Render Settings & Output Modules

BatchRender uses After Effects’ own template system: render settings templates (quality, resolution, frame range) and output module templates (format, codec, channels). Anything you can save as a template in After Effects, BatchRender can apply.

Panel dropdowns

The two dropdowns in the main panel list your installed templates. The selected pair is applied to every row in a batch and every agent render.

To create templates, use After Effects’ render queue as usual (Edit → Templates → Render Settings / Output Module). New templates show up in the panel dropdowns.

Tip

Right-click a dropdown to copy the selected template name, ready to paste into a render-settings or output-module column. Names must match After Effects exactly, so copying beats retyping.

Per-row overrides

Two reserved columns override the dropdowns for individual rows:

comp	output	render-settings	output-module
Promo	final_4k	Best Settings	ProRes 422
Promo	preview_small	Draft Settings	H264-Preview

• render-settings applies the named render settings template for that row.
• output-module applies the named output module template for that row.

Rows without a value fall back to the dropdown selection. Template names must match the names in After Effects exactly.

A name that does not exist fails that row with Output module template not found: '...' or Render settings template not found: '...'. Nothing is left behind in your Render Queue, and the batch continues with the next row.

Output filenames

The output column sets the filename (no extension; the output module’s format determines it). Files are written into the Output Path folder. Existing files with the same name are replaced without a prompt, so re-rendering a row simply updates its output. In network rendering the render node writes the file and replaces it the same way.

The output value can include subfolders, for example de/promo_v1 or client-a/2024/final. BatchRender creates the folder structure under Output Path as needed.

The output always stays inside Output Path. A value that would leave it fails the row before anything is rendered, written or replaced:

• .. anywhere in the value, such as ../other/final.
• A full path, such as /Users/me/final or C:\renders\final.

Characters that are not allowed in file names on every system (: * ? " < > |) are replaced with _, so promo:v2? renders as promo_v2_.

Best practice

Putting the subfolder into the output value keeps large batches organized with no manual sorting afterwards: one folder per language, client or date, driven straight from a column in your data.

Image sequences work as usual: keep the After Effects frame number padding (for example [#####]) in your output module’s file name pattern.