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stylish_Miracle8217
Participant
July 28, 2025

Having problems with After Effects 2025 unable to open Cinema project files

  • July 28, 2025
  • 10 replies
  • 1128 views

I'm having some massive issues with Cineware in After Effects 2025 (25.3.2). Haven't submitted a ticket for Maxon yet because I think it's something wrong on my end, but can't figure it out.

Whenever I import even the most basic .c4d scene file into AE (made not only with Cinema 2025.3.2 but with any 2025 Cinema version) I'm unable to open it into a comp with crashing.

If I drag the .c4d file to the button to create a new comp, it'll simply crash with this following last log message: <######> <BEE_MiscTasks> <5> Set Artisan Task: Classic 3D

If instead I try right-clicking the .c4d file and select New Comp from Selection, I get the following error message first: "After Effects error: Error during event PF_Cmd_EVENT Code (PF_Err_INTERNAL_STRUCT_DAMAGED) : GlobalData image was nullptr during DrawEvent
(512) ( 25 :: 101 )"

I've reset preferences, uninstalled, reinstalled etc etc. And not only that, I'm getting this exact same error across multiple machines:
2022 Mac Studio / Apple M1 Ultra chip
2024 MacBook Pro / Apple M4 Max chip

Please, is there anything else I should try? Any advice?

    10 replies

    David.Arbor
    Community Manager
    David.ArborCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    February 5, 2026

    Hi ​@stylish_Miracle8217 ,

     

    I know it’s been a bit, but we recently upgraded Chinaware and the included version of C4D in AE 26.0 to C4D 2026. Are you still having issues like this? If so, can you re-save your .c4d file in the 2026 version and try to import it in AE again?

     

    -David, After Effects Engineering Team

    A
    Anders Neo Svensson
    Participant
    October 30, 2025

    Same here. I tried both Cinema 4D 2025 and 2026 with .c4d files created in both versions.

      E
      Edward Scissors
      Participating Frequently
      October 16, 2025

      Also having this issue so following

        S
        scottfrizzle
        Participant
        October 4, 2025

        Just to follow up: I reported this issue to Maxon and the Maxon tech was able to reproduce the issue on his Mac but not his PC, so it looks like a Mac specific issue in the Cineware plugin. 

          S
          scottfrizzle
          Participant
          September 30, 2025

          I am getting this error message upon import of the Cinema 4D files.

            S
            scottfrizzle
            Participant
            September 30, 2025

            I am also having issues importing Cinema 4D files.  AE hangs on import, and then the file comes in without some of the data and keyframes.

              D
              defaultdr0f07k0ejn6
              Participant
              September 29, 2025

              Same here!

              Any news on how to fix that?

              Thanks and regards,
              David

                David.Arbor
                Community Manager
                David.ArborCommunity Manager
                Community Manager
                July 28, 2025

                Thanks for trying 25.3.1, looks like there's definitely more going on here. 

                 

                Are you able to DM me the file that guarantees a crash? It would only be shared internally with a developer.

                 

                As for logging, yeah, let's see what we can dig up there. To get that going,

                 

                1. Open the Help menu
                2. Select "Enable Logging" and close AE when prompted.
                3. Relaunch AE and reproduce the issue.
                4. Go to "C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\After Effects\25.3\logs"
                5. Upload and share a link to the "After Effects Log.txt" file in the "logs" folder

                 

                To keep the logs as clean as possible, make sure you don't do anything except reproduce the issue.

                 

                Thanks,
                - David, After Effects Engineering Team

                S
                stylish_Miracle8217Author
                Participant
                July 28, 2025

                Thanks @David.Arbor for looking into it.
                FYI, my initial experience after rolling back to 25.3.1 so far is similar: if I try dragging the .c4d project onto the New Composition button, immediate crash. But interestingly, for a very simple .c4d file, when I selected New Comp from Selection, it displayed the same error message but then did open properly. However with a more complicated .c4d project file it once again crashed immediately. Please let me know if I can provide logs! Thanks.

                David.Arbor
                Community Manager
                David.ArborCommunity Manager
                Community Manager
                July 28, 2025

                Hey @stylish_Miracle8217 , sorry to hear about this.

                I just verified one of the errors with a simple .c4d file I had, but not the crash. The good news is that I tried in 25.3.1 and there was no error or crash. Can you roll back to that version from the Creative Cloud app and see if you can keep working? I'll get this bug filed.

                 

                Thanks,
                - David, After Effects Engineering Team

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