AME renders black - tried solid layer at bottom

[dhmiller]

I searched the forums for an answer and the only one I found was to put a black solid layer at the bottom of the Project. I have a 60 minute project in AE that previews fine - when I Render in AME, I can see the project as expected in the Preview window. But on two occasions - three - four hours each - the MOV file has rendered entirely black/blank. Any thoughts on this? I've used AME from AE numerous tips and have never had a problem.

I'm using AE CC 2017.2, but because of earlier problems I had with 2018 crashing. AME is also 2017.2

Thanks for any help.

[Rick Gerard]

There is not one thing in your post that gives anyone a single clue that would help you solve your problem. No details = big guess.

60 minutes for an AE comp is insane. AE is not an editing app, it is a compositing and motion graphics tool designed specifically to create shots. Most of my comps are under 7 seconds. You edit in Premiere Pro. The only reason I can see to do a 60-minute comp is if you have one shot that has to be an hour long and the only way you can do what you need to do in that shot is to use After Effects.

My first suggestion for any comp that is complex and takes a long time to render is to render an image sequence using the Render Cue. That way, if it fouls up at frame 258 you can fix the problem and pick up exactly where you left off. When you get the image sequence rendered drop it into Premiere Pro, add the audio track, and use the AME to render your deliverable.

If you are stuck with a 60-minute comp then I would break it into at least a dozen or so segments shorter comps by duplicating the comp in the Project Panel and then cutting them down. If you have parts of the comps that are failing at least you will not have to re-render the entire project every time you have a problem. When the rendering is done load up the renders in Premiere Pro and put them back together.

[Roland Kahlenberg]

From experience, a black frame that appears in a render is a likely symptom that the app is short on memory. Try rendering in chunks of 15 or 20 minutes to see if the problem persists.

[dhmiller]

Thanks, Rick/Roland. There is no audio - it's a one-hour composite of about 12 different animations (created elsewhere) that has fades and some effects (color correction. speed changes, etc.) Could have been done in Premiere no doubt but it's all together now in AE - a solid week of work. There is no problem with the comp itself -  nothing fails in AE and I can render it out in AE, but when I render in AME, though the Preview is completely fine, the final resulting MOV is totally black. May indeed be a memory problem as Roland noted (iMac 2015, 32 GB, etc).

The comp itself is 2736 x 1224 and needs to sit in a 4K frame in the upper left corner - these are the BrightSign player specs, as that will be used to play the video on a 35-foot screen in downtown Boston. I have to give it to the client in H. 265, so will probably render it out in AE uncompressed, drop it into Premiere in a 4K frame, then transcode to H. 265 for final delivery.

If you (or anyone) sees a better workflow from here, do let me know. Deadline is tomorrow night.

Thanks again for the help.

[Roland Kahlenberg]

A good workflow is to combine AE and PPro; even if you don't think you require PPro. PPr, as an NLE, is exceptional at playback of footage - so, use it to compile sequential renders from AE to check on your work as well as to compile your work, progressively.

Each time you complete a segment in AE, render it out using a high quality CODEC. Then use PPro to compile the render. Add subsequent renders onto the same sequence in PPro. In this manner, you commit to renders in AE progressively, as your work progresses. Thus, you won't have to commit to one large render at the end of the project. This large render will of course be time-consuming and a pain in the butt. The other advantage with compiling your AE renders progressively, in PPro, is the ease with which you can playback your clips, to check on errors or issues. Then, should you want to re-render an entire segment or a section of a segment, you can do so without re-rendering everything, at one go - simply fix or tweak in AE and render just the part that requires re-rendering.

[dhmiller]

Thanks much. Will give that a try next time or just stick with PP for the bulk of it.

Crazy that  AME cannot produce a 4k/H.265 file (see other post).