After effects can't connect to Media Encoder

[antonf10088166]

Hi there,

I have recently updated my creative cloud to the 2019 version. I know have that problem that After Effects won't export through Media Encoder. When i click Export > Add to Adobe Media Encoder, the Media encoder opens up, but there isn't anything that i can begin export. The Media Encoder works fine with Premiere Pro.

Does anyone know how to connect or re-connect the Media Encoder to after effects?

Best regards.

[saram37547095]

Same for me. Same problem throught 2020 and 2021. Horrible experience.

[Kostyan1986]

I have a problem rendering AE comp with AME. After choosing Composition>Add to Adobe Media Encoder Queue... It starts the AME but nothing appear here. Even if i drop the comp from AE to AME, it will appear there but wont render, i can't even open Preset tab to adjust settings. 
So i need to render comp from AE with Quicktime format (very large files) and then i use AME to render that file to MP4.
So Adobe please fix your annoying problems.

[Cemonicus]

Looks like it is always happen when adobe update versions. My version 2020 and same issue happen. Then I realize something about that, some effect then we used occur this issue. For example when I used "Keying Effect" AME hasn't work for render. I fix this issue with remove used effect... May it's work for you all.

[mvb88]

Thank you so much! I've been trying to fix the same issue and deleting the keying effect solved the problem.

[Cemonicus]

I am glad to solve your problem 🙂 You're welcome... I think AME doesn't support some effects and I hope Adobe developers will fix that.

[mikeb58419003]

AE 2020! Haha very fitting. Just tryiung to you know, export .mp4 client previews so I can get paid... Switching between user accounts takes longer than exporting prores and re-encoding. This whole dance shuts down the entire workflow and I cant flip previews like I used to, very frustrating and basic for a pro app. Im guessing the issue lies with plugins and Catalina's new strict signing process. You have to do this with AE so im assuming ME is getting hung up here. My feeling is apple is to blame. At least they better be, bc this is a core service and its been way too long if this is about debugging.

[defaultlvtrfykp6t68]

I'm having the same issue as the thread. Unable to export files to Media Encoder from After Effects. Everything was literally working literally perfectly until Catalina installed 30 minutes ago. Please can we get a solve for this ASAP!  Thanks

[stephs28662241]

Hello,

I had this issue too and after searching all of these support threads, none of the suggested solutions worked for me. I ended up contacting Adobe Support and a very helpful technician took control of my computer in order to sort the issue. After trying a couple of things that didn't work, he then reset the application preferences and it all magically works again!

Here are the steps to follow

~/library>> click on preferences>> adobe         Rename after effects to after effects.old
OPEN documents folder>> adobe                     Rename after effects to after effects.old

After renaming the folders I was able to open AE and immediately export straight to ME and no problems connecting to the dynamic link server . I hope this helps others

[daisychurch]

Steph's workaround (with the library and documents folder) TOTALLY worked for me!!

Was having this same problem, working with AE and AME 2021 in Catalina MacOS 10.15.7

[Elisa Clanetti]

Thank you so much, finally solved!
In the beginning, I renamed ME preferences, but this changed nothing for me! Now I renamed AE preferences and ME finally woke up! 🥳 

[luchababe]

Sadly this still doesn't help me with my version of this problem. But at least it worked for some people.

[stephs28662241]

Hi, just an update on this issue. A colleague of mine was having the same problems but my original fix didn't work for him but this did. I also started having the same problem again and this time this fix worked for me. Hopefully this helps someone else too.

 go into AE prefs, memory & performance and uncheck the enable multi frame rendering option and then restart mac.

[phil pfny]

similar to stephs. had a helpful support rep on saturday who got it working via remote. however, by sunday morning, it failed again. don't know why. the only difference was that i unmounted my raid on saturday night

the tech i had to deal with on sunday, however, was the worst experience i've yet had with any software company tech support. having got access to my computer, he seemed to just want to tootle around looking at open browser windows and text edit docs, until he eventually CLOSED an unsaved text edit doc in which i had links and color notes and other references. the dialog box asked quite clearly if "i" wanted to cancel, save or delete. he clicked delete. he never asked me. i disconnected him as quickly as i could

and here i am, still unable to send AE to ME via "add to AME queue". i followed all previous steps and have tried it with a new project, created locally, sent to AME and still nothing

the biggest pain is nothing has changed in my workflow in the last three months - working on the same projects, so no software updates because we all know what problems that can cause. and AME just disappeared, dynamiclink just stopped working. 

and to cap it all, adobe are now employing "support" reps who will delete your files given the the chance to access your machine. the absolute worst

[Auke5C8B]

I have the same problem here. Working on mac and tried the adobe solution but no luck. As a professional I really don't have time bug fixing adobe software the whole time.

[winnertakesteve]

disabling parallel encoding and setting the renderer to software only seems to have started my encode, so thanks for that tip. however it is patently absurd that the default settings on a program produces a broken result. further, having no access to hardware acceleration for rendering is ridiculous in 2021. adobe software doesn't feel like it has adapted with the times at all.

[luchababe]

I'm having this problem now. I've updated everyting to the latest and did all the fixes suggested in that link but with no luck. Nothing exports from AE to AME so I drag and drop. When I hit encode, it just tries connecting to the project and never gets there. It was working perfectly two days ago and now nothing.

[agustay65744661]

Same here, have had two adobe reps on remote, a regular one for about two hours and a one senior one for an hour. Neither had any luck or solutions really.  The senior rep said that they have known about the bug since verison 14 and have not been able to fix it. As a working professional I am losing money bc adobe cant get their sh*t together. I have fast approaching  deadlines and none of the above advice has helped. Everything was working perfectly fine before update. I really dont know what to do. 

[defaultn3410u8iquer]

I found the solution!! If you send your video to the render queue in after effects (not media encoder), on the settings of your video might be exoprting as .lossless instead of quicktime. Change the export settings to quicktime and it should link up right away!

[Studio104Recordings]

I had this issue recently and I seen a few videos on youtube using the quicktime trick. I haven't tried it but what did work for me was exporting the files to a premiere pro project (3rd option under export in AE) then opened that file via media encoder.  Hope that helps..

[Studio104Recordings]

Here's a few screenshots, and you don't have to wait for the file to render when saving as a premiere project..

[graphicmuse.D]

I thought it worked, but it only rendered my image, and not my simple stroke animation. I"m so frustrated with this issue.

[saram37547095]

2021 and still having this issue. jfc...

[anninam86]

Me too, same problem with 2022 version: can't fix it, and I'm frustrated as I was rushing on tight deadline and finished all the work, but couldn't export and send it to the client! Who should I charge for this wasted-non-working-time, trying to fix  problems like those?  Really upset with Adobe as we're getting new issues at every update, instead of a stable and efficient software. 

[Luis5ECA]

I was having the same issues with exporting to ME. In Creative Cloud, check the other versions in Media Encoder to see if you have 2 versions installed. 

Long story short, I had AE version 22.0 installed and ME version 22.0 & 15.4.1 installed... Uninstalling the 15.4.1 version and restarting my laptop fixed the issue for me.

[Elisa Clanetti]

Yep, I had 2 ME version too, but just unistalling the 15.4.1. didn't work for me. I had to unistall AE e ME 22 and go back to the earlier version 😞