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After Effects
RenderSmith
Render management for After Effects — proxies, pre-renders, finals, and auto-backup, all in one panel. Built for heavy projects.
RenderSmithRender easy. Render smart. Stay useful.
The Blacksmith of After Effects Rendering. Proxy, PreRender, Ghost Mode, Final Render, Safe Mode, Quality Guard, and Auto Backup - one panel, one click, one flawless output.
Why RenderSmith
Three pillars. Zero friction.
Feature 01
Ghost Mode - preview at the speed of thought.
Temporarily hide heavy layers with a single click. Preview the timeline at full frame rate without destroying your layer structure - toggle back with one click when you're ready to render.
One-Click Toggle Non-Destructive Layer-LevelFeature 02
Easy Proxy - heavy footage, light workflow.
Generate proxies with one click. Automatic link-back to originals, ownership tracking, and batch processing across multiple comps.
Auto Link Batch Enabled Background RenderFeature 03
Easy PreRender - bake only the heavy part.
Pre-render heavy nested precomps into a lightweight intermediate. Auto-link back to the source so you can re-render any time with one click.
New in 1.1: change detection v2 fingerprints effect parameters and precomp contents, so the stale badge appears exactly when a pre-render no longer matches its source. If an Undo breaks a link, Link Watch warns you and one-click Relink reconnects the file already on disk — no re-render. Imported footage is named [PR] and labeled green so it never gets mistaken for your own.
Selective Bake Re-Render Safe Auto Link Background Render Change Detection v2 Link WatchFeature 04
Final Render - deliver with confidence.
Background aerender, live progress, and Auto-Versioning that prevents overwrites. Respects your Output Module settings and works inside your existing render queue.
Auto-Versioning appends _v01, _v02 to your output names so every render lands on a unique path. Image sequences with bracket notation [#####] are handled correctly.
New in 1.1: the panel also shows the output file growing while a render runs. On heavy frames where the log goes quiet, the rising file size answers "is it frozen?" at a glance.
New in 1.2: RenderSmith now picks between aerender and After Effects’ own render queue per job. Starting aerender means saving the project and reopening it in a second After Effects — on an 85 MB project that was about two minutes before the first frame, the same fixed cost for one frame or a thousand. The in-app queue skips it. The first render of a project is still timed through aerender; after that each job goes to whichever finishes sooner.
Background aerender Live Progress Output Module Honored _vXX Suffix Sequence Safe Bracket Aware Live Output SizeFeature 05
Safe Mode - never lose a render.
If aerender crashes, RenderSmith detects it and offers a one-click Safe Mode retry. The affected comps are re-rendered through a stabler codec path (ProRes / Lossless) alongside the original output, often clearing the crash.
Crash origin is reported with the suspected cause (effect name, layer weight) so you know what to fix for next time.
Post-Crash Retry Crash Report Auto ResumeFeature 06
Quality Guard - silent failures, caught.
aerender rarely crashes on Element 3D - it silently renders wrong. Quality Guard scans your work area for known-risky plugins and auto-switches to AE internal rendering for accurate output.
Blacklist-driven and upgradable. Any compat issue found in the wild gets added for everyone's safety.
Pre-Render Scan Work-Area Aware Auto Mode SwitchFeature 07
Auto Backup - built-in safety, by design.
In professional workflows, even rare edge cases matter. Auto Backup ships as a built-in safeguard - every destructive operation silently snapshots your AEP first, so a single click never costs you a finished project.
Roll back to any past version with one click. The most recent 20 generations are kept by default, configurable up to unlimited. Async by design - the panel never blocks waiting on a copy.
Built-in by Design Async Copy 20 Generations Default One-Click Restore Beyond UndoFeature 08
Notifications - go make coffee.
Discord, Slack, Telegram, or Email - get notified the moment your render completes. Success or failure, the message includes comp name, duration, and any error details.
Discord Slack Telegram EmailFeature 09
Frame Export - one frame, four formats, one click.
The Frame button saves the current frame as PNG, JPG, WebP, and uncompressed TIFF (straight alpha) — any combination you enable in Settings, all in a single click. One frame for a client check should not need a Render Queue trip.
