Rendering does not match the workspace

[adzatpew]

I have a composition of a scene, within this, a composition of a character, within this a composition for mouth shapes which are animated using time remapping

the mouth shape comp has a one frame layer for each mouth shape.

all comps are set to 25fps

In the workspace, everything is how i expect it

When i render, its a completely different set of mouth shapes, ie, the workspace is showing a concerned mouth shape, but when i render it is a smile

I managed to isolate the issue down to the following mysterious glitch. if i view in the workspace at quarter resolution it is correct, but when i view at half or full resolution, the mouth shapes are wrong

i have deleted all temp files, all cache files, i have uninstalled and reinstalled the latest versions

but i am really stuck.

[Martin_Ritter]

This sounds very trivial, but did you restart the computer?

How do you control which mouth is visible? Show us the time remap expression, please.

*Martin

[adzatpew]

hi there, yes of course i did a restart

i did a restart after every thing i tried just to be sure

each mouth shape is its own layer inside the mouths comp. each mouth shape lasts for a single frame. so for example, sad would be layer 1, at frame 0. smile would be layer 2, frame 1, etc

then this comp is added to the character comp, and linked to the head. i right click an enable time remapping on the mouths comp layer. i switch all the key frames to HOLD, so theres no interpolation happening

but the mystery for me is why it displays correctly at quarter resolution, but is incorrect at half or full

[Martin_Ritter]

Indeed, this is strange!

What is your OS version and AE version.

Does the same thing happen, if every mouth layer is 2f long, or longer?

[adzatpew]

win 7 pro

latest version of afx

i have managed to isolate the issue down to only certain frames

specifically frames 17 18 and 19 of the mouths comp

and oddly, all the artwork is AI files from illustrator. once i convert them to shape layers the problem is resolved

but, that doesnt explain why the error was there or why it depended upon resolution or frame numbers

[Martin_Ritter]

How did you import all the mouths? Is this an AI file with layers, or several AI files as sequence?

[adzatpew]

that i cannot answer. it was a file given to me as part of a project handover.

[Martin_Ritter]

Are the mouths referring to one AI file? Just asking to check, if the file itself might be corrupt in some way. Maybe it will help to open it, check it, resave it and reimport it.

Otherwise, I'm out of ideas.

*Martin

[Jose Panadero]

As I understand, you are using precomps for your mouths animations, right? Maybe, the mouths comps are not in a 25fps flavour but your are using 25rfps for your master comp. Try to enter into your Composition Settings under the Composition Menu. Then in the advanced tab you have an option to retain your original precomps Frame Rate. Check attached image.

[adzatpew]

everything is set to 25fps

the issue is switching from quarter resolution to full resolution the artwork changes to a different frame

[Martin_Ritter]

Is there motion blur enabled somewhere? If so - switch it off.

[adzatpew]

no motion blur

[OussK]

try to post some screenshot or better record your screen so we can see what happen exactly

[adzatpew]

[adzatpew]

as you can see, the only thing i am changing is the resolution, but getting completely different frames

[Jose Panadero]

Try to deactivate GPU acceleration under File > Project Settings > Video Rendering and Effects. Choose Mercury Software Only to check if this could be the problem.

[Martin_Ritter]

Can you upload the project file (with assets, at least the character and mouths) - so we can test it on a second computer?

Another idea to check: does this happen, if you don't use no-interpolated keyframes, but normal one (put them 1f to each other to switch between mouths)?

*Martin

[adzatpew]

delete me - Google Drive

[adzatpew]

i think the above link should be what you need to test. if there are missing files let me know

[OussK]

you must share also the illustrator file (links), otherwise we can't see the issue you have

[adzatpew]

done

[Martin_Ritter]

Thank you - I've tested your file with AE 15.1.2 and the latest 16.1.1 and I find the issue in both version.

I also created a new project, imported your project into it and the issue was still there.

I even create a new project, imported the AI file, re-created the precomp and use time-remap and was able to reproduce the issue right away.

I seems that switching back from frame 19 to frame 18 is causing the trouble. Very odd, frame 18 is displayed 1 frame ahead of the keyframe itself.

So, I can confirm, something very strange is going on there!

I created a new AI file, created 20 layers with easy shapes like square and cycles, imported this as composition, cut down all layers to 1f, stacked them each another, put this into a new comp, applied time-remap and created several suppressed keyframes. The issue was still there!

On every switch from frame 19 to frame 18, the image appears 1f ahead the keyframe and switching through resolution shows either the correct image or not.

At least this behavior is understandable. If you purge frame cache on every frame, the preview render is fine all the time. You can activate this in the "secret menu":

Navigating the After Effects Secret Menu

Please send in a bug report!

Feature Request/Bug Report Form

In the meantime, I suggest to switch the mouths with a slider and an expression to opacity.

First you enlarge all layers to the whole length of the mouths-comp (there is a shortcut, but I'm on german keyboard and here it is ALT + Ö and ALT + Ä), and get rid of the time remap.

Then you create a slider in your maincomp. You can place it on the mouths comp.

Last, you put this expression to opacity on every mouth-layer:

slider = Math.floor(comp("GWCH 011 Stood E").layer("GWCH_MOUTHS").effect("Slider Control")("Slider"));

myindex = thisLayer.index;

if (myindex == slider){

    100;

} else {

     0

};

Purge frame cache. Now you keyframe the slider.

I'm curious what OussK​ found out.

*Martin

[OussK]

martinr84659894 First time i open the file i notice the issue, but after a few Purge/Memory and disc cache, it work fine even after i close the file and open if again also restart AE it always work fine,

anyway i try to use a frameToTime expression with slider control and i think it can work better since you can set the frame you want using slider and keyframes,

Here's a quick test, can you check if still have the same issue

Dropbox - REDUCED TO TEST 2018.zip

[Martin_Ritter]

Hi OussK​

Thank you for the check. I'm not the OP, but got into it because this issue bothers me, since I'm using the same technique to animate.

I found the same issue in your project, as well.

I've made a screencaputure of the issue. Let's be clear about the fact, that changing resolution forces AE to recalculate the frame instead of taking it from cache, therefore purging the cache and changing the resolution has the same outcome.

I've created a new AI and AE (v.16.1.1) file for this test. Can you please check if you run into the same issue, as you can see in the video from 1:43?

AE Issue - YouTube

The project file with AI file for download:

Dropbox - AEIssueTimeRemap.zip

I would consider this as a bug. That's the only explanation I can think of right now.

Cheers,

Martin

[OussK]

Hi martinr84659894

Yes i know you'r not the OP , i test your file and i can say it's a bug i get the same issue you show us in the video.

i think adobe stuff must take a look about this issue.

Regards...