AERender Error -1701

[Gabe Valente]

Hi there, I'm getting an error that I can't seem to find any info on.

Specifially, when running aerender int he terminal, i'll get this:

aerender ERROR -1701: AEGetParamPt failed at line 918

The only clue I've come across is somethign to do with Adobe ExtendScript Toolkit, which is deprecated and no longer even downloadable.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

_

G

[Gabe Valente]

Seems like I'm not the only one with the issue. Someone has reported the same bug here:

https://adobe-video.uservoice.com/forums/911311-after-effects/suggestions/43509876-aerender-fails-on...

[fnordware]

Apple broke something with their recent Catalina and Big Sur uppdates. Maybe this can be used to back up?

Another thing to try: check to see if aerender has asked permission to do anything in the Privacy tab in System Preferences > Security & Privacy. If so, enable it.

[Gabe Valente]

@fnordware I suspect as much from the link I posted...

Not sure what you mean by "used to backup" you mean restore from backup? If so, not an option for me, but thank you for the suggestion.

Thought about privacy / permissions, as well, and all permissions are enabled on my system, but i still get the error...

[fnordware]

A recent security update to Mojave has done the same thing: macOS Mojave Security Update 2021-004.

[obio773188]

Just updated to Catalina 10.15.7 (19H1217), and now getting the same error when launching aerender via the Terminal:

aerender version 18.2x37
PROGRESS: Launching After Effects...
aerender ERROR -1701: AEGetParamPt failed at line 918

Privacy settings for Terminal automation has After Effects checked. Also attempted to give full disk access to aerender, Adobe After Effects Render Engine.app, and Adobe After Effects 2021.app, but error persists.

Attempted to install Adobe ExtendScript Toolkit (ESTK 3.5) (downlaoded from here: https://www.adobe.com/devnet/scripting/estk.html) but got an error stating that the disk image is not recognized..

Is there a fix? Or a workaround?

[fnordware]

No workarounds that I am aware of. All we can do is sit and wait. And render through the Render Queue.

[fnordware]

…Unless you can backpedal your OS. In a production environment, you should be able to wipe your machines at a moment's notice.

[Gabe Valente]

Sorry, but in what world is backpedaling the OS a viable option? In a production environment or otherwise, that is never a viable option, please stop suggesting that.

[fnordware]

If you have a bunch of machines, some of them will sooner or later develop various issues and the only guaranteed way to get things working again is to be able to wipe them clean with a fresh OS and re-install everything from scratch.

It's also helpful to have an image of a known working system with various softwares installed and configurations set so you can get back to a known working state more quickly.

Finally, as this thread makes clear, you should not let machines update themselves. When there's an update, run it on one machine and test before updating the others. Even then you may miss something and still need the ability to bounce back to a working state.

Our studio completely relies on aerender and we would be in a bad state if all our machines had updated themselves and broken it.

[MotionIT]

I just wanted to update that if you can get your hands on an older "stand-alone" installer of either Catalina or Big Sur, it effectively rolls-back the security update that caused the issue.

I know they're tough to get after the fact, but it's always a good idea to keep an early installer image for each MacOS that you work with.

[fnordware]

Yep, good to keep those saved somewhere. You can also boot your Mac into recovery mode to install whichever OS came with it.

[KDuece]

I am having this same issue. Curiously it is only on 1 out of 3 machines, all of which are on Big Sur & the same builds of Ae (17.0.4) Ae & Terminal have Full Disk Access on all three. 

I tried with the newest builds of Ae 2020 & 2021, no dice there either. I've found a bunch of other posts with this problem but no solutions.

[fnordware]

I'd guess the Mac that works hasn't updated itself to 11.4 yet?

[Studio Patricia]

Same issue here. 😞

Catalina 10.15.7

AE 2020

If it's an OS issue, how do we know whether Apple are working on it?

Thank you.

[fnordware]

How do you know anything with Apple??

You'll just have to take my word for it that Adobe knows and they are working on it with Apple. Of course, that gives us absolutely no idea when a fix might be available.

[Studio Patricia]

Thank you. Fingers crossed then...

[juicybiscuit]

Same here. MacOS 11.4. BGRender and RenderGarden refuse to work.

18.2.1x8 / 11.4

Aerender ERROR -1701: AEGetParamPt failed at line 918

Destroyed my workflow overnight.....

[Draken182]

Same issue here using Render Garden, MacOS Big Sur 11.4 and the latest update stopped with the same error. I reached out to Mekajiki Support who led me here. Sad that Adobe can't get multi-thread to work, adn now we can't even use a third party plug-in to get our monies worth.

SMH

[hecticfilms]

• Yeah Adobe? Whats the deal? Why are you moving backwards?

[w70977008]

Getting the exact same issue on my end with CC 2019.

[fnordware]

Yeah, seems to affect all AE versions. Seems unlikely Adobe will update the older ones. Or maybe the fix will come from Apple.

[om_ars_work]

Hope we'll get a fix soon, security patches within the same point release OS version should not break software, and as Adobe costumers we need functionality support with at least a little backward compatibility. 

[MattYaple]

Update - it seems this issue is still persistent in version 18.2.1

Attempting to initiate a background render with the renderGarden plugin resutls in the following:

RENDERING
2021-06-10 09:59:09.079822

command:
"/Applications/Adobe After Effects 2021/aerender" -project "/Applications/RenderGarden/SEEDBank/1_Untitled_Project/01_Scott_Rissmiller/./_source/Untitled_Project.aep" -rqindex 1 -output "/Applications/RenderGarden/SEEDBank/1_Untitled_Project/01_Scott_Rissmiller/./_segments/seed02_Scott_Rissmiller.mov" -s 26550 -e 53098 -v ERRORS_AND_PROGRESS

aerender version 18.2.1x8
PROGRESS: Launching After Effects...
aerender ERROR -1701: AEGetParamPt failed at line 918
Output file not found: /Applications/RenderGarden/SEEDBank/1_Untitled_Project/01_Scott_Rissmiller/./_segments/seed02_Scott_Rissmiller.mov

Error code returned: 1

RENDER FAILED
2021-06-10 09:59:24.098941

[Rameez_Khan]

Hi all,

We're working with Apple on this.

Thanks,

Rameez