Media Encoder files to encode from After Effects (M1 Mac)

Hi all,

Error to report here:

When I try and encode a file directly out of After Effects into Media Encoder I get an error and the process fails:

Here are my steps to repeat the error:

-In After Effects I click on add to "Media Encoder Queue"

-Media Encoder Launches and the file shows up in the queue just fine

-I created a preset with the folloing settings per below:

When I click on "encode" aka the green play button - the file will spool for about 20 to 30 seconds and then I get a file error

I have copied and pasted the log for the error below:

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 - Encoding Time: 00:01:56

08/03/2021 10:23:35 AM : Encoding Failed

------------------------------------------------------------

Export Error

Error compiling movie.

Render Error

Render returned error.

Writing with exporter: H.264

Writing to file: /Users/moebocop/Desktop/Work_Projects/Art_Projects/Art/Motion_Projects/StyleCraft/Weeks_34_36_Movie_Studio_Logo/Mov_Mp4_Finals/Perception Pictures v1.mp4

Writing file type: H264

Around timecode: 00:00:00:09

Rendering at offset: 0.000 seconds

Component: H.264 of type Exporter

Selector: 9

Error code: -1609629695

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Few more things to note:

-I followed some suggestions for how to fix this error on the Adobe site (via preference settings, changing the renderer to mercury playback instead of GPU, unchecking "enable parallel encoding" - still didn't work

I also tried using one of the default "Vimeo" presets in Media Encoder and the same thing happens:

-Below are my system prefecences/settings:

I just updated to the latest version of ME today and still does not work.

Thanks for the help!