Solos and rendering, am I crazy?

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Moderator: Paul Tuersley

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scribling
Posts: 143
Joined: May 1st, 2005, 1:52 pm

Since the invention of Solos in AE, I've loved them. I can TEMPORARILY alter my comp, view single layers quickly or groups of layers all without effecting the render. To use solos correctly the renderer HAS TO BE SET to "All Off." That way, the solos can be left in any state without worry about how it will render. It's a fail-safe built into AE, much like common "Hide" "Show" options standard in any 3D app.

Right?

It would be the same as if "Shy" layers didn't render, right? Shy is a temporary hide in timeline and solo is the same in the viewer.

I suppose the problem comes from the name solo. I guess it should be called "hide" and "show."

I've never had this problem anywhere else I've worked. Everyone seemed to know and understood what solos are for and how the work.

Where I'm working now, they use solos as a second activation "eye" switch and it's driving me crazy. The render Solo settings are "Current Settings." What good is a solo if it's acting exactly like a second eye switch? It would be better to not have it at all! Solos used improperly create more confusion than if they didn't exist at all. I'm having to go through every single layer of all comps of other artists' projects and set their eye switches to match their solos. To fix something simple in a comp I have to remember what the state of the solos were too. Why the hell would anyone leave a layer active and in a comp if they don't want it to render?!

Solos are such a rudimentary tool to understand and use. Am I crazy? Am I the only one that uses them properly? I've never had to check before, it's never been a problem.

Any opinions and comments would be helpful to my state of mind. Thanks.
Paul Tuersley
Posts: 704
Joined: June 5th, 2004, 7:59 am
Location: London, UK

I use solos as a second activation "eye" switch too. While I also use them in the more typical way, if I get the comp into a state I like by experimenting with active layers using the solo switch, I'll leave it that way so I can still easily see which layers were active before I made this change.

I would never use in such a way that I had the render settings not set to "Current Settings" and where the project's current state doesn't necessarily match what will be rendered.
scribling
Posts: 143
Joined: May 1st, 2005, 1:52 pm

Really?
Solos work so well with the renderer set to "All off." It was a huge advancement in AE's workflow. Previously, AE had no way of quickly viewing layers without seeing the entire comp. If you remember, we had to deactivate all the other layers, then go through the comp and reset everything to -- hopefully -- correct, before rendering. Solos alleviated all that trouble.

People seem to think solos are confusing but used correctly they make working in AE so much easier. All you have to do is understand that solos do not effect the render.
The "option-click solo" to turn all other solos off except the selected layer is clearly designed as a temporary viewing option and not a second eye.
I appreciate the "Current Settings" in case I need to render only selected layers.

The script "All Solos Off" by Dan Ebert is fantastic for quickly un-solo-ing everything project-wide as a pre-flight check.

The problem only surfaces when one person does not use solos correctly and another does. Solos become useless if an artist set up the comp and renders with "Current Settings."

Thanks for the comments and all the great scripts!
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