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Joe_hance
Participating Frequently
July 27, 2023
Question

Optical Flares crashes in v23.4.0 - not longer supported?

  • July 27, 2023
  • 9 replies
  • 17661 views

Good day everyone!

 

Since the update to AfterEffects v23.4.0 every time I try to use Videocopilot's Optical Flares or every time I open a existing project, that uses Optical Flares, After Effects crashes. When re-starting AE it recommends to disable Optical Flares. 

 

I talked to some colleagues, to see if it's a problem of my setup, but all of them face the same problem! (We're all working on Windows, if that matters)

 

Is Optical Flares still supported? Is there a way to work with Optical Flares in the recent AE Version? We really use that plugin a lot and it always worked well for us. And we need to work with existing projects using Optical Flares, so we really need to find a solution for the future, other than installing and working with older AE versions...

 

Can you provide any tips /help for that? Wondering, that there's not more people, reporting that same issue? I think this is a known problem at your side, right?

    9 replies

    Flame2bits
    Flame2bits
    Known Participant
    October 30, 2024

    Does not work from adobe: Solution: Disable the “Hardware Accelerate Composition, Layer, and Footage Panels” preference
    Open the Preferences dialog box to the Display category
    Disable the “Hardware Accelerate Composition, Layer, and Footage Panels” preference

    ToolfarmJP
    Community Expert
    ToolfarmJPCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    October 4, 2024

    You contact Video Copilot support team.

     

    "Video Copilot Support"<support@videocopilot.net>

     

    C
    Craig37400298lm59
    Participant
    October 4, 2024

    Expereiencing same thing. 

    I found a temp work-around:

    1. Open the old After Effects Project. Let it crash.
    2. Open After effect again. A safety Dialogue will open. Select manage plugins. Disable Optical Flares and open the project.
    3.  Save the project (This will now be an updated version of after effects save file).
    4.  Go to tab "Effects" select "Manage Effects" turn on "Optical Flares" Plugin.
    5.  Restart After Effects.
    6.  Open the new saved Project.

     

    This worked for me to be able to open the older After Effects projects which used the plugin.
    Hopefully helps others too.

    P
    pulsedesignlab
    Participating Frequently
    October 4, 2024

    I have two solutions which seem to work for me. Not sure if they work for older projects, but if AE crashes due to Optical Flares, I try one of these solutions:

    A) Start a blank project. Create a comp, add a solid layer, then add Optical Flares to it. Then it seems to be "loaded" for AE. Then I open the project that I want to open (don't save that temp project) and that seems to work. Or,

    B) Drag my project into the AE project panel instead of opening it. Pull all of my files out of the folder that it creates, then re-save the file.

    Applevid
    Applevid
    Participant
    October 14, 2023

    I think I have found a temporary solution for the problem until they fix it (WINDOWS):
    Instead of opening the project (containing OF) from the file explorer, first open After Effects and then go to File > Open Project, locate the project, and then select Open.

     

    Another solution that I have tried is to install a previous version of Optical Flares, I did it with 1.3.5 and it worked without problems even opening the AE project from file explorer. Note: The plugin appears to me with a "shrunken" interface, and is not optimized for multi-frame rendering.

     

    I don't know, either of the 2 options is working for me in Adobe After Effects 24.0.0 and Windows 11 Pro 22H2.

    I hope it can help, regards.

      R
      Community Expert
      Rick GerardCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      October 15, 2023

      Optical Flares's latest version is working fine on an M2Max MacBook Pro, Venturs,  with 24 and 24.1 Beta.

      derekr85763966
      derekr85763966
      Participant
      September 19, 2023

      Not sure if someone already mentioned this, but my work-around is to opne After Effects, drag and drop my .aep file into the project window, take everything out of the .aep folder it creates, and just save over my file. It's not ideal but its been my solution for the past few years haha

      Good luck!

      J
      Joe_hanceAuthor
      Participating Frequently
      October 24, 2023

      ... nope, doesn't work for me... Still crashes when dragging the file to the project window. But thanks for that guess!

      Warren Heaton10841144
      Community Expert
      Warren Heaton10841144Community Expert
      Community Expert
      August 1, 2023

      @Joe_hance 

      Try opening a project that uses Optical Flares with caps-lock enabled.  Locate the GPU parameter for Optical Flares and uncheck "Use GPU".  Save and then release caps-lock.

