AfterEffects

Collect files in one location

The Collect Files command gathers copies of all of the files in a project or composition into a single location. This is useful as a step before rendering, for archiving, or for moving a project to a different computer system or user account.

When you use the Collect Files command, After Effects creates a new folder in which it saves a new copy of the project, copies of the footage files, proxy files as specified, and a report describing the files, effects, and fonts necessary to recreate the project and render the compositions.

After you collect files, you can continue making changes to a project, but be aware that those changes are stored with the original project and not with the newly collected version.

  1. Choose File > Collect Files.
  2. In the Collect Files dialog box, choose an appropriate option for Collect Source Files.
    All
    Collects all footage files, including unused footage and proxies.

    For All Comps
    Collects all footage files and proxies used in any composition in the project.

    For Selected Comps
    Collects all footage files and proxies used in compositions currently selected in the Project panel.

    For Queued Comps
    Collects all footage files and proxies used directly or indirectly in any of the compositions with a Queued status in the Render Queue panel.

    None (Project Only)
    Copies the project to a new location without collecting any source footage.

  3. Select other options, as appropriate:
    Generate Report Only
    Selecting this option does not copy the files and proxies.

    Obey Proxy Settings
    Use this option with compositions that include proxies to specify whether you want the copy to include the current proxy settings. If this is selected, only the files used in the composition are copied. If this is not selected, the copy contains both proxies and source files, so you can later change proxy settings in the collected version.
    Note: If you choose For Queued Comps in the Collect Source Files dialog box, After Effects uses the proxy settings from the render settings, not the composition.

    Reduce Project
    Removes all unused footage items and compositions from the collected files when the following options are chosen in the Collect Source Files menu: For All Comps, For Selected Comps, and For Queued Comps.

    Change Render Output To
    Use to redirect the output modules to render files to a named folder in the collected files folder. This option ensures that you have access to your rendered files when you’re rendering the project from another computer. Note that the rendering status must be valid (Queued, Unqueued, or Will Continue) for the output modules to render files to this folder.

    Enable ‘Watch Folder’ Render
    You can use the Collect Files command to save projects to a specified watch folder and then initiate watch-folder rendering over a network. After Effects also includes a render control file called [project name]_RCF.txt, which signals to watching computers that the project is available for rendering. After Effects and any installed render engines can then render the project together across a network. (See Set up watch-folder rendering.)

    Maximum Number Of Machines
    Use to specify the number of render engines or licensed copies of After Effects that you want to allocate to render the collected project. Below this option, After Effects reports how many items in the project will be rendered using more than one computer.
    Note: If rendering time is unusually long, you may have set Maximum Number Of Machines too high, and the network overhead required to track rendering progress among all computers is out of proportion to the time spent actually rendering frames. The optimal number depends on many variables related to the network configuration and the computers on it; experiment to determine the optimal number for your network.

  4. To add your own information to the report that will be generated, click Comments, type your notes, and click OK. The comments appear at the end of the report.
  5. Click Collect. Name the folder and specify a location for your collected files.

    Once you start the file collection, After Effects creates the folder and copies the specified files to it. The folder hierarchy is the same as the hierarchy of folders and footage items in your project. The new folder includes a (Footage) folder and may include an output folder (if you selected Change Render Output To).

The names of these folders appear in parentheses to signal to any attending render engines that they should not search these folders for projects.