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RenderSmith

Render management for After Effects — proxies, pre-renders, finals, and auto-backup, all in one panel. Built for heavy projects.

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  $49.99
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Description
After Effects Panel - v1.0

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.

Workflow Automation

Easy Proxy, PreRender, Ghost Mode, Final Render - every step of your render pipeline, one click away. Render easy means stop babysitting the queue.

🔍

Smart Detection

Quality Guard scans your work area before render and auto-switches modes when it spots a known compatibility risk. Render smart means catching silent failures before they reach delivery.

🛡

Built-in Safety

Safe Mode crash recovery + Auto Backup snapshots before every destructive operation. Stay useful means projects that ship even when something unexpected happens upstream.

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-Level

Feature 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 Render

Feature 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.

Selective Bake Re-Render Safe Auto Link Background Render

Feature 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.

Background aerender Live Progress Output Module Honored _vXX Suffix Sequence Safe Bracket Aware

Feature 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 Resume

Feature 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 Switch

Feature 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 Undo

Feature 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 Email
Batch Progress

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.

English Japanese Korean Chinese

Technical

Built for professionals.

🎯

AE CC 2022+

Officially supported

💻

Windows & macOS

Tested on AE 2026

🔑

Single User

aescripts license

🌐

4 Languages

EN / JA / KO / ZH

📦

CEP Extension

Panel-based

💰

$49.99

One-time purchase

⚠ Important Notes Before You Start

Read this once before you run your first render.

⚠ macOS users: rendering requires a one-time Accessibility permission for 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.

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.

On macOS, I click render but nothing happens (or the first render fails).

macOS requires Accessibility permission for After Effects' background render process, aerendercore. macOS may show a permission popup the first time RenderSmith launches a render — if so, enable it. If you don't see a popup (or rendering still fails), grant it manually: System Settings > Privacy & Security > Accessibility, then turn on aerendercore. This is a one-time macOS security step, not an issue with RenderSmith; once granted, rendering works normally. (Windows is unaffected.)

Does it work with Element 3D and other GPU-heavy plugins?

Yes. Quality Guard auto-detects Element 3D in your work area and transparently switches to AE's internal render queue to avoid the aerender OpenGL context issue. Other GPU plugins (Optical Flares, Deep Glow, Trapcode, etc.) are compatible with background aerender.

What happens when After Effects or aerender crashes mid-render?

Safe Mode detects the failure and offers a one-click retry. The affected comps are re-rendered through a stabler codec path (ProRes / Lossless) alongside the original output, often clearing the crash. A crash report estimates the likely cause (heaviest effect, longest comp) so you know where to look. Combined with Auto Backup (enabled by default), even an interrupted render leaves you with a recoverable project state.

Does it interfere with AE's normal render queue?

No. RenderSmith respects your Output Module settings and works alongside the native render queue. You can still render manually from AE at any time.

Will my files get overwritten?

Not if you leave Auto-Versioning on. RenderSmith appends _v01, _v02, etc. to the output name so every render lands on a unique path. Image sequences and bracket notation are handled correctly.

How does Auto Backup protect my work?

Auto Backup is enabled by default, and we strongly recommend keeping it on at all times. It runs silently before any structure-modifying operation - Easy Proxy, PreRender, Final Render, Unlink, Deep Clean, Bake In Changes. The most recent 20 backups are kept by default (configurable: 5 / 10 / 20 / unlimited). Open Settings > Auto Backup > Restore from backup... to roll back with one click.

Where are Auto Backups stored?

By default, in an auto-created _RSbackup/ subfolder next to your AEP. Each backup has a sidecar JSON recording the operation reason for easy identification when restoring. You can change the location from Settings > Auto Backup.

How does the hang detection work?

RenderSmith monitors aerender's output stream and auto-aborts if no output is detected for the configured duration -- the safety net for real deadlocks (waiting on an AE dialog, OpenGL context lockup, etc.). Default is 8 hours, suitable for most long renders including 30-min tutorial videos with heavy single frames. Adjust from Settings > Render > Shield > Hang Detection (30m / 1h / 2h / 4h / 8h / 12h / 24h / Disabled). The default was raised from 30 minutes to 8 hours during pre-launch testing on a real 30-min tutorial render -- the kind of finding you only catch when you actually use your own tool.

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

1.0.2 -

Jun 12, 2026

- Fix: re-rendering a duplicated composition "from original" no longer drops
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

- Quality Guard now also protects Easy Proxy and Easy PreRender: when a
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

Initial release.

Compatibility

After Effects

2026, 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022

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Updated: Oct 21, 2025 1:35 AM