Auto-Trace Crashes

[Greg Gomez]

I'm currently running After Effects CC 2017 on my Macbook Pro; specs are below.

Macbook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015)

OS: 10.10.5

Processor: 2.8 GHz Intel Core i7

Memory: 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR2

I've updated After Effects CC 2017 and I also emptied out my Media and Disc Cache.

Whenever I try to auto-trace a text layer AE immediately freezes up and crashes before I cannot even click on the Auto-Trace dialogue box before the crash. I attempted this within my project which has gotten fairly big and in a brand new AE project with just a single text layer. I haven't received any error codes just the dialogue box that says that the program quit unexpectedly.

[Dave_LaRonde]

While it very well may be the new bug fix's fault, it could also be the footage you're using.

Try this -- Transcode your clip to a Quicktime in JPEG 2000, Photo JPEG, PNG, Animation or ProRes 422 (if you have it).

Try the auto trace again & see what happens.

[Greg Gomez]

Thanks for the response Dave! I did end up finding the solution with a different method but either way hopefully Adobe addresses the crashing issue.

[Szalam]

Why are you trying to auto-trace a text layer?

The crash is likely due to the font that you're using, but you shouldn't need to auto-trace it. You can convert a text layer to Bezier paths very easily...

[Greg Gomez · Accepted solution]

The reason I'm trying to auto-trace the text layer is to create a mask to use with Video Copilot's Saber plugin. By cycling the animation of the plugin and overlaying it over the original text it makes it gives it this cool glowing outline look.

I had no idea there was already a way to convert text to paths built into after effects. I've outlined the steps below for any interested or experiencing the same problems.

The Fix: Select the text layer in the timeline that you would like to convert to paths (or shapes). With the layer selected switch to the pen tool. In the Composition window right click on the text layer and a sub-menu will popup. Choose "Create Paths from Text".

This method is quicker than my method before and best part of all is no crashes!

[Tripplejdog]

it's even simpler than that, you can just select the saber outline to text.

[Tripplejdog]

oops this was 3 years ago i'm probably not helpful

[sdfs_3599]

No, its not you just saved me alot of time

[Valor Gaming]

Have you ever figured out why this does it. Im haveing the same issue but im using a PNG every time i auto trace it not responding. 

[Rick Gerard]

Autotrace on a still image should be set to the current frame, and you should adjust the parameters to get a good preview. An easy way to do that is to open the image in Illustrator and do the tracing there, import the AI file and convert the vector layer to a shape layer or copy and paste the path to a mask.

If your parameters are not set up correctly, Autotrace can generate hundreds of masks with hundreds of points, quickly overwhelming most systems.