AE CC Mac: After Effects Collect Files not collecting some files, including project!

[PhantomLimb_Arber]

I need to send a client some collected projects, but the File > Dependencies > Collect Files command is not collecting some of the files (after the project has been reduced, so all the files in the project are required), including the project file!

I just end up with a collected folder containing a "Footage" folder that includes some of the files and not others. This is a nightmare!! There are hundreds of files that will take days I do not have to manually track each file down.

Any suggestions?

J

[whoeverjneijvrjhbejvr]

We've had at least 4 updates since the mouse bug was discovered. Adobe hasn't acknowledged it at all. This is what you get with subscription software.

[Todd_Kopriva]

> Adobe hasn't acknowledged it at all.

That is false. There are several threads on this forum on which members of our team have worked with people to try to reproduce this issue.

We have been working on working around this bug in the Apple event handler for a while now, and we intend to release an update with a fix this spring.

[PhantomLimb_Arber]

THANK GOD!

I've had this bug for several years, on different Macs and OSs, and among my After Effects using friends, this is the number one head-scratching bug. "Wait. You mean if I touch the *mouse*, collect for output will fail...?? Whaaaaaa???"

I will be *so* happy when this bug has been fixed. It was the bane of my life until I discovered the reason.

J

[whoeverjneijvrjhbejvr]

I apologize. I haven't seen any of those threads.

[martinc13962311]

I can second what Todd says, this is a Apple issue we pulled up in prerelease of Yosimte. Not really that big a deal, just don't touch the mouse!

[M9_MHM]

Sorry, I'm going to have to disagree that this bug is "not really that big a deal".

When you have to collect a large project to (or from) an external drive, it can take an interminable amount of time for the data to transfer. Before this bug, you could at least send AE to the background while it does the collecting, and work on something else in the meantime. But now, this bug transforms your computer into an unusable paperweight for the duration of the collection process. It's a huge monkey-wrench in productivity, especially if you have a paying client in the room with you.

[martinc13962311]

What I meant by not a big deal is that there is a work around, but yes I agree it is ridiculous one that the bug is there at all, and two that it will take over 6 months to fix.

Think you will find from my previous posts that I have been one of the biggest critics of the incomprehensible lack of quality control at Adobe right now. Since CC the amount of bugs that have been introduced is simply unacceptable. The customer service responses are curt and offer no apology, or are defensive or denied with no acceptance of their responsibility to the customer.

We currently have 3 major bugs we have to "workaround", loss of import function meaning a restart, RAM leaks, and this one. Two of which have workaround which do still cause a lack of productivity... But the loss of import function has no workaround and is causing complete havoc.

[PhantomLimb_Arber]

This was happening before Yosemite.

[andrzejgoulding]

This was happening to me before Yosemite too.

The not moving the warm tablet does work, however I am having problems with After Effects not being able to collect the mp3 files associated with my project.

What I can't understand is why After Effects can't allow me to manually locate files it's having trouble with during the collection process. As it stands, as soon as there is an error the collection stops which means it simply doesn't work.

How am I supposed to properly be able to archive my project?

[regsquires]

Totally agree with manual linking if a project fails to find a file. That's in pretty much every bit of software I use.

I Still can't quite believe the whole don't touch the mouse thing. Incredible!

[ransombb]

Awesome. Except that summer is nearly over and the bug persists.

[MayDayMedia]

The first time I saw a bug very much this in AE was way back in 2004, or maybe it was 2005... The collect files process would stop and would only work if the mouse was moved. It was pretty hilarious actually. You had to churn the mouse around on your desk in order to collect your project files.

[kevinpales]

what happened to that fix?  the problem is still occurring in V 13.5.0.347

[Szalam]

kevinpales wrote:

what happened to that fix?  the problem is still occurring in V 13.5.0.347

The problem is much better in 13.7.2

[toneproductions]

I'm really loosing faith in adobe. What a ridiculous bug! True as day... hit collect files and leave the mouse alone and my files collect! WTF?

[andrzejgoulding]

Still doesn't fix the fact that the mp3 files in my project won't collect and so stops the collection process making archiving my project unusable.

Anyone else had any problems with mp3's? I'm going to try converting all the mp3's into .wavs and see if that helps.

Stupid though.

If After Effects can use the file it should be able to collect it!

[KGW_Graphics_1]

I'm so glad I found this thread. I've been hit with this bug many times.

Thing is, I distinctly remember some old version of AE (probably Windows, pre-CS) that wouldn't finish collecting files unless you DID move the mouse every now and then. Adobe likes to keep us guessing.

[red-beak]

Thank you for the workaround (using the keyboard rather than the Wacom tablet). I had the exact same problem - wanted to collect files on a project, and ended up with several nested folders containing only 2 of the 30 footage files, and NO copy of the AE project file. Upon reading your post, I opened the file menu using my tablet, then set aside the pen and proceeded to use only the keyboard to navigate the "Dependencies/Collect Files…" command and VOILA! My project and files were collected and copied correctly. Here is my software/hardware info:

Adobe After Effects CC 2014.2 (Version 13.2.0.49)

OS X Yosemite Version 10.10.2

iMac (27-inch, Late 2013)

•      3.5 GHz i7
•      32 GB ram
•      NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M 4096 MB

Wacom Intuos 5 touch (L) Model PTH-850 Version 1.07

My files were stored on a shared volume on a ethernet attached Mac Server with a raided storage array.

Hopefully this bug will be sorted out shortly!

[TMS-Ian]

This is insane. Failed the first time, was reading an article while it did it's thing. Then I found this thread and don't move my mouse. And Bam! it works... wow. Glad it's that simple. But just a bit crazy lol.

[Joshc]

Updated to After effects CC 2015 version 13.5.1 (bug patch released end of July) and it is still failing when moving a mouse or graphics tablet while waiting for AE to collect files.  Also still having problems with trying to export .MXF files as either a project collection or video render to another format. I am using OSX (10.10.4) on a mac Pro (2012) using NVIDIA Quadro 4000.

tested same project on an older osx machine (OSX 10.8) running AE CC 2014-  collecting and .mxf files work fine! What is going on Adobe!?! Any one else experiencing similar issues?

[editology]

Yup... Houston, we have a problem here too....   highly annoying, because it's the last thing I do to bring the project home... Please Mr. Adobe can we address this issue.   

thanks.

[Rebelski]

Hi Editology,

Yes it's an annoying bug in the software. But what helps for me is:

Note that after you click the final button to colllect files, your mouse isn't moving while collecting. It's not a final solution for the problem, but it works.

[Rebelski]

Oh sorry, didn't see that someone else has said this already.

[MayDayMedia]

Wow... Tried this suggestion (hitting enter on the keyboard instead of clicking with the mouse) and it worked! This problem had been plaguing me for at least two versions.

Adobe, you guys should really be ashamed of yourselves for this terrible, terrible bug.

[sonka]

Seems like the keyboard trick is working... Adobe Adobe...