Precomp item with Essential Properties causes AE to crash

[Tom Balev]

Creating a new precomp of items with (some) Essential properties is causing AE to crash

Video here

1. Import an item (testing .aep here) that has some essential properties - import can be via UI or CEP, doesn't matter
2. add this item as a new layer to a new comp
3. select the layer and precomp it using "Leave all attributes in xyz"
4. AE crashes

Observations:

• seems to be related to Essential Graphics in some way, most likely if the item was created in previous versions of AE
• removing Essential Graphics from the item fixes the issue and precomp works correctly
• same issue cross-platform (we've tested 6 computers in 3 locations - Mac and Win)
• same issue on AE 2024, 2025 and 2025-beta - 2023 works, aep was originally made in AE 2023
• very unpredictable - 9/10 results in crash, occassionally goes through without issue
• tested 30+ variations of the Essential Properties (naming, fonts, types, groups configuration) without replicable success. On this specific item (attached), removing the two Text fields from the Essential Graphics panel fixes the problem, but adding a clean text layer re-introduces it. I'm not 100% convinced this is related solely to text properties as it also happened randomly on other item that doesn't have any text layers (but was also made with older version of AE)
• Win produces the following error (Mac leaves no trace in logs): After Effects error: Crash in progress. Last logged message was:<15656> <BEE_MiscTasks> <5> Set Artisan Task: Classic 3D

[nishu_kush]

Thanks for creating the detailed post and sharing the files. I can replicate the issue on my end. I'll loop in the product team to take a look.

Thanks,
Nishu

[Tom Balev]

Thanks @nishu_kush, adding some additional info:

Looking at the logs it seems the crash always goes through:

BEE_GetStream → BEE_ConvertStreamFPVWithStreamP → GetAs_Tree → RepresentLayer

BEE_GetStream
→ BEE_ConvertStreamFPVWithStreamP
→ AfterFXLib::NIM_GetStreamFPV
→ ae::ppanel::EGG_StreamSpec::GetAs_Multival
→ GetAs_CheckVal
→ GetAs_Tree
→ RepresentLayer
→ SaveProjectToFileSpec
→ AutomaticallySaveAndNotifyUserFinish
→ UnhandledExceptionOrHardwareErrorHandler
→ PanicFromUnrecoverableSignalHandler
→ abort()

I wonder if it's something to do with ae::ppanel::EGG_StreamSpec::GetAs_Multival when it hits GetAs_Tree

Additional info:

• Re-saving the .aep in 2025 - not working
• Re-creating the Essentials Properties from scratch (in the same .aep), saving, importing - not working
• Switching render engines between Classic 3D / Advanced in both .aeps - not working

[nishu_kush]

Hi Tom,

Sorry for the delayed response. I tested your file when it was available for download, but I could not follow up on that. I just reached out to the developers about the issue, and unfortunately, the file is no longer available for download. Do you mind sharing it again so that we can investigate the issue further?

Looking forward to your response.

Thanks,
Nishu

[Tom Balev]

Sure thing, here it is: .aep + .mogrt 

Just import that .aep into a new comp and make a precomp from it as shown here

Tested today on AE 25.5.0 - both Win and Mac are still crashing

[nishu_kush]

Thanks for the effort, Tom. Unfortunately, I can't see an option to download the files. Am I missing something? If not, could you please share the files again using a different cloud service?

Thanks,
Nishu

[Tom Balev]

Whoops, should work now: https://jumpshare.com/folder/RhGDvQHKmvedZ6c9tTBd

[JohnColombo]

Thank you for re-sharing the project, @Tom Balev! We are able to