Render file size very BIG

[aaronv64114856]

Hi there, I rendered a video clip which is 40mins long and when I render it, it took a VERY long time. In fact, it only like, rendered 20% of the video then it say something about disk cache which I couldn't recall. When I open the video file that has been rendered, it doesn't play smoothly and the file size of it is 80gb. I was surprised when I saw such file size and assumed that it didn't render finish because there no space left as I see my hard drive is 0gb free of 500gb. How to fix this? By the way I'm using Adobe After Effects CC 2017.

[Mylenium · Accepted solution]

You have to read up what specific formats mean and how well they compress. The default output module uses uncompressed output. That and of course 40 minutes is awfully long for AE and will quickly fill up your cache and temp file folders on top of it. Set your preferences accordingly and by all means research the subject. This has been discussed to death here on teh forum and elsewhere.

Mylenium

[aaronv64114856]

Well, ok... I kinda get that. What should I do if I'm doing a trapcode form project? Can you help me?

[Mylenium]

What effects and stuff you use in your comp is irrelevant as far as the output is concerned. Neither effect I know has any bearing on actual disk usage, because they all operate in RAM or, if there's not enough, simply don't work. That being the case, the magic really is in your output module settings. You might consider rendering to image sequences and then compress them in a second pass in Adobe Media Encoder or at least render separate sections as clips that you then assemble. In any case, start by cleaning out your system's temp folder and AE's caches to make as much room as possible before you begin. And if you realyl only have 500 GB disk storage, seriously consider buying another drive. Even cheap external drives come with 1 TB these days and everything to do with video will produce large amounts of files. You won't get any work done without more room to breathe.

Mylenium