Video for Windows AE cs5

[rages4calm]

Recently I've been learning adobe after effects cs5

I ran into a rendering problem though. All the guides i've read say best way to render for youtube is to use "video for windows" But I do not see that option in the format window.

Do I need to download a custom codec?

[tukaniray]

What is your rendering issue?

I use After Effects CS5 on both a Mac and PC ... and don't have any issues rendering, so far. So, I am curious to see what you are running into.

-Ray-

[rages4calm]

Well im using windows 7 64bit and Adobe After Effects CS5. Trying to render this 11 second intro that I made and it wants to take 5 hours.

So I went online to look at rendering for youtube etc...

It recommends for format to use "Video for Windows" That option was not available though. So I chose AVI instead with xvid codec, but still it's taking 5 hours!!!

[tukaniray]

Hmm ... Do you have Multi-Processor Checked?

And how many layers and nested compositions do you have in your project?

Tip** Before clicking Render. Turn on "Caps Lock" Will save you about 10% of the render time. Not much but can be alot on intensive projects. What it does is turns off the Main Window Preview so that computer isn't having to work as hard when exporting.

-Ray-

[tukaniray]

Also ... are you doing an HD Project or SD Project?

How big are the files you are working with?

Are you doing Photos or just plain Video?

File preparation for your next project will help eliminate long render times in the future.

-Ray-

[rages4calm]

The avi ended up being 6 megs lol and it took 4 hours no idea why. When I edit and render things in Vegas pro 9 it's fast.

But It had no video in it it had 1 image in it and 1 sound effect it the rest was all just plain old effects. only had about 9 layers and not sure what multi-processor is located.

[tukaniray]

I don't remember where it is in the Windows Version. But you need to find you settings panel for AE.

In there you will find a Multi-processing choice. What that does is it takes all of your processors (virtual and non) and creates an internal render farm. Which can double to quadruple your render speed per frame.

For instance, I use a MacBook Pro Intel Core 2 dual ... so I have 2 Processors working on a frame. Makes a difference.

And at the studio we have an 8-core mac and a the new i7 iMac with 4 processors.

So those 2 run between 4-8 processors per frame.

I have also used a friends Windows 7 Dell with the i7 processor in it and it renders just as fast.

So, I recommend you look for that setting. Also, what is your computer specs?

-Ray-

[rages4calm]

Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
Vendor: ASUSTeK Computer INC.
Model: M2N-SLI DELUXE
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5000+ (2 CPUs), ~2.6GHz
Core Speed: 2612.0 MHz
Memory: 6144MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 5630MB RAM
Page File: 1788MB used, 9470MB available
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
Card name: XFX ATI Radeon HD 5770
Core clock 157.0 MHz
Memory clock 300.0 MHz

Soud card: Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer

Hardware monitor ACPI
Temperature 0 40°C (104°F) [0xC3C] (THRM)

Hardware monitor AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Black Edition
Temperature 0 51°C (124°F) [0x13D] (Core #0)
Temperature 1 47°C (115°F) [0x12A] (Core #1)

Hardware monitor Radeon HD 5770
Temperature 0 51°C (123°F) (GPU Core)

[tukaniray]

Hmm ... looking at your settings here, you should be able to render the files fairly quick.

Now when you said your Vegas renders faster ... it's because it isn't doing layers of graphics and compositions. Its doing an overall render from what it sees of the top most layer.

My FCP will render way faster than the After Effects software ... because it's not thinking layers, its thinking what I see is what I render.

BTW: I found your place for multiprocessing on your Windows version:
Edit > Preferences > Memory & Multiprocessing

More info on optimizing your AE here: CLICK ME

Here's a quote I found on multiprocessing:

With multiprocessing, AE crunches on different frames with multiple cores. Without multiprocessing, every available core works on a single frame until it’s finished.

My favorite feature that they added to AE CS3 and has just gotten better for these last 2 revisions.

-Ray-