"RAM preview needs 2 or more frames to render playback" AE CC

[Chris Dowsett]

This issue started out of nowhere for what I consider to be no reason. Working on average sized 720p compositions with modest animations.

I have tried all suggested solutions on this forum yet nothing has worked. I am running fresh comps in AE CC with absolutely no plugins, freshly purged memory, cleaned cache, restarted comp, no other applications running on computer and 13 gb of memory allocated to AE... etc.

I cannot seem to fix this issue.

Whats the next step?

[misfit_edit]

I'm having this same issue, but it is NOT related to audio scrubbing. I have no audio in my comb at all and still get the error after about 20 minutes of working.

[Navarro_Parker]

Yup same problem here!

[almosdone20112]

I just updated my CC 2014 and the bug has been fixed.  Been working on a project for the past 3 hours and no error as of now.

http://adobe.ly/1pFGGRE

If you have any previous versions, like AE 6 or 5.5, the problem may still occur. I am referencing only AE CC 2014 that the bug has been fixed and you should update

[Leroy Filon]

Thanks for the heads up! Will update and check it out

[Jef Huey]

I just updated a Mac Pro 10.8.5 system with 32GB of ram to the 13.1.0.111 version of AE CC 2014 and am still having this issue.

My problems are not initiated via Audio Scrubbing.  Most have been triggered (I think) when I am tweaking settings for video preview via a AJA Kona 3 card in AE Preferences. 

A side bar which may be totally unrelated, but we have not been able to get an acceptable RAM preview with either version of AE CC 2014 with the most current AJA drivers and AJA Adobe plugins.  We can get a good RAM preview with the same hardware / driver combo with AE CC.

Jef

[Jef Huey]

An update on my situation.  It turns out that user misunderstanding (mine) of how the AJA Adobe plug in works vs. the Mercury Transmit interface was causing my RAM preview issues.  Got that sorted.  But I still wonder if my misuse of the system was causing some type of memory leak (pour more likely!!).

I will give things a try now that I understand the rules of the game and see if the error pops up again in the 13.1.0.111 release.

Jef

[misfit_edit]

Can you elaborate on your misunderstanding as I'm using the AJA Adobe plugin as well...?

[Jef Huey]

I did not understand that the Video Preview under the preferences controlled the Mercury Transmit plugin and the AJA Preview under the Windows view are two different tools.  I was under the (wrong) impression that they were different buttons for the same tool.  Nope.

So, I now make sure that Mercury Transmit is unchecked in Preferences and only worry about settings in the AJA Preview tab under Windows.

Hope that makes sense.

Jef

[Josh JMFE]

My memory leak is gone after the newest AE update to 13.1.1.3.   So if anyone's issue was related to audio scrubbing, that should do it.

[M9_MHM]

I can also report that this bug is still randomly occurring for me, on OS X 10.9.5 running AE CC 2014.1.1

I was motivated to post this report, because I literally saw this bug happen for absolutely no reason on the comp I am currently working on. I was RAM previewing one second, and after making a single parameter change to a position keyframe, when I tried to RAM preview again, I got the "2 frame warning error of death (aka "TFWEOD"). Nothing fixed it: not a complete Disk/RAM cache purge, restarting AE, tuning off audio in the Preview pallete, etc.

So no, contrary to what Adobe is claiming, this problem is NOT fixed in 2014.1.1

[Szalam]

M9_MHM wrote:

So no, contrary to what Adobe is claiming, this problem is NOT fixed in 2014.1.1

Adobe is not claiming that this error will never show up. All Adobe has claimed is that the particular bug that caused a memory leak when scrubbing audio is fixed (and it is). Your issue is completely different and may indicate a memory leak somewhere else.

In order to track down the cause of the issue (since it seems to happen randomly and only to a few people), Adobe is going to need a lot more information from you. If you could try to recreate the conditions where it occurred and find the exact steps to follow and the right combination of effects, plugins, etc., it would be greatly helpful when you file your bug report: Adobe - Feature Request/Bug Report Form

[M9_MHM]

Szalam wrote:

M9_MHM wrote:

So no, contrary to what Adobe is claiming, this problem is NOT fixed in 2014.1.1

Adobe is not claiming that this error will never show up. All Adobe has claimed is that the particular bug that caused a memory leak when scrubbing audio is fixed (and it is). Your issue is completely different and may indicate a memory leak somewhere else.

In order to track down the cause of the issue (since it seems to happen randomly and only to a few people), Adobe is going to need a lot more information from you. If you could try to recreate the conditions where it occurred and find the exact steps to follow and the right combination of effects, plugins, etc., it would be greatly helpful when you file your bug report: Adobe - Feature Request/Bug Report Form

Of course, I agree with you on a semantic level. But I was responding to the greater "issue" itself, regardless of what may be causing it.

That said, I have since discovered that a temporary "fix" for this issue on Mac OS X (10.9.5, in my case), is to manually purge the OS X system disk cache, by issuing the following command in the Terminal:

sudo purge

This will temporarily work to get your RAM Previews working again, but you will need to keep re-running the command every so often (even in the same AE launch session) because eventually, the 2-frames error will pop up again

[martinc13962311]

I have installed Memory Freer from the App Store which also works with fixing the memory issues in AE. It has a visual indicator which is handy as you can see when the memory is getting lost.

