SEND EMAIL:
This will send an email to the address entered with the option of attaching the render log. The email subject can use the special keywords available in the "Special Keywords" section. You must configure the email settings by clicking on the "Configure" button.
EMAIL CONFIGURE:
Mail SMTP Server:
This is the outgoing mail server. It is usually smtp.domain.com or mail.domain.com. Check with your internet provider for these settings.
From Email Address:
This is the email address that the email will be addressed from.
From Name:
This is name the mail will come from. There are 2 special keywords that can be used in this field: [username] is the username of the machine that is rendering and [computername] which is the name of the computer. These are dynamically inserted so if you use the portable launcher feature these will report the machine they are being run on.
Use SSL/TLS (Secure Socket):
This is a secure connection option that is required by some servers. Please check with your provider is you can/should use this option.
Use SMTP Server Authentication:
You will most likely need to turn this option on. This allows you to login to the SMTP server.
SMTP Login:
Check with your provider for this info but it is most likely your full email address.
SMTP Password:
This is most likely your email password.
Send test email:
This will allow you to send a test email from this window to make sure your settings are correct. If they are not you will get the server error to help you figure out what is wrong.
SEND SMS:
This will send you an SMS message using an email to SMS gateway so you will need to configure the email settings in order to use this feature. You will need to choose your provider from the pull down list and then enter your mobile number. Make sure you only enter your actual phone number without any dashes and without including the country code. Clicking on the SMS Help button will give you further assistance with this feature. If your provider is not included in the provider list please contact support@aescripts.com and we will add it.
iPHONE ALERT:
This feature uses the "Prowl" iPhone app to send push notifications to your iPhone. You will need to purchase the Prowl app for your iPhone
(it's only $2.99) then go to the prowl website and register to obtain a free API key which you can enter in the Prowl API Key field in BG Renderer. Once entered you can click on the Verify API key to make sure it works. If you have an android phone you can turn on growl notifications and use the GrowlForAndroid app.
GROWL ALERT:
This uses the "Growl" notification system to let you know when the renders are done. Please note that you need to download and install growl even if you are already getting growl notifications from other apps. Download growl for windows here: http://www.growlforwindows.com/ and download growl for mac here: http://growl.info/. Please note that on mac you also need to install growlnotify from the Extras folder in the growl installer (This extra step is not necessary for windows).
COMMAND:
This feature allows you to execute a command-line command after the render is done. This field can use the special keywords available in the "Special Keywords" section. Clicking on the "Save" button will save the current command. Up to 10 commands can be save and retrieved from the pull down menu to the right of the Save button. To delete a saved command, simply load it and click on "Remove".
MESSAGE:
This is the message that will be sent in the notifications. This field can use the special keywords available in the "Special Keywords" section. Please note that any errors will be automatically included in the message if any errors are detected.
SLEEP MACHINE:
Will put the machine to sleep after the entire render queue is done rendering.
SHUTDOWN MACHINE:
Will shut the machine down after the entire render queue is done rendering.
SPECIAL KEYWORDS:
These keywords are dynamically replaced with the respective values when used in certain fields. There is a descrition for each keywords to the right of the pull down after it is selected. To insert it, click on the field you want to use it in and click "Insert keyword".
Once you are done configuring the post render actions click on the "Save settings" button.
SAVE BG LAUNCHER FILE:
This feature will save a double-clickable file in the designated location. This can come in handy if you are wanting to launch several instances of the same render. Please note that all post render actions will also be executed for each instance.
MAKE PORTABLE APP/FOLDER:
If you plan on using a different computer to execute the render, choose this option and copy the portable launcher file (on mac or folder on windows) to that machine. This carries over the necessary support files that BG Renderer needs to execute some of the post render actions. However, you will still need to make sure that there is a local copy of the same version of After Effects installed in the rendering maching and any footage and output folders also need to be accessible from the new machine. This is usually accomplished with a shared server. A launcher file generated on a mac can only be used on mac and vice-versa.
USE CS5 RENDER ENGINE:
If CS5 is installed on the same machine, this feature will use CS5's new 64-bit rendering engine to render the project which is converted on the fly. You will need to make sure that all the same plugins are installed in the CS5 installation. Please make sure to test this feature before trying any critical renders.
| After Effects | CS5.5, CS5, CS4, CS3 |
|---|
Current version: 2.12
- v2.12 Escaped special characters in Dos, Fixed growlnotify instructions - May 2011
- v2.1 - Feb 2011
- Added priority change for growl/prowl notices if there is an error
- Added option to close BG Render window when finished
- Added more sms providers
- v2.05 Added email and sms support to older OS X versions - Feb 2011
- v2.04 Fixed iPhone/Prowl compatibility with OS X 10.5 - Jan 2011
- v2.03 Fixed small bug when updating SMS provider list - Jan 2011
- v2.02 - Jan 2011
- Added a bunch more SMS providers
- Growl on mac now lists BG Renderer as an application
- Fixed shutdown on mac
- v2.01 Fixed small bug when email was not configured properly - Jan 2011
- v2.0 re-written from ground up, added pro options - Jan 2011
- v1.6 Changed temp file location to fix corrupted .term file bug - Dec 2009
- v1.5 added additional escaped characters check - Aug 2009
- v1.4 fixed additional issues with Leopard, tested and approved for CS4 - Nov 2008
- v1.3 fixed issues with MacOS 10.5 Leopard - Feb 2008
- v1.2 fixed aerender path issue with Windows 64bit systems - Oct 2007
- v1.1 added terminal instructions, and MP Ram check and warning on Mac - Oct 2007
- v1.0 updated for CS3 - Jul 2007
-
- Compatibility After Effects
Render Frame at Markers
Will send to the render queue any frames that are marked by layer markers that are within the comp work area. This would be equivalent to going to a point in time in your comp and selecting "Save Frame As->File".More Info$14.99More Info -
- Compatibility After Effects
EFX Uniqueness
More InfoThis plugin finds all the pixels that seem to be in-focus. Let's call it a "find edges" filter on steroids.
Please note that this plugin is not compatible with CS6
$29.99More Info -
- Compatibility After Effects
iExpressions
iExpressions allow you to use After Effects expressions without writing or reading a single line of code. It contains more than 100 iExpressions – and each of them comes with an easy and intuitive to use interface.More InfoMore InfoFrom: $9.99
-
- Compatibility After Effects
Projection
Projection makes light work of camera mapping onto 3D planes in After Effects. It was created with the release of After Effects CS6 in mind, which now has the 3D Camera Tracker, a built-in matchmover. But Projection works equally well with imported match-move data from programs such as Syntheyes, Boujou and PF Track.More Info$49.99 As low as: $39.99More Info -
- Compatibility After Effects
3D Extruder
More Info3D Extruder makes light work of creating high-quality 3D extrusions in After Effects.
3D Extruder is now compatible with CS6!
$34.99 As low as: $27.99More Info -
- Compatibility After Effects
MochaImport Plus
Simplifies the workflow between Mocha and After Effects. More precisely, it helps you send your footage to Mocha and then to apply the Mocha tracking data back in After Effects in whatever way you want.More Info$39.99 As low as: $31.99More Info