After Effects error when rendering PSD file over Mov file

[Pedro Downunder]

I am dropping a 2.5K clip in to a 4K 16.9 ratio project. On the upper layer I'm placing a PSD file with an alpha channel that acts as a film mask. The AE video project is 32bit with an RGB colour space. The PSD file is 16bit made in RGB. The option I choose when importing the PSD file is "Merge Layer Styles into Footage".

When rendering this or similar projects using a combination of PSD and Mov files, I invariably receive the following dialogue once rendering has completed. "After Effects Error: couldn't perform post-process action because the item to replace is missing". Now, I cannot see what item is missing as the clip renders normally. Can anyone tell me why I am receiving this message and how to get rid of it? 

I'm working on a MacPro 2024 Silicon 4. Mac OS Sequoia 15.7. After Effects 25.5.

Thank you.

[RobShultz]

Can you please share a screen shot of your time line and what you have selected when you attempt this process.

[Pedro Downunder]

Rob Shultz, you have requested a screenshot of my last line? When you ask what I have selected when attempting this process, I'll attempt to outline this more succinctly, as to date I have had no success calling Adobe phone support in Australia, that invariably defaults to terrible connections in a South Asian call centre.  

Object of project: to drop a 2.5K scanned film clip in to a 4.K composition and place a Photoshop created mask over the clip. When importing the PSD file After Effects generates a dialogue that reads: Import Kind - Composition. Layer options - enable layer styles or merge layer styles into footage. I have tried both layer style options and still recieve the dialogue after render: After Effects error: couddn't perform post-process action because the item to replace is missing.

I'm stumped as nothing is being "replaced", and nothing is "missing".  

[sskaz]

Do you have any Post-Render Actions in your Output Module? If it’s happening at the end of the render and uses the phrase “post-process action”, it might be a Post-Render Action in your “PRO RES 4444 XQ” Output Module. Can you post a screenshot of your Output Module Settings window?

[Pedro Downunder]

With respect Adobe,
You are so large that unlike companies such as Boris FX, REvision FX, Neat Video, etc, I wait days to receive solutions to anything I raise with you and your representatives.

One issue is the respondents to my few posts on this forum appear to live in other time zones. My only alternative here in Australia is to telephone your national 1800 number; be transferred to a call centre in the Indian sub-continent, then attempt to negotiate poor phone reception and cultural lingusitic differences. For a company of your size this is not good enough. 

[Pedro Downunder]

Dispirited by this "Community", and not able to connect with an Adobe call centre representative over a sixty minute time period, I returned to Adobe.com and your virtual assistant, who similarly demonstrated it's uselessness at customer support. The idiocy was further underlined by the virtual assistant mechanically thanking me for contacting Adobe - having not connected me with "live" support - and then presenting me with an offer to star credit this corporate obfuscation of corporate responsibility. 

[Pedro Downunder]

One day later and I am yet to receive a reply from this community: a community that Adobe optimistically refer to in their publicity as vital 24 / 7 product community feedback. The problem with Adobe's community feedback is that I live in Australia - not North America - and most forum respondents reside in the US. Put simply, because of our differeing time zones there is a 24 - 36 hour lag to any response I receive. Moreover, as Adobe's monitoring employees may choose not to participate in these blogs, I am left to the mercy (and experience) of fellow customers, who similarly may not follow through on solutions to any question asked (see this thread). I fail to see how such limitations equate with vital or helpful assistance, especially when time is the essence.

Currently, I have no way of knowing whether the automated After Effects error notice I receive is an indicator of file corruption. Which is to say I do not know whether I'm inadvertedly supplying my editor/ co-producer with files that he cannot use in projects. 

[Pedro Downunder]

Where are Adobe's over seeing staff on this forum? You would think in the absence of problem solving "Community Experts", staff would step in and offer professional, insightful advice.