One of the computers in my office is producing strange, horizontal artifacts when rendering from After Effects. They are usually only a couple of frames long but are nonetheless distracting, unexpected, and unacceptable.
Computer
MacPro (Mid 2010)
2 x 2.66 GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon
32GB 1333 MHz DDR3 ECC
AMD Radeon HD 7950 3072 MB
After Effects CC 2017
Render Location
The file is being rendered to a network drive on a robust NAS that we use to store our files. Both PCs and other Macs on the network successfully read from and write to this NAS on a daily basis, using After Effects as well as the rest of the Adobe creative suite. These glitches are ALSO apparent when rendering to a local SSD on this particular Mac, which is why I believe that the location being rendered to is NOT the issue.
Render Method
Glitches are apparent when rendering from AfterEffects. Formats and codecs tried include:
Quicktime ProRes422HQ
Quicktime Animation
Quicktime H.264
Problems also occur when rendering the AE composition through Adobe Media Encoder. The glitches are similar, but with the addition on even more artifacts in large, solid color areas. The format being used out of AME is H.264 in MP4 container with the High Bitrate preset.
Troubleshooting
Clearing the cache seems to have no effect. Also, I have run MemTest86+ in an overnight pass. This test came back with no errors, leading me to believe that the computer's RAM is OK.
Sample from After Effects
The black bar at the top is a glitch -- it's something that happens elsewhere in he timeline.
Sample from Adobe Media Encoder
Similar to AE glitch, but also notice the artifacts in the solid blue areas in the bottom 2 images. I do not regard this as H.264 noises, as it moves very erratically. Also, in my experience, H.264 noise tends to be most evident in areas that have a lot of motion and not solid color areas.
I have submitted a bug report to Adobe, but the problem wastes a lot of time around the office. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Thanks!
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