Exporting Video Incorrectly

[bayleed]

My After Effects has been misbehaving lately. When I go to export, it is doing a weird thing where the timing I've created inside AE is different then what actually renders. I just created a simple reel for Instagram that includes six photos that are each on screen for a second or two. In AE, it looks great and lines up with the music beautifully. When I render it, though, two of the photos just don't show up at all in the mp4 file. I've had it in the past where the timing is different than in the AE file, too.

I've tried exporting with the render queue in AE and with Media Encoder 2022, and it used to work great. I'm running the 2022 version of AE.

This is really irritating and is causing a huge setback in my work. Any feedback is much appreciated.

[davidarbor]

It sounds like there could be a couple things happening here.

1) Regarding the missing photos, does the final exported file's time match the length of your timeline? If not, then it sounds like you have a Work Area set in After Effects and you're rendering out only that portion.

2) As for the incorrect timing, that sounds like the frame rate of your exported file doesn't match your timeline. Can you confirm that your Comp's frame rate, time, (and you might as well also check) resolution match the settings of your desired output file?

[bayleed]

Thanks for the getting back to me!

1) The missing photos are in the middle of the composition, not the end, so it is not a work area problem.

2) The frame rate, time, and resolution are correct. To clarify, the length of the video is the exact same in the export as it is in the AE composition. But some of the photos show for slightly longer or shorter amounts of time in the export than they do in the AE composition. Or sometimes they are altogether absent in the render, as mentioned above.

[davidarbor]

I would try purging your cache and doing a test directly from the Render Queue to something like ProRes (I know you said you've tried RQ renders before). Then bring the exported file back in and see how AE is interpreting its frame rate.

Are you using Time Remapping or expressions that mess with time at all?