The Best Way to Export HAP Codecs from After Effects
March 6th, 2020
Full tutorial to export Hap / Hap Q from your Render Queue and explanation of AfterCodecs benefits and features
Table of Contents
AfterCodecs is a new native plugin for the whole Adobe CC Video suite, working on both MacOS and Windows. It brings fast and efficient codecs to After Effects’ Render Queue and a new Format choice in Premiere Pro and Media Encoder's Export Window.
It supports HAP codecs, in any resolution
, with Snappy lossless compression and CPU chunks for multi-threaded decompression.How to find AfterCodecs in After Effects
Render queue
Download and install AfterCodecs (both trial and full version) with the installer provided here. It will install AfterCodecs for Premiere Pro, Media Encoder and After Effects.
Close any Adobe app running before launching the installer. Launch After Effects again and add your composition to the After Effects Render Queue.
In the Render Queue tab, click on the button shown on the right to bring up your Output Module settings.
Once the settings panel is open, select the AfterCodecs .mov format (HAP codecs only support
.MOV and .AVI containers).Output Module: Alpha channel, bit depth
Depending on whether you want to export the Alpha channel or not, there are four different types of HAP codecs to choose from: HAP, HAP Alpha, HAP Q and HAP Q Alpha. HAP Q flavors have improved image quality, at the expense of larger file sizes. HAP flavors have the lowest data-rate and a reasonable image quality.
Note: VLC player does not currently support HAP Q Alpha.
If you would like to include an Alpha channel in your export, simply switch from RGB to RGB + Alpha in the Channels drop-down menu and you can choose between HAP or HAP Q in the AfterCodecs settings. Choosing RGB + Alpha will export HAP Alpha or HAP Q Alpha, depending on which one you chose.
As HAP is an 8 bit codec, there is no use selecting more than Millions of colours on the Depth drop-down, as it will just increase render times without any quality improvements.
If you would like to select a different resolution for your composition, you can select it now by ticking the Resize box and entering your desired resolution. Unlike other HAP plugins, AfterCodecs has no resolution restrictions. This means you don’t have to worry about only being able to export resolutions that are multiples of 4, for example.
Selecting your AfterCodecs settings
Open the AfterCodecs settings by clicking on Format options button. Now you can select more advanced encoding settings.
Once the AfterCodecs settings window pops up, select your desired HAP flavor from the Video Codec drop-down menu. The Alpha channel will only be included if you selected RGB+ Alpha previously:
- If you select HAP / HAP Alpha from the menu and you picked RGB + Alpha it will export HAP Alpha, otherwise, HAP
- If you select HAP Q / HAP Q Alpha from the menu and you picked RGB + Alpha it will export HAP Q Alpha, otherwise, HAP Q.
HAP Algorithms
If you are exporting HAP (not HAP Q), AfterCodecs also lets you select a different algorithm that suits your needs.
- Vidvox / Squish Accelerated: This an optimized algorithm created by Autokroma that encodes HAP the slowest, but will deliver the highest quality available.
- Original FFmpeg: This is the original algorithm, it will render faster and deliver acceptable quality, but the Vidvox algorithm does look better.
- JMP Preview: As the name states, this will deliver low quality files quickly, so it should only be used for previews that are needed fast.
Snappy
Select the number of cores you would like to use for multi-threaded decoding. 1-2 cores is recommended for HD.
You can select more cores for 4K+ content, but they should never exceed the number of CPU cores in the computer used for playback.
Above the chunks slider, you have the option of disabling snappy compression. This is not recommended without testing, as it can result in choppy playback. Without snappy compression, multithreaded decoding is disabled, so you will be unable to select your desired number of cores from the Chunks slider.
Export!
Once everything is configured to your liking, click OK on both popup menus (AfterCodecs Settings and the Output Module settings).
Click Render on the Render Queue tab and you’re done!
For more information on HAP codecs, please consult https://hap.video/
Install and try for free AfterCodecs from here! 500 Frames trial included as well as the full version if you have a license.
BRAW Studio for After Effects is available now
Learn the basics of color grading Blackmagic RAW (.braw) in After Effects !
Read more
BRAW Studio Version 3 Upgrade
Learn about the new features of BRAW Studio V3 and the upgrading process
Read more
Fast Color Correct with the BRAW Studio White Balance Picker
Indicate the white/grey part in your BRAW image to set automatically Color Temperature and Tint accordingly !
Read more
BRAW Studio is Now FREE !
The basic importing features of BRAW Studio are now free ! Discover here what it means in practice for your workflow and your coworkers
Read more
Introduction to Autokroma Influx (All-in-one Importer for Adobe Premiere Pro, Media Encoder and After Effects)
Try out our V1 of Influx native importer plugin for Adobe CC video software !
Read more
CinemaDNG (Compressed from Blackmagic cameras) : How to Import natively into Adobe Premiere Pro, After Effects and Media Encoder
In this article you'll learn how to import natively into Adobe (PrPro, AME, AEfx) Blackmagic's variant of Adobe CinemaDNG .DNG image sequence files, without any extra step of conversion
Read more
How to License Influx and decode after 3 minutes
In this article you'll learn how to access the Settings and License popup of Influx in order to license it and remove the trial limitations of 3 minutes !
Read more