       


      This has helped me with unexpected crashes with effects that use the GPU until I've been able to sort out the display driver.

      J
      Joe_hanceAuthor
      Participating Frequently
      August 2, 2023

      Thanks for that hint, but nope, didn't work. I tried it, but AE crashed before the project even opened. As soon as AE realizes, that there is Optical Flares involved, it denies and crashes 😄 It's not crashing when loading a frame which uses OF, it crashes before...

      Warren Heaton10841144
      Community Expert
      Warren Heaton10841144Community Expert
      Community Expert
      August 2, 2023

      If it crashed, I'm guessing you never got as far as unchecking Use GPU.

      Try opening the After Effects project without any source footage (so it all shows as missing) to see if you can get to the Use GPU setting.

      Try using Effects Manager to disable all third-party effects, adding just Optical Flares back first.

       

      It may be the plug-in loading immediately after Optical Flares that is causing the crash.


      Try installing After Effects 22.6.5 (alongside 23.4) to see if it launches as expected.  You'll have to use File > Save As... 22.6.5 to open the project.

       

      If you'd like to test a different project that uses Optical Flares but was not created on your machine, let me know and I'll post one.

      CSI Productions
      CSI Productions
      Inspiring
      July 28, 2023

      I'm on a mac - same issue here. Contacted VC and they said uninstall, download the installer (same installer I already had btw) and still isn't working. Garphics card drivers are up to date so it's not that. Very frustrating. Like you I use it regularly and it's put a damper on production.

       

      R.CatesCSI ProductionsIf you want peace, be peaceful.
        Warren Heaton10841144
        Community Expert
        Warren Heaton10841144Community Expert
        Community Expert
        July 28, 2023

        What happens if you disable all third-party plugins except for Video Copilot Optical Flares?

        J
        Joe_hanceAuthor
        Participating Frequently
        August 2, 2023

        Exactly the same 😕😕 I disabled everything else, except VCPs OF, still immediate crash as soon as OF is applied or involved.

        R
        Community Expert
        Rick GerardCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        July 27, 2023

        Have you tried installing the latest version of Optical Flares from Video Copilot? It's working fine on my M2 Mac.

          J
          Joe_hanceAuthor
          Participating Frequently
          August 2, 2023

          Not yet, but I heard people telling the same experiences by doing so, like @CSI Productions in his comment below. And you're working on Mac, which is usually very different to WIN... Colleagues of mine face the same problem and tested your tipp, didn't work. But I will try again, as soon as I checked all the other tipps..

          CSI Productions
          CSI Productions
          Inspiring
          August 2, 2023

          I'm using VC OF 1.3.8 with iMac AE 23.5.0 and the file with a flare applied opens but with a warning that a plugin is not installed - but it is.

          R.CatesCSI ProductionsIf you want peace, be peaceful.
          Sébastien Périer17107209
          Community Manager
          Sébastien Périer17107209Community Manager
          After Effects Sr. Quality Engineer
          July 27, 2023

          Hi, I'm Sébastien from the After Effects Team,

           

          I'm sorry you are encountering issues with Optical Flare. As this is a crash happening in a third party plugin, I would recommand reaching out to their support team to see if they know more about it and can address your issue.

          Meanwhile, you can try these steps and see if it solves your issue:

          • Update your GPU drivers
          • Update After Effects to 23.5
          • Try in current After Effects Beta version

           

          Hope this helps,

          Seb

            J
            Joe_hanceAuthor
            Participating Frequently
            August 2, 2023

            Hi Sébastien!

             

            Thanks for your quick answer! Not really, as the plugin works fine in the old version and AfterEffects crashes, as soon as I open an old project using it or try to apply the effect in the new version, AfterEffects crashes, not the plugin...? Everything worked until I updated AfterEffects, so I don't see the problem in the third party plugin but After Effects, as everything else is still the same and working in older versions.

             

            Ok, I'll try the GPU driver updates, if there's any new ones... I also may try to update to 23.5 - but this already may cause new problems as I work in a team and we're all working in v23.4 ... AND I already have issues working with the recent update, so I'm really afraid of updating further, regarding other plugins which may not work any longer... It's really annoying that there's always issues with those updates and it takes hours to get the software to run again, like it did before, with all the plugins, scripts, shortcuts, ... 

            Sorry, I'm not putting that on you, but I want you guys to know, that your users think like that, as I guess this is important feedback for you 😉

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