AFTER EFFECTS PREVIEW IS STUCK

Report · Jul 13, 2023

So im working on a project for commercial purposes a 30-45s duration comp
I have imported multiple templates because our work needs to be done fast.

As the title mentions my preview playback gets stuck. By stuck i mean I hit spacebar to play and it just freezes on the same second in the timeline. We have tried a couple stuff so far but still got no clue what causes the issue. I have expression errros and memory and performance error. We let after effects take 13/16GB ram on the pc. Also cleaned cache 100 times and tried this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lv43zOKpwB8 for the expression errors but i think not all of them get removed.
The expression errors are on templates for kinetic type that we actually plan to use on the final video so I cannot just delete them if there is a way to fix them . I've never had after effects get so laggy before it's odd. I'm suspecting maybe it's also some of the templates I've imported but since I didnt use all of them and I even deleted un used layers from my timeline I really have no clue what else to do. I'd like to know if expression errors will cause the playback to get stuck first of all. If not then what could it be that it makes it freeze . I cannot preview the animation at all. Needless to say i also often get crashes cus my file is heavy loaded with stuff but becus that is frequent i save my project all the time and keep an archive so its not much of an issue. But not being able to preview what im doing is a huge problem

Report · Jul 13, 2023

The first thing I would do with the project is to break any shots into separate compositions by selecting the layers that make up a shot and pre-composing. Then I would check each of those shot comps for errors. Start by pressing the U key twice and then turning off effects or resetting properties until the errors go away.

For projects longer than one shot, I almost always create the comps for each shot, render them to a production format (not H.264), and do the final editing, sound mixing, and color correction in Premiere Pro or Davinci. AE isn't an editing app; long comps with a lot of shots and effects quickly become incredibly difficult to manage and more likely to have render problems.

Fixing expression errors srequires you to start diving through the errors one at a time and looking for problems. If you have specific errors you cannot solve, find the layer with the problem, locate the expression, then copy and paste the expression to the forum so we can help you with the specifics.

Report · Jul 13, 2023

For personal work I always do post production in premiere but in this case I cannot do that because we have to translate the english version on other languages which are going to be multiple.I havent even finished the video yet. I guess tomorrow I'll try what you listed above. I tried deleting stuff 1 by 1 and checking preview and it still lags so i guess I have to tear it apart and rebuilt it on a new file.

Are expressions that are making it freeze though? Or could it be somethign else. When i render nothing looks out of the ordinary so the expression errors arent really affecting my animation everythign runs normal. Its the preview that is my issue cus i cannot see what im doing. If expressions aren't causing i wont bother fixing them. Im a rookie animator.

Thank you so much for responding so soon

Report · Jul 14, 2023

Is there any chance my file is corrupted or bugged? A couple days ago my senior opened the file from his pc and he couldnt preview it either it had the same issue. Also tried re installing after effects which didnt work either.

Report · Jul 14, 2023

I got rid of the expression errors I just get

It's odd though because I do not have anythign that complex inside the running comp. I do have a lot of templates installed but I've barely used any stuff

Report · Jul 19, 2023

Hi @Marino2023MG,

Try the suggestions mentioned in the following article for the Low Memory Warning: https://helpx.adobe.com/in/after-effects/kb/after-effects-low-memory-warning-mechanism.html

Let us know if it brings any change.

Thanks,

Nishu