# What is the best way to extend a Batch at the head? **URL:** \ **Category:** Flame Questions\ **Created:** [November 23, 2020, 6:31pm UTC](https://forum.logik.tv/t/what-is-the-best-way-to-extend-a-batch-at-the-head/1614 "2020-11-23T18:31:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![greg](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.logik.tv/greg/32/1185_2.png) [@greg](https://forum.logik.tv/u/greg)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2020, 6:31pm UTC](https://forum.logik.tv/t/what-is-the-best-way-to-extend-a-batch-at-the-head/1614/1 "2020-11-23T18:31:22Z")
I’m curious what people think is the best way to deal with a shot that gets extended at the head. I generally end up using Muxes to slip everything x number of frames ahead but that gets really messy in a lot of situations. I wish it could be as simple as setting the SF to a negative number but alas, that doesn’t work. When I work at Film/Episodic shops with Nuke pipelines, the shots always pad the frames by 1000 for just this reason but I don’t think I’ve ever seen that done in a Flame/commercials pipeline. So even if I implement that when I’m working on my own Flame from home, it won’t help me when I’m taking over someone else shot or working as part of a team via remote or (hah) on-site. Is there a simpler way that I’m just not aware of is this just an annoying part of Flame life? #flamelyfe ---
**Author:** ![andy\_dill](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.logik.tv/andy_dill/32/15475_2.png) [@andy\_dill](https://forum.logik.tv/u/andy_dill)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2020, 6:37pm UTC](https://forum.logik.tv/t/what-is-the-best-way-to-extend-a-batch-at-the-head/1614/2 "2020-11-23T18:37:12Z")
Go to the last node in the chain, right click it, select “Make BFX”. That’ll generate a clip in your setup. Slip the clip the appropriate number of frames, right-click the clip and select “explode FX”. That’ll turn back into a node chain with everything slipped (even the paint work!) ---
**Author:** ![greg](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.logik.tv/greg/32/1185_2.png) [@greg](https://forum.logik.tv/u/greg)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2020, 6:40pm UTC](https://forum.logik.tv/t/what-is-the-best-way-to-extend-a-batch-at-the-head/1614/3 "2020-11-23T18:40:43Z")
Whaaaa. holy cow, that’s exactly the answer I was hoping for posting this but didn’t think there would be a magic bullet like that. You are a legend Andy. ---
**Author:** ![andy\_dill](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.logik.tv/andy_dill/32/15475_2.png) [@andy\_dill](https://forum.logik.tv/u/andy_dill)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2020, 6:48pm UTC](https://forum.logik.tv/t/what-is-the-best-way-to-extend-a-batch-at-the-head/1614/4 "2020-11-23T18:48:15Z")
That trick has saved my bacon many times. ---
**Author:** ![PlaceYourBetts](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.logik.tv/placeyourbetts/32/6852_2.png) [@PlaceYourBetts](https://forum.logik.tv/u/PlaceYourBetts)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2020, 12:19am UTC](https://forum.logik.tv/t/what-is-the-best-way-to-extend-a-batch-at-the-head/1614/6 "2020-11-24T00:19:24Z")
Is anyone using 1001 as a start frame in Flame? I agree with the concept but the last time I used it (2018.3) we found key frames slipping out of place. I was waiting for a suitably small job for me to try again using 2020.3 ---
**Author:** ![andy\_dill](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.logik.tv/andy_dill/32/15475_2.png) [@andy\_dill](https://forum.logik.tv/u/andy_dill)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2020, 12:23am UTC](https://forum.logik.tv/t/what-is-the-best-way-to-extend-a-batch-at-the-head/1614/7 "2020-11-24T00:23:38Z")
I’ve been burned by that 1000f bug on 2018 too. I think it’s fixed. I know of at least one shop that has 1001 as the default start now, but I still tend to start at 1. ---
**Author:** ![digitalbanshee](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.logik.tv/digitalbanshee/32/1160_2.png) [@digitalbanshee](https://forum.logik.tv/u/digitalbanshee)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2022, 4:06pm UTC](https://forum.logik.tv/t/what-is-the-best-way-to-extend-a-batch-at-the-head/1614/8 "2022-08-19T16:06:08Z")
BFX slip is my go-to! However sometimes the batch has more than one output and it’s a massive setup so this doesn’t work. I seem to recall being able to set negative numbers at the head of the setup to begin the render…? ---
**Author:** ![hildebrandtbernd](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.logik.tv/hildebrandtbernd/32/3038_2.png) [@hildebrandtbernd](https://forum.logik.tv/u/hildebrandtbernd)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2022, 5:19pm UTC](https://forum.logik.tv/t/what-is-the-best-way-to-extend-a-batch-at-the-head/1614/9 "2022-08-19T17:19:55Z")
Just to have it here for everyone, what I’ve written on discord. In the rendernode, the “render range” button will do the negative frames when the “from” is also negative. ---
**Author:** ![mangelo](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.logik.tv/mangelo/32/5504_2.png) [@mangelo](https://forum.logik.tv/u/mangelo)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2025, 5:18pm UTC](https://forum.logik.tv/t/what-is-the-best-way-to-extend-a-batch-at-the-head/1614/10 "2025-03-19T17:18:15Z")
You have to clean out any pre-render nodes first so there is just one render node connect to chain at it’s end. Batch Paint nodes may need some manual slipping love 😉