Can one pass a comp from AE to AME where AME is located on a separate server from AE via extendscript

Question

I’ve developed a system that cranks out thousands of short videos. Currently, I have AE and AME on the same computer. I use ExtendScript to:

• create a comp from various components

• pop that comp into the AE render queue : app.project.renderQueue.items.add(app.project.item(indexMain_Comp))

• using BridgeTalk, AME is started if it isn’t already running

   if (!BridgeTalk.isRunning(mediaEncoderName)) {
   BridgeTalk.launch(mediaEncoderName);
   }
  

• call on AME to render the comp: app.project.renderQueue.queueInAME(true);

This all works fine currently.

My Q: Can AME run on a separate server for my application? In the code above (where I'm using BridgeTalk to start AME), how would BridgeTalk know if AME is on a separate server?

(Note: watch folders will not work for me) Thanks!

Answer 1

I'd be investigating using the command line renderer aerender rather than AME. You could run it remotely using system.callSystem() in your script and the powershell invoke-command command.

So something like:

system.callSystem("pwsh -c 'Invoke-Command -ComputerName COMPUTER -ScriptBlock { `'aerender.exe -project \\network\path\to\your\project`' } -credential USERNAME'")

You might have to work out the escaping there because you're using three levels of quotes, I'm not sure if you want the windows shell escape character ` or the extendscript escape character \ or possibly both. good luck.