Open the preset editor
Click the sliders button beside the preset chips. You can also right-click the main Dispatch button or a preset chip. In the compact picker, choose Edit presets….
Click a preset name inside this editor to make it active without queueing anything. Its fields appear below the list.
New preset copies the active preset and adds copy to its name. You can keep up to six presets, and at least one must remain.
Make a review preset
- Select the preset closest to what you need, then click New preset.
- Set Name to a label you will recognize, such as
Client review. - Set Folder to
renders/review/{date}and File to{comp}_review_v{##}. - In Output, choose the After Effects output module template you want. Choose a render settings template in Render, or leave AE default.
- Choose Work area for a section of each comp, or Full comp for its whole duration.
- Press Enter or leave a text field to save its edit. Close the editor and save the project.
The path sample updates while you type. Folder and file patterns can include comp, project, date, and version tokens.
The preset’s range is applied after its render settings template. Full comp starts at zero and uses the comp’s entire duration. Work area uses each target comp’s own work area. Neither changes the comp itself.
Use the preset
Click its chip in the main panel to queue with it immediately. This also makes it the active preset for the large Dispatch button.
When the chips do not fit, click the active preset's dropdown to open Dispatch with. Choosing a preset here also queues immediately.
Use the editor's preset list when you only want to change the active preset.
Click a preset’s trash icon in the editor to delete it. Deleting a preset leaves existing queue items and rendered files in place. The last preset cannot be deleted. At six presets, New preset gives a brief nudge instead of adding another.
Use templates available on this computer
The starting presets request named After Effects output templates. Their labels do not guarantee those codecs are installed. Renaming a preset also leaves its Output choice unchanged.
Dispatch looks for an exact template name, then a match ignoring case, then the first template name containing the requested text. For example, the starting PNG request can match PNG Sequence. If several templates match, explicitly choose the one you want.
A missing choice may show · not in this AE. On another computer, select an available template or create the required template in After Effects. AE default leaves that part of a newly added queue item at After Effects’ default.
Keep presets with the project
Dispatch stores the list and active preset in project metadata. Save the .aep to carry those changes to another session or computer. Output templates themselves are not embedded in the project.
Module settings supply starting values only when a project has no saved Dispatch presets. They do not replace presets already stored in the project.