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Making (rendering) a movie


    Making a movie from your final composition can take a few minutes or many hours, depending on the composition's frame size, quality, complexity, and compression method. When you place your composition in the render queue, it becomes a render item that uses the render settings assigned to it. An audio alert indicates that rendering is complete. You will not be able to work in After Effects while making a movie.

    To make a movie from a composition:

  1. Save the project.
  2. Do one of the following:
    • Select the composition in the Project window, choose Composition > Make Movie, specify the name and location of the output file, and then click Save.
    • Choose Window > Render Queue, and then drag the composition you want to render from the Project window to the Render Queue window. Default render settings and output module templates are assigned automatically. See Using the Render Queue window.
  3. Click the underlined setting to the right of Render Settings to change the default render settings template, or choose a render settings template from the pop-up menu. See Changing render settings.
  4. Choose a Log type from the Log menu.
  5. Click the triangle to the left of the Output Module heading to view the default output module settings template, or choose a template from the Output Module pop-up menu. See Changing output module settings.
  6. Click the underlined text after Output To to specify the name and location of the output file.
  7. Select the Render option under the Render column heading. The status of the item changes to Queued.
  8. Click the Render button.
  9. Note: To view more information about the composition as it renders, click the triangle to the left of Show Details. To view details of a completed rendering, review the log file.