From: Greg Ercolano <erco@(email surpressed)>
Subject: Re: [Q+A] Using After Effects on OSX
   Date: Sat, 03 Dec 2005 03:23:05 -0800

Jeff Yana wrote:

So, in conclusion to this thread, it's [correct] to say that before an After Effects render job will launch under Mac OS X (10.x.x), the following must be true:

a) WindowServer, launched via a valid user's logon (loginwindow), must be running (in order to enable the AE GUI to launch)

b) and that that user (with the current logon) should be the (designated) Rush user (or at least should be a member of the same user group)?

However, would "b)" still be even after "aerender" has been setuid'd to root?

	With aerender configured setuid root, I've found I can render
	regardless of a) and b) under OSX.

	ie. I'm able to get AE to render even if /no one/ is logged in,
	and regardless of who's logged in if someone is.

	For instance, I have a 10.4.3 box with no one currently logged in
	(the login window is up, and there's no other logins on the box)
	and I just rendered this scene on the box:

###
### ontario.158: 0001
###
--------------- Rush 102.42 --------------
--      Host: tower
--       Pid: 7642
--     Title: spiro_ae6
--     Jobid: ontario.158
--     Frame: 0001
--     Tries: 0
--     Owner: erco (1000/1000)
-- RunningAs: erco (1000/1000)
--  Priority: 1
--      Nice: 0
--    Tmpdir: /var/tmp/.RUSH_TMP.3
--   LogFile: //meade/net/tmp/ae6/spiro_ae6.aep.log/0001
--   Command: perl //meade/net/rushscripts/submit-afterfx.pl -render - //meade/net/tmp/ae6/spiro_ae6.aep Spiro //meade/net/tmp/images/foo.[####].png 1 0 3 Fail 0 off
--   Started: Sat Dec  3 03:21:09 2005
------------------------------------------

	  SCENEPATH: //meade/net/tmp/ae6/spiro_ae6.aep
	       COMP: Spiro
	  OUTPUTDIR: //meade/net/tmp/images/foo.[####].png
	  AEVERSION: -
	RENDERFLAGS:
	BATCHFRAMES: 1 (1-1)
	    RETRIES: 3 (Fail after 3 retries)
	       PATH: /Applications/Adobe After Effects 6.5:/usr/local/rush/bin:/usr/local/rush/bin:/usr/local/rush/bin:/usr/libexec:/bin:/sbin:/usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/libexec:/System/Library/CoreServices

Executing: aerender -project "//meade/net/tmp/ae6/spiro_ae6.aep" -output "//meade/net/tmp/images/foo.[####].png" -comp "Spiro"  -s 1 -e 1
PROGRESS:  12/3/05 3:21:12 AM: Starting composition Spiro.


PROGRESS:  Render Settings: Best Settings
PROGRESS:  Quality: Best
PROGRESS:  Resolution: Full
PROGRESS:  Size: 320 x 240
PROGRESS:  Proxy Use: Use No Proxies
PROGRESS:  Effects: Current Settings
PROGRESS:  Disk Cache: Read Only
PROGRESS:  Frame Blending: On For Checked Layers
PROGRESS:  Field Render: Off
PROGRESS:  Pulldown: Off
PROGRESS:  Motion Blur: On For Checked Layers
PROGRESS:  Shutter Angle: (From Comp)
PROGRESS:  Solos: Current Settings
PROGRESS:  Time Span: Custom
PROGRESS:  Start: 0:00:00:01
PROGRESS:  End: 0:00:00:01
PROGRESS:  Duration: 0:00:00:01
PROGRESS:  Frame Rate: 30.00 (comp)
PROGRESS:  Guide Layers: All Off
PROGRESS:  Storage Overflow: On
PROGRESS:  Skip Existing Files: Off
PROGRESS:
PROGRESS:  Output Module: Lossless
PROGRESS:  Output To: net:tmp:images:foo.[####].png
PROGRESS:  Format: PNG
PROGRESS:  Output Info: -
PROGRESS:  Start Frame: 1
PROGRESS:  Output Audio: -
PROGRESS:  Channels: RGB
PROGRESS:  Depth: Millions of Colors
PROGRESS:  Color: Premultiplied
PROGRESS:  Stretch: -
PROGRESS:  Crop: -
PROGRESS:  Final Size: 320 x 240
PROGRESS:  Post-Render Action: None
PROGRESS:
PROGRESS:  0:00:00:01 (1): 0 Seconds
PROGRESS:  12/3/05 3:21:12 AM: Finished composition Spiro.



PROGRESS:  Total Time Elapsed: 0 Seconds
PROGRESS: Launching After Effects...
PROGRESS: ...After Effects successfully launched

AERENDER SUCCEEDS


--
Greg Ercolano, erco@(email surpressed)
Rush Render Queue, http://seriss.com/rush/
Tel: (Tel# suppressed)
Cel: (Tel# suppressed)
Fax: (Tel# suppressed)