Encoding runs inside the panel — WebP included, which After Effects cannot export natively — and files never overwrite by default: repeated exports become _v02, _v03.
Feature 10
Freeze - stop re-rendering what already looks right.
Select the layers that are slowing the comp down and bake them where they stand — a still at the playhead, or a clip of the work area for something that moves. The bake takes their place; the originals are switched off rather than deleted, and Unfreeze puts them back.
With several layers selected, RenderSmith asks how to treat them. Flattened into one baked layer, or baked one at a time — each keeping its own blend mode and its own position in the stack. The second option is the one that matters when the selection does not share a single blend mode, because a combined bake can only carry one.
Before it bakes, it names what it found in the selection that changes over time or depends on context: keyframes, expressions, time remapping, video sources, precomps, blend modes. It warns; it never decides for you.
Still or Clip Per-Layer Reversible New in 1.2
Queue it. Walk away.
Batch-render multiple comps and watch live progress for the active comp plus the waiting queue. Names, positions, and ETAs update in real time.
Clear at a glance what's done, what's running, and what's next - no more switching between RQ tabs.
Technical
Built for professionals.
⚠ Important Notes Before You Start
Read this once before you run your first render.
aerendercore. If your first render doesn't start, see the FAQ below.Note 01
Project Structure Changes
RenderSmith creates and manages folders next to your AEP file:
_proxy/ — Easy Proxy outputs
_prerender/ — Easy PreRender outputs
_RSbackup/ — Auto Backup snapshots
These folders are essential for RenderSmith to function correctly. They live next to your AEP, never inside it.
.rendersmith/ holds this project's RenderSmith settings. Notification credentials are not stored here — they live in your user folder and are shared across projects.
Note 02
Auto Backup is Strongly Recommended
Auto Backup is enabled by default and creates project snapshots before potentially destructive operations.
We strongly recommend keeping it enabled. You can restore from any backup with one click via Settings > Auto Backup > Restore from backup.
Note 03
Test on Backup Copies First
Before applying RenderSmith to mission-critical or client projects, we recommend testing on a backup copy.
While RenderSmith is built with safety features (Crash Recovery, Auto Backup, Quality Guard), project files are your responsibility.
Note 04
Maintain Your Own Version Control
For long-running or high-stakes projects, continue using your existing version control or save practices alongside RenderSmith.
Auto Backup is a safety net, not a replacement for your studio's archival workflow.
FAQ
Questions, answered.
Get Started
Stop babysitting your renders. Let the Smith handle it.
Available on aescripts + aeplugins
Discussions
Want to talk about it?
Head over to r/aescripts to chat with fellow users about this product.
Need Support?
Please open a support ticket to be connected directly with the author of this product
Version History
1.2.1 -
Sep 25, 2026
- Freeze preserves comp comments, including when recovering layers after an
interrupted bake.
- Unfreeze keeps originally disabled layers disabled and restores solo states.
- Freeze reports blend modes accurately. A selection that mixes different modes
is reported as mixed whatever order the layers are in, and a mode that will be
carried to the frozen layer is named in the dialog. Previously every
non-normal mode shared one internal label, so Add mixed with Multiply was
described as a single mode that would be carried over -- and then was not.
- Freeze is disabled while rendering. Repeated starts are blocked throughout
preparation and per-layer baking, and completion, failure or abort releases
the operation so Freeze can be used again.
- Frame Export writes true straight alpha in PNG, WebP and TIFF. Soft edges,
shadows, glows and layers below 100% opacity no longer pick up the comp
background colour or come out darker than they should.
- Frame Export JPG matches the Composition panel: transparent areas are filled
with the comp background colour instead of black.
- Frame Export in 32 bpc projects is no longer about ten times too dark.
- The folder Browse buttons (Proxy, PreRender, Backup and Frame Export) now
open the panel's own folder dialog. The previous dialog belonged to After
Effects and disabled it while open, so when it opened behind the After
Effects window the app could look frozen.
Improved:
- Frame Export asks what to do when the comp is set to a reduced resolution
(Half, Third, ...): export at Full resolution, or as it is. The comp's own
resolution setting is left unchanged either way.
