After effect 25.2 keeps crashing when using video files (hard reboot systematicaly needed)

[JuliaDesign]

Hello,

I am working on a very simple video project in AE (fullHD for Instagram, nothing complicated or resource-intensive), but AE crashes systematically during RAM previews (at half resolution and 50% size—I can't even manage a full 100% preview).

It seems the issue does not occur when I don't have any video files in my project.

The crash is strange—I can click on the interface, but it doesn't respond, and I can't close the project without a hard reboot via Finder.

I've already reset the preferences multiple times and granted full disk access as recommended for Sequoia, but nothing seems to resolve the issue.

help!

Hardware information:

• Model name: MacBook Pro

• Model ID: Mac16,6

• Model number: Z1FG000MQFN/A

• Chip: Apple M4 Max

• Total cores: 16 (12 performance and 4 efficiency)

• Memory: 128 GB

• System firmware version: 11881.101.1

• OS bootloader version: 11881.101.1

• Serial number (system): DCJ65JH2GV

• Hardware UUID: 0040DF4F-7323-5450-A7E6-C3AE3179B726

• Provisioning UDID: 00006041-001468AA3C04801C

• Activation lock status: Enabled

[Ishan Y]

Hey Julia,

This must be frustrating. I see a newer post from you related to Red Giant plugins. Let's see if you still experience stability issues after disabling them. Please go to the menu bar at the top. Go to Effects > Manage Effects. Click the "Disable All" button on the upper-right corner. Press OK and restart After Effects. Create a new project, import your videos and let us know if you still see the issue.

Thanks,

Ishan

Please tag me (@) in your replies so that it notifies me and helps me respond promptly.

[JuliaDesign]

Hi Ishan,

Thank you for your response.

No it didn't worked, I disable all plug ins, reboot AE (but still have the same warning error messages on launching)
Opened my project, tried to make a preview ram at 100% in full res… AE crashed. Not really crashing, more like a freeze, and I can't do anything.

Really the problem's coming from video footage (only full hd, no 4k) because when I mask them or just remove them from my project, no problem. And no problem with project without video footage too…

[Ishan Y]

You mentioned seeing warning messages. Could you share a screenshot of that warning? Also, please share more details on the footage that seems to cause issues with your project. Is it recorded from a mobile or camera, is it a screen recording, or did you download it online? Please let me know if it's possible for you to upload that video file to a file-sharing service like Dropbox or Google Drive and share the link through a private message. I'll try to replicate the issue on my end.

[JuliaDesign]

here're the warning / error message I get
All videos files are coming from different mobile devices.
thks

[Warren Heaton]

Maxon released an update for Red Giant and Trapcode just few days ago.  Have you had a chance to try updating with the Maxon app?

[MohammedSalmanUddin]

I think the new update of After effects has some isssues, today i updated and got like 10 crashes, which is very unusual.

[justinm75753046]

I literally have the same computer and same issues except I dont even get warnings. My AE Project just full on freezes and stops responding. Nothing out of the ordinary about the video files or project itself. Opens and works completely fine on my 2017 iMacPro - 64GB...super frustrating.

[dancoopernovel]

Any updates on this issue?

This has been an ongoing problem for me since AE25 release.

I've just updated to the new release (25.2.2 (Build 2)) but problem persists with project constantly freezing on launch.

Thanks,

Dan

[justinm75753046 · Accepted solution]

After doing some searching (and a lot of hair pulling) the only thing I have found that seems to work is disabling "Enable Multi-Frame Rendering" in the "Memory & Performance" located in Preferences. That seems to do the trick, although not ideal.

[dancoopernovel]

Thanks @justinm75753046 , that got AE working again for me too.

[cdubinc]

I have been getting constant crashes in AE 25.2 on my Mac Studio M3 Ultra, and the only solution is to turn off multi-frame rendering. It's disapointing because I do see a considerable boost when it's turned on, but the reliability is so poor with it on.

[Warren Heaton]

Try using MFR while in Safe Mode.  The crash may be caused by a third-party plugin.