Is 4K really worth the extra effort?

Hi everyone,

I’m working on upgrading some of my (After Effects) projects to 4K resolution and I’m wondering whether it’s worth the extra effort in terms of sales, accessibility and performance. On one hand, the buyers get a future-proof version of the projects with a lot of extra detail and so on, but on the other hand any project with pre-rendered elements will be huge to download (more than 5GB) and most projects will take dramatically longer to customise, preview and render. At this point I’m worrying that upgrading any project to 4K will decrease sales rather than increase them as buyers might foresee these issues. I’m addressing this dilemma to fellow authors and buyers alike. What are your thoughts on the matter?

Cheers,
Kain X Theory

I think you should try and release those upgraded 4k projects as a new item. That way customers can decide which resolution they want.

for example:
“projectname” (original)
“projectname 4K version” (new item) with a 4k text overlay on the small preview icon

Just a thought :slight_smile:

Is that even allowed ?

Hey Voxel, thanks for your reply.

I don’t think we’re allowed to do that. A new resolution doesn’t really justify a new project, even with the added visual details. The marketplace would get flooded with different versions of the same projects leaving customers confused.

Cheers,
Kain X Theory

Best would be to make a support ticket to see if it’s allowed or not. Having buyers download 5gb files could cause issues for some. And might also require a faster PC to use in AE, I imagine?

Exactly, and unfortunately not everyone has a workstation capable of handling 4K with ease. Hell, neither do I for that matter. I’ve been rendering a pre-pass from AE for the past 14 hours.

As far as uploading the same project in 4K as a new item, even if it’s allowed, I don’t think I’d be able to troubleshoot any issues that my clients would have with 4K specifically as this is an entirely new field for me, too. I think I’ll stick to 2K for now. It’s a pity because I’d already finished the 4K version of Advent and now I’m downgrading it back to 2K.

Cheers,
Kain X Theory

We currently still have a 3GB file size limit for ZIP files, so upgrading to 4K can be problematic for projects that contain a lot of pre-rendered elements. We are willing to make exceptions for files that exceed 3GB in size, but the author must contact support for permission to upload a file greater than 3GB, and the staff will determine whether or not to accept the file.

Typically, if you have a project that has sold extremely well, and you think customers would benefit from a 4K version but the 4K file size exceeds 3GB, chances are we may accept it for sale since it’s already been proven as a quality marketplace item.

Hey MotionRevolver,

Thanks for your reply. My impression is that none of us are really ready for 4K just yet, not even Envato. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, it’s just that it’ll take some time before it becomes the norm. Until it does, I’ll stick with 2K instead.

Thanks,
Kain X Theory