Can't export anymore from Adobe Animate!

[Skimagination]

I have no idea what's happening with Animate. I've exported so many projects over the years. Now that I'm using the 2020 version, I can no longer complete an export. The program goes through the whole song and dance with the progress bar, then opens Media Encoder, but then nothing gets added to the queue. Sometimes, a file will appear in the folder I designated, but it is completely blank. 

What am I to do? Why is this happening? Why now?

[Sukhesh Shenoy]

Hi Skim, You mentioned that you've been exporting videos - did it work in 2020 version with some files and it randomly stopped working later ?
Is this happening with all the fla files or file specific ? If it's file specific, could you please share the file to investigate ?

[Skimagination]

Thanks for the reply! I don't think I was ever able to export from v2020. And it's all files, not just one. Also, I tried going back to my cherished 2019 version, and it also wouldn't export. Just now, I uninstalled both versions of Animate, as well as both Media Encoders (2019 and 2020) that I use, and reinstalled Animate 2019 + 2020 and Media Encoder 2020 (for some reason I couldn't reinstall 2019). Still the issue remains.

[Sukhesh Shenoy]

I am unable to reproduce this and looks like something specific to your setup. Could you please try the following steps exactly in the same order -

1. Close all versions of Animate and Media Encoder (2019 & 2020).
2. Open only Animate 2020.
3. Open any file and try exporting video now (Try 'H.264' format & 'Default(AME)' preset)

By this we are making sure multiple Animate versions are not running (This is not causing any issue at my end though).

Now please help me with following -

1. Is Media Encoder getting launched automatically ?
2. If yes, do you see a "Tmp0*.mov" getting added to the queue ?

If this fails, please try "Quicktime" format and "Default(Animate)" preset to check whether Animate is able to generate ".mov" file on it's own. Let me know the results of these - Thanks.

[Skimagination]

I tried your suggestion, and Media Encoder opened, but nothing was added to the queue, as has been happening recently.

I closed both programs and tried your second seuggestion. In less than a full second, a popup window tells me "The file ______.mov has been successfully created." I check the location I designated, and there's a file with the right name, but is empty. It's only 132 bytes. This is was was happening to me when I tried going back to v2019 and exporting something.

[Sukhesh Shenoy]

Thanks for the details Skim - but with this, I am not able to conclude on the exact reason causing this issue in your setup.

Please provide some more details to have this investigated on the similar setup at our end :

1. OS and the version number in which you have the apps installed.
2. Export path as seen in the export video dialog (copy/paste the entire path).

Alternatively, a small video of screen recording capturing the workflow you are trying would also help us while investigating.

[Skimagination]

I'm on macOS Mojave, v10.14.6. 

Export path is /Users/samuel/Documents/Sam's Files/Animations. A strange path, I know, but it's just how my computer's been organized for years so I never changed it.

[Skimagination]

Step 1: I go to export and chose these settings (H.264; AME default). I click Export.

Step 2: AME (2020) opens on its own, but nothing is in the queue.

Step 3: I quit AME, and I change the export settings to Quicktime; Animate (default)

Step 4: This message immediately pops up when I click Export.

Step 5: There is now an aptly named file where I inteded, but it is 132 bytes, with a duration of 0:00. There's an error when I try to open it ("Quicktime can't open face.mov")

[Sukhesh Shenoy]

Hello Skim,

Appreciate the detailed description you've provided.

I remembered an issue in all older version of Animate in which the export video was failing if the export path has an apostrophe ( ' ) in it. In your case, the path has it in "Sam's Files".

This was later fixed in 20.0.3 version of Animate and is working in all the versions since then.

Could you please check if you are on the latest version of Animate (20.0.3 or later in this case) OR try to export the video directly under 'Documents' directory (make sure there's no apostrophe in the entire path).

Let me know if this works - Thanks.

[Skimagination]

Turns out I'm on 20.5.1.

And I just tried exporting to 'Documents'. Same thing happened: 132kb. I also tried exporting to Desktop, same thing happened. Curiously, the Desktop export had the 0:00 duration, while the 'Documents' export didn't list a duration at all. Weird.

Man, I was really hoping that would work. This is so bizarre.

[Skimagination · Accepted solution]

For some reason, even though I don't think I've changed anything on my computer or Adobe products, I can now export from Animate again. At least, through Adobe Media Encoder.

I am at a loss for words. No idea what the problem was. I'll probably be frustrated and confused about this for months. And, of course, if it happens again (which it probably will, knowing my Adobe apps).

Thanks for the help, Sukhesh!

[skryll]

I am having the exact same problem you are having, right down to the 132 byte file. My file path is /Users/(username)/Desktop, but there are no apostrophes or special characters in my path. Did you ever encounter the situation again?

[kglad]

@skryll 

you can't publish or you can't export?

[skryll]

I couldn't export. It turns out that moving the .fla file to the desktop fixed all of my problems somehow, so that worked out.

[kglad]

@skryll 

glad the problem's resolved.

[Deborah5E8C]

It is very frustrating.  I get a blank screen when testing/publishing HTML5 files.  It's strange and random.  These are Classroom in a Book files, and half of the student's files work fine, half don't.  Same Publish settings.

Tested on several broswers, Mac and Windows.  Nothing.