<p>I believe that using pngs from the pdf is the best compromise between quality and speed. Your main concern being the render-time? If so, (I am sure you have, but just to be sure) have you checked if you're using Hardware-acceleration? You should also purge your cache frequently and have both the footage as well as your cache-directory as well as the project files on a fast medium, like an ssd.</p>

<p>I'm not certain with how familiar you are with those standard optimization techniques, so I'm just throwing this out there. If there's a different problem, please elaborate. </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-06-11T11:49:06.867Z
all good points - thanks!
tomh
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-06-11T10:21:35.290Z
2020-06-11T10:21:35.290Z
Florian Claaßen
<p>I've been making a lot of videos using multi-page A4 size PDFs in AE.
What's the most efficient way to do this? The renders take a while.
Things I've tried:</p>

<p>1) Split PDF to 1 file per page
2) Convert to PNG? Or jpg? (which is more efficient?) At high dpi (like 600 dpi so I can zoom in nicely on them).
3) Paper texture beneath, then pre comp
then parent all the pre-comps together so I can scroll up and down.</p>

<p>I think this is faster and looks as good as Collapse Transformations on a PDF file layer, but I'm not sure.</p>

<p>Final output is HD 25fps - turnaround time on the videos is an issue, so any speed up would be welcome!</p>

<p>Any advice welcomed - some examples of the videos below:</p>

<p><div class="youtube-embed"><div>
                <iframe width="640px" height="395px" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/na9QfL9JTys?start=0"></iframe>
            </div></div>
<div class="youtube-embed"><div>
                <iframe width="640px" height="395px" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/y0tWyhkoP5c?start=0"></iframe>
            </div></div></p>

<after-effects>
most efficient pipeline for rendering large documents in after effects
tomh
# most efficient pipeline for rendering large documents in after effects

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-06-11)

I've been making a lot of videos using multi-page A4 size PDFs in AE.
What's the most efficient way to do this? The renders take a while.
Things I've tried:

1) Split PDF to 1 file per page
2) Convert to PNG? Or jpg? (which is more efficient?) At high dpi (like 600 dpi so I can zoom in nicely on them).
3) Paper texture beneath, then pre comp
then parent all the pre-comps together so I can scroll up and down.

I think this is faster and looks as good as Collapse Transformations on a PDF file layer, but I'm not sure.

Final output is HD 25fps - turnaround time on the videos is an issue, so any speed up would be welcome!

Any advice welcomed - some examples of the videos below:

**Tags:** after-effects


---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2020-06-11. Score: 2

I believe that using pngs from the pdf is the best compromise between quality and speed. Your main concern being the render-time? If so, (I am sure you have, but just to be sure) have you checked if you're using Hardware-acceleration? You should also purge your cache frequently and have both the footage as well as your cache-directory as well as the project files on a fast medium, like an ssd.

I'm not certain with how familiar you are with those standard optimization techniques, so I'm just throwing this out there. If there's a different problem, please elaborate.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: all good points - thanks!  

---

