This happens on a fresh install of After Effects, tested on two computers. There's nothing strange or wrong in the project happening (by that I mean that there's not a massive amount of effects being applied), but something is causing it to 'freeze', but not literally - cause most functions still work. Except for playing the project. The entire program freezes when trying to exit after having reached the 12 second mark in this project. The space bar entirely loses it's function and doesn't work anymore. Even when skimming through the project, the preview screen will remain stuck on the 12 second mark. The PC has enough ram. I'm puzzled, what can I do?
I have attached a picture for reference and will attach the project file & and necessary files if needed, please let me know.
So, keep in mind this same problem happens on another computer - with another version of After Effects but the same project file, so something in the project file glitches, or something - I don't know. It's odd.
1 Correct answer
After you reboot, open AE, purge everything, then load everything. The first thing I see in your screencast is that there are 3 files missing. Locate the 3 files. If any of them are used in any composition locate them. If the files are not in the any part of the comp that is giving you problems remove them from the Project Panel.
Then start diagnosing the problem by selecting all layers, press the U key twice so you can see everything that has been modified to all layers, then hold down the shi
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After you reboot, open AE, purge everything, then load everything. The first thing I see in your screencast is that there are 3 files missing. Locate the 3 files. If any of them are used in any composition locate them. If the files are not in the any part of the comp that is giving you problems remove them from the Project Panel.
Then start diagnosing the problem by selecting all layers, press the U key twice so you can see everything that has been modified to all layers, then hold down the shift key and press the E key to show any effects that have been added but not modified. It looks like the problem happens at 12:08 so concentrate on that time and look for keyframes or new layers.
You'll want to do this with all of the layers and with the nested comps (pre-comps). It is also a good idea to leave the Magnification ratio at 50% and set the Comp resolution to Auto. Get a pen and paper so you can take notes and start with the bottom layer in the bottom nested comp. Either turn off all layers in the comp, then turn on the bottom layer or start soloing the layers from the bottom up. If there is anything in that layer that you have done other than modifying or animation the layer's transform properties turn off the effect or layer style and run a preview. If the layer contains footage (video) open the video in the Layer Panel and try previewing there.
Repeat the process until you have worked your way up through all layers that have effects, layer styles, or footage. When the project locks up again you have found the problem. If you get through all layers with the resolution set to Auto and the Magnification Ratio set to 50%, try a preview with the Magnification ratio set to 100%. If the comp locks up at 100% then you have run out of system resources.
I know this sounds like a lot of work but it will usually go pretty quickly. I had to do it on a comp that had more than a hundred layers the other day but only 3 of those layers had effects applied at the point in time where the comp was having problems.
Let us know what you find.
I think Mike is probably right about having some corrupted media. It could even be a still image.
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