Whats annoying about this issue is that it's a reoccurring one! Fixend in one release broken again in another!

[stridermax22]

I have After Effects 13.1.3 and I'm using a 2011 mac pro 17" with 16GB of ram, but I have any project I have I'm not able to work on due to After Effects not being able to render more then one frame at a time. When I go to RAM Preview it says "After Effects Error: RAM Preview needs 2 or more frames to playback." This phenomenon used to happen whenever I had Adobe Premiere open at the same time, but Thats not the case anymore. It just happens all the time. I can open a project, but after a little less then 3 minutes it reverts back to only rendering one frame. Purging the memory does absolutely nothing, in fact purging anything makes the problem come up immediately.

This is frustrating! I have deadlines to meet. Not to mention having to pay out of pocket for software that hasn't worked well since Mac OS X 10.8. I shouldn't have to pay for defective software.

[martinc13962311]

I feel your pain as many do... Wouldn't say too much on here though. Not really what Adobe want to hear!

Try manually deleting your cache folders e.t.c. Look in prefs and see where you have them saving to, delete all the folders. Also use memory freer, it seems to be a work around until they can be bothered to address the issue. 32gb upgrade might also help longer term.

I totally agree on paying for software that doesn't work, pretty scandalous but you will be banging your head against a brick wall trying to get them to listen. They just write you off as being negative! They don't want to actually hear about the chaos these constant broken upgrades cause. If you want to have a laugh ring the support line and waste a day or two of your life.

Hope these fixes can get you working again, patched us up for now.

[stridermax22]

"Try manually deleting your cache folders e.t.c. Look in prefs and see where you have them saving to" - Would that be in Media And Disk Cache area?

So I have memory freer and It doesn't seem to help. I also have Tried to work in After Effects 12 and same problem. I only can assume its because of me updating Mavericks OS X 10.9 to Yosemite OSX10.10. I have a feeling that Yosemite is to be blames, but apple and adobe sure don't have time to look into such a "small" problem. Both companies just keep saying, "well it should work, so you appear to be good" I don't play to contact or call either companies because I have little to zero faith that they can actually help me, but by all means I'm willing for them to prove me wrong.

[Tim Kurkoski]

orchardpost30 wrote:

They just write you off as being negative! They don't want to actually hear about the chaos these constant broken upgrades cause.

That is exactly opposite of the attitude of the After Effects team. (Martin, you and I have discussed this in a different thread.)

If our technical support team has given incorrect information or been difficult to contact, we can follow up with them. Please DM me if this has happened.

[martinc13962311]

We have indeed spoken about this before. It is the opposite of your attitude, but exactly what your actions lead to. AE on Yosemite is a disaster area! I have said before releasing software that isn't finished just simply isn't good enough. These updates just get more and more unreliable.

It took over 5 months for your support team to fix our CC team subscriptions, and that's being kind. Was probably over 7 months By the time it was useable. Got passed around your Indian call centre for months. In which time we couldn't add users or amend our team. Created complete chaos! You are quite welcome to look into that.

Strider is right it is pointless talking to either you guys or Apple, you both blame each other (QT network error that lasted years), We are on the Osx pre release and it is just as frustrating!

[stridermax22]

I will say that yes that Adobe Is trying far harder then apple, But there tech support is just not "up to par" with my problem. This is the third time I have chat with them and let them take over my computer, but they think its plug-in's or disk permissions and I have already checked that with no luck. The problem is the coding in AE itself so unless Adobe has a programer lying around willing to actually look at crash logs and update my code by hand nothings going to get fixed.

[martinc13962311]

Sorry you are not getting anywhere dude, we have lost patience also.

We are currently running tests in Yosemite using Nuke as an alternative to AE. The performance and playback is so advanced, stability has been great too. Yosemite isn't even supported in Nuke! Trouble is we have spent so much money on our AE pipeline it will be a wrench! I will let you know how it goes.

[stridermax22]

I like nuke, but its just so much of a difference in workflow from AE its not worth it to me

So just got off chatting with the worst, and un experienced Tech i have gotten so far. Time to call and throw a fit because apparently thats the only thing that gets results

[stridermax22]

Ok so well after all the frustration Adobe was able to help me out. Apparently It was no Adobe, but Yosemite itself was causing memory drain on adobe. Even though everything looked fine Yosemite was eating 3 times more memory then it was suppose to. The victim was After Effects. I had to re Install the operating system and all programs from scratch to about 16 hours of work, but Everything is up and running .

I want to Thank adobe for there Knowledgeable staff. It was a problem they didn't know the exact reason to, but  they did tell me they didn't think there was anything I could do but re-install the operating system or downgrade. That was nice because I didn't have to waste my time wondering if it was After Effects or OSX. well regardless thanks all!

[Tim Kurkoski]

stridermax, thanks for following up.

[luiss76110615]

What does it happen on Windows computers too?

[luiss76110615]

iMac 2013 / Yosemite OS X 16Gig RAM here

The problem started out of nowhere this week, it's been 3 days, I've uninstalled and reinstalled CS6, installed CC2014 using my office license, reset all caches, disabled and enabled quad processing, used the secret settings to purge every 30 frames, changed the memory allocation, I honestly don't know what else to do, but it's alarming that Adobe has no idea where this is coming from and how to fix it, meanwhile my clients are starting to get mad. Upgrades? Success is about stability, not about bells and whistles, that's basic.