Optical Flares crashes in v23.4.0 - not longer supported?

[Joe_hance]

Good day everyone!

Since the update to AfterEffects v23.4.0 every time I try to use Videocopilot's Optical Flares or every time I open a existing project, that uses Optical Flares, After Effects crashes. When re-starting AE it recommends to disable Optical Flares. 

I talked to some colleagues, to see if it's a problem of my setup, but all of them face the same problem! (We're all working on Windows, if that matters)

Is Optical Flares still supported? Is there a way to work with Optical Flares in the recent AE Version? We really use that plugin a lot and it always worked well for us. And we need to work with existing projects using Optical Flares, so we really need to find a solution for the future, other than installing and working with older AE versions...

Can you provide any tips /help for that? Wondering, that there's not more people, reporting that same issue? I think this is a known problem at your side, right?

[Joe_hance]

Exactly the same 😕 I disabled everything else, except VCPs OF, still immediate crash as soon as OF is applied or involved.

[Warren Heaton]

@CSI Productions 

You could try rolling back a version or two of the plug-in to see if that helps.  

Under macOS Monterey 12.6.6 running After Effects 23.5, Video Copilot Optical Flares 1.3.5 is working as expected.  

Prior versions of VC Optical Flares are not MFR aware, but at least on my main workstation, 1.3.5 is not crashing After Effects 23.5, 22.6.5, or 18.4.6.

[Joe_hance]

... is there a way to disable MFR in v23.4.0 on WIN - maybe this causes the crash? Could be worth a try? Just to sort out the exact problem...

[Sébastien Périer]

You can disable MFR in the Preference panel, in the Memory and Performance section.

Hope this Helps,

Seb

[Joe_hance]

Nope, tried it, nfortunately no effect, it still crashes as before... But thanks for the tipp, I'm really happy that you guys trying to help me! Let me know if there's more I can test!

[CSI Productions]

I've spent a lot of time trying to resolve this. I'm running Ventura 13.0.1 w/Optical Flares 1.3.8. I would think (hope) all of these are tested before being released. This is what (IMO) beta testing is for - I don't think the paying customer should be spending their work day trying to resolve issues that shouldn't go live if they aren't working.

As mentioned - very frustrating and kills production.

[Warren Heaton]

I know it can be frustrating, especially when there's more than one point of contact to troubleshoot an issue.

Testing for stability would be for the publisher of the plug-in to do.

I'd try updating to macOS 13.4.1 next.

[Joe_hance]

Yes, that's really a fight 😄

Well, yes and no... It's not a thing of stability, it's not even running anymore at all... While designers rely on that effect in existing projects. And it worked perfectly to that point, so it has to be an issue on AE's side, not on VCP's side, as they didn't change anything and it worked before? But I get your point as well, so maybe there's an update on OF that fixes that issue...

[Warren Heaton]

@Joe_hance 

Try opening a project that uses Optical Flares with caps-lock enabled.  Locate the GPU parameter for Optical Flares and uncheck "Use GPU".  Save and then release caps-lock.

After Effects 2023 > Effect Controls > Optical Flares > GPU > Use GPU

This has helped me with unexpected crashes with effects that use the GPU until I've been able to sort out the display driver.

[Joe_hance]

Thanks for that hint, but nope, didn't work. I tried it, but AE crashed before the project even opened. As soon as AE realizes, that there is Optical Flares involved, it denies and crashes 😄 It's not crashing when loading a frame which uses OF, it crashes before...

[Warren Heaton]

If it crashed, I'm guessing you never got as far as unchecking Use GPU.

Try opening the After Effects project without any source footage (so it all shows as missing) to see if you can get to the Use GPU setting.

Try using Effects Manager to disable all third-party effects, adding just Optical Flares back first.

It may be the plug-in loading immediately after Optical Flares that is causing the crash.

Try installing After Effects 22.6.5 (alongside 23.4) to see if it launches as expected.  You'll have to use File > Save As... 22.6.5 to open the project.

If you'd like to test a different project that uses Optical Flares but was not created on your machine, let me know and I'll post one.

[Joe_hance]

Hey Warren, thanks for still trying to help!

Yes, you were right, didn't get to that point yet, but with all your tricks here, I managed to disable all effects, open an old file with OF with missing effects, deactivated all GPU Settings, saved it, re-started AE, enabled OF, re-started AE again, opened the file with deactivated GPU Settings --> Crash. Same as before. 

Also tried to deactivate MFR, as Sébastien mentioned, this may also be a reason for OF to crash. No effect, same crash...

So, my next steps are: check graphic card drivers and re-install 22.6.5 to check. Sorry for all the delay, but I have to work on projects and try to troubleshoot that in the short breaks inbetween. I've to be careful not to destroy anything else while doing so, as I am part of a team, that try to be all on the same versions...

[Warren Heaton]

@Joe_hance 

In addition to unchecking "Use GPU", we need to uncheck "Disable GPU Rendering" in the Optical Flares plug-in interface as well.  More here:  https://www.videocopilot.net/support/category/plugins/#optical-flares-ae  Scroll down to Optical Flares for AE > Interface Running Slow or Not Working.

When I updated from 2021 to 2022, I experienced frequent crashes until I updated each and every last third-party plugin.

[Joe_hance]

I installed 22.6.5 alongside 23.4 and it launches as expected, OF works! Next guess is 23.5 - maybe something changed already to 23.4?

[CSI Productions]

Warren had suggested I install the newest OS. Unfortunately my home system (late 2013 iMac) is tapped out at Catalina 10.5.7 It won't support anything higher. If that's the problem (skeptical) time to upgrade my system.

[Warren Heaton]

Under macOS Catalina 10.5.7, After Effects 2020 17.6 should work well with Video Copilot Optical Flares 1.4.  

[derekr85763966]

Not sure if someone already mentioned this, but my work-around is to opne After Effects, drag and drop my .aep file into the project window, take everything out of the .aep folder it creates, and just save over my file. It's not ideal but its been my solution for the past few years haha

Good luck!

[Joe_hance]

... nope, doesn't work for me... Still crashes when dragging the file to the project window. But thanks for that guess!

[Applevid]

I think I have found a temporary solution for the problem until they fix it (WINDOWS):
Instead of opening the project (containing OF) from the file explorer, first open After Effects and then go to File > Open Project, locate the project, and then select Open.

Another solution that I have tried is to install a previous version of Optical Flares, I did it with 1.3.5 and it worked without problems even opening the AE project from file explorer. Note: The plugin appears to me with a "shrunken" interface, and is not optimized for multi-frame rendering.

I don't know, either of the 2 options is working for me in Adobe After Effects 24.0.0 and Windows 11 Pro 22H2.

I hope it can help, regards.

[Rick Gerard]

Optical Flares's latest version is working fine on an M2Max MacBook Pro, Venturs,  with 24 and 24.1 Beta.

[Joe_hance]

Nope, sorry, doesn't work for me 😕 I still got no solution but going back to an older version of AE

[pulsedesignlab]

This is also my solution. I just drag in my old project instead of opening it. It's a pain but it works. I'm using 1.3.8 on Win 10 in AE 2023.

[Craig37400298lm59]

Expereiencing same thing. 

I found a temp work-around:

1. Open the old After Effects Project. Let it crash.
2. Open After effect again. A safety Dialogue will open. Select manage plugins. Disable Optical Flares and open the project.
3.  Save the project (This will now be an updated version of after effects save file).
4.  Go to tab "Effects" select "Manage Effects" turn on "Optical Flares" Plugin.
5.  Restart After Effects.
6.  Open the new saved Project.

This worked for me to be able to open the older After Effects projects which used the plugin.
Hopefully helps others too.

[pulsedesignlab]

I have two solutions which seem to work for me. Not sure if they work for older projects, but if AE crashes due to Optical Flares, I try one of these solutions:

A) Start a blank project. Create a comp, add a solid layer, then add Optical Flares to it. Then it seems to be "loaded" for AE. Then I open the project that I want to open (don't save that temp project) and that seems to work. Or,

B) Drag my project into the AE project panel instead of opening it. Pull all of my files out of the folder that it creates, then re-save the file.

[CSI Productions]

Thanks.