1.2.0 -
Sep 10, 2026
- Render path: RenderSmith now chooses between aerender and After Effects'
own render queue per job, based on what it has measured -- the handoff cost
for your project, and the render speed of the comp you are rendering.
Starting aerender means saving the project and reopening it in a second
After Effects; on an 85 MB project that cost about two minutes before the
first frame -- the same fixed cost for one frame or a thousand. The in-app
queue skips it entirely. The first render of a project still goes to
aerender and is timed; from the second render on, RenderSmith routes each
job to whichever will finish sooner (ties go to aerender). One-frame jobs
(Still Freeze) and comps handled by Render Quality Guard always use the
in-app queue.
- Freeze: turn the selected layers into a still at the current frame. They are
rendered as they look right now, the result takes their place as an [ST]
layer, and the originals are switched off rather than deleted -- Unfreeze in
the STILL manager brings them back. Before baking, RenderSmith names what it
found in the selection that changes over time or depends on context
(keyframes, expressions, time remapping, video sources, blend modes,
adjustment layers). It warns; it never decides for you.
- With more than one layer selected, Freeze asks how to treat them. Left
unticked (the default) the selection is flattened into a single baked layer:
one render, and the group becomes one thing. Tick "Bake each layer
separately" and every layer is baked on its own instead -- each keeps its own
blend mode and its own position in the stack, so the result composites
exactly like the original. That is the choice when the selected layers do not
all share one blend mode, since a combined bake can carry only one. It costs
one render per layer, and the checkbox says how many. The setting applies to
both buttons, so a clip bake can be per-layer too.
- Clip Freeze: for a selection that moves, bake the work area as a clip
instead of a single frame. The management table shows the frame range a clip
was baked from (e.g. "clip 30-60"), and the tooltip shows the current work
area when it has moved since. Layers left hidden by an interrupted freeze
can be restored from the record RenderSmith keeps on the comp.
- Frozen layers get a "source changed" badge, like the "changed" badge on
pre-rendered comps. It watches only the layers you froze (name, effect
count, keyframes, expressions, time remap, footage, in/out, blend mode), so
it stays fast and is not triggered by edits elsewhere in the comp. The eye
switch is deliberately not part of it -- Freeze itself turns the source
layer off.
- Project settings are written to .rendersmith/config.json by allowlist: only
keys classified as project data (output folders, render-path preference,
relink records, notification on/off switches) reach the project folder.
Credentials, personal absolute paths and user identifiers stay in your user
folder. v1.1 removed the known credential keys by name; the allowlist closes
the whole category, so a future setting cannot reopen the hole.
Improved:
- Freeze and Clip bake take an Auto Backup only on the path that actually
saves your project to disk (aerender). A one-frame Still Freeze runs in the
in-app queue, touches nothing on disk, and therefore starts immediately
without a backup.
Fixed:
- Re-rendering a pre-render could leave After Effects showing the old frames
-- usually as a black or plainly outdated comp -- even though the new file
written to disk was correct. Those frames live in AE's disk cache, which no
script can clear and which survives restarting AE. RenderSmith now renders
to a new file name instead of writing over the file the project already has
imported, so there is no stale state left to inherit. The same change
removes two long-standing Windows problems: the ProRes "Compressed size
truncated" error when importing a file that had just been overwritten, and
the failure when a second re-render started before AE released the previous
file. A first pre-render still gets the familiar "
name, and the previous file is archived exactly as before.
- Final Render set to detach pre-renders could disable the wrong layer in a
comp that composites other pre-rendered comps. The layer was identified by
its "[PR] " name prefix and the topmost match won, so layer order decided
which one was switched off -- the comp's own pre-render could stay on while
a nested one was dropped from the render. RenderSmith now identifies a
comp's own pre-render by the footage it references. Where there is no
record to check against, a single unambiguous "[PR] " layer is still used;
several are left alone rather than guessed at.
- Change detection: a pre-rendered comp could show the "changed" badge just
because the playhead was not at frame 0. Properties without keyframes but
with an expression were read at the current time; they are now read at
time 0, so the fingerprint no longer depends on where you parked the
playhead.
- Change detection: a pre-rendered comp could show the "changed" badge even
though you had not edited it -- reopening the project was enough to trigger
it. Some effect parameters (the separator rows inside an effect, which carry
no value of their own) are reported inconsistently by After Effects from one
read to the next, and that inconsistency reached the fingerprint.
RenderSmith now decides from the parameter's declared type instead, so an
untouched comp always produces the same fingerprint.
Note: a comp whose fingerprint was recorded by an earlier version may still
show "changed" after you update. The material itself is fine -- the stored
value was simply captured with the old, unstable reading. Re-rendering that
comp once records a correct fingerprint and the badge clears for good.
1.1.0 -
Sep 1, 2026
- Frame Export: save the current frame as PNG / JPG / WebP / TIFF in one click with the new "Frame" button in the Lightweight row. Pick formats, quality and destination in Settings > Frame Export. Existing files are never overwritten by default -- repeated exports create _v02, _v03, ...
- Live output size: while rendering, the panel shows the output file growing next to the progress (e.g. "121.0 MB"), so heavy frames with quiet logs no longer look like a freeze.
- Link Watch: if pre-rendered layers lose their link (typically after an Undo), RenderSmith warns you once instead of failing silently later. The Relink button now also shows when that material was rendered, so you know exactly what you are restoring.
Improved:
- Change detection v2 for pre-rendered comps: fingerprints now cover effect parameters and precomp contents, so edits the previous version could not see now correctly show the "changed" badge. Existing projects migrate safely -- nothing is flagged just because you updated RenderSmith.
- Freeze detection v2: a running render is watched through three independent signals (log output, output-file growth, render-process CPU), which eliminates false hang warnings on heavy frames. A warning is shown at 80% of the timeout, and changing the Hang Detection setting now takes effect mid-render.
- Render results: a render that completes with non-fatal AE warnings is now treated as completed -- the output file is verified, the material is linked, and the warnings are shown and kept in the history (previously such renders could be discarded as failures). Real failures are unchanged.
- Footage imported by RenderSmith is now named "[PR] (comp name)" and labeled green in the Project panel, so it is never confused with your own footage.
- When a render fails because an effect could not be loaded (common right after switching AE versions), the message now says so and suggests checking that the plugin is installed for that AE version.
Security:
- Notification credentials (SMTP password, webhook URLs, bot tokens) are no longer written into each project's .rendersmith/config.json. Earlier versions copied them into every project folder RenderSmith opened. They are now kept only in your user folder and shared across projects.
- Projects created by earlier versions are cleaned automatically the next time you open them in RenderSmith. Your settings are unchanged and notifications keep working -- only what is written to the project folder is different.
- Please note that projects you do not reopen are not cleaned. If you have project folders that were delivered to a client, committed to a git repository, or archived, we strongly recommend opening them in RenderSmith once, or removing the credential fields under notification.targets in .rendersmith/config.json by hand.
- Scope: this stops the credentials from being copied into project folders. It does not change how they are stored in your user folder, where they remain in plain text as before.
1.0.3 -
Jul 22, 2026
loses its link to the rendered file -- most often after an Undo unwinds the
auto-link -- the PreRender list now shows a "Relink" button that reconnects it
to the existing output already on disk. No re-render needed.
- Fix: Batch Easy PreRender now reports auto-link failures instead of marking
them as success. A pre-render that rendered but could not be placed back into
the comp now shows a clear warning and a red history entry.
- Email notifications now verify the mail server's TLS certificate by default,
which is more secure. If you use a custom SMTP server with a self-signed
certificate, turn on "Allow self-signed certificates" under Custom SMTP.
Existing setups are unaffected -- your current behavior is preserved.
- Internal: removed unused placeholder-icon files from the extension package.
1.0.2 -
Jun 12, 2026
nested pre-rendered [PR] layers from the output.
- More resilient project save during render (transient hiccups are retried
instead of aborting).
1.0.1 -
Jun 5, 2026
render-incompatible plugin (e.g. Element 3D) is detected in the work area,
that comp automatically switches to AE's internal renderer for accurate output.
- Lightweight buttons now stack vertically on narrow panel widths.
- Clearer Quality Guard risk-warning messages.
- macOS: added a one-time setup note for the aerendercore Accessibility
permission (see manual / product page FAQ).
1.0.0 -
May 22, 2026
Compatibility
After Effects
2026, 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022
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