ACES render colours randomly go muted - help!

[PixelDeluxe]

I've got a composition built up of some light passes from Maya & V-Ray 7. Rendered with ACES 1.2 Config.

These are added on top of each other to match a result that I get in Photoshop for a product render.

On top of these are some adjustment layers with various exposure/hue sat/curves etc.

When I RAM Preview the animation without the adjustment layers it looks fine, then with the adjustment layers it'll be fine up to a point then the colours will go all muted. The individual light comps and beauty pass look fine on their own... No flickering or muted colours.

I've tried this setup via the new OCIO Color Managed set up in After Effects, and via my old method that was to use an OpenColorIO ACEScg > sRGB adjustment layer with a Color Profile Convertor layer on top to correct the gamma.

Both of these methods have very much random issues with the frames going muted on random frames. If I turn any adjustment layer off the muted look disappears. I've tried to reset AE preferences, have updated to the latest version, and flushed the cache but this doesn't fix the issue.

Might anybody know how to fix this? I need to get an animation rendered really urgently.

Using Windows 11 and AE 25.5 Build 4, with ACES 1.2 Config.

[PixelDeluxe]

Ok scrap that, I think I found a fix: https://community.adobe.com/t5/after-effects-discussions/random-frames-switch-to-a-different-color-s...

"Probably it is related to GPU acceleration. Go to File > Project Settings. Under Video Rendering and Effects Tab select Mercury Software only. Also, go to Preferences > Import, and deactivate hardware acceleration decoding for video. Restart After Effects, Purge the cache and try again."

[nishu_kush]

Thanks for writing in and updating the thread. If this issue is GPU-related, you may need to update the GPU driver to the latest version.

Feel free to reach out if there are any other questions. Moving this thread from Bugs to Discussions.

Thanks,
Nishu

[PixelDeluxe]

No problem!

I'm currently running Studio Driver 576.80 as it's required for V-Ray GPU. I have had this as a bug over the past year, and I've run a few different drivers over that time so I assume there might be an underlying issue.

[nishu_kush]

I filed this bug a while ago. See if it's the same issue as yours.

Let me know.

Thanks,
Nishu

[PixelDeluxe]

Yeah, that sounds exactly like the issue I was having.

If i switched layers on and off the muted colours would come back to normal, there wasn't any particular effect or layer that was tied to it - it was all over the place and would flicker differently throughout my comp depending on what layers were on or off. Switching to Mercury Software only fixed the issue.

[nishu_kush]

Thanks for getting back and confirming. You can follow the thread to get updates on the status.

Please feel free to reach out if you have any other questions.

Thanks,
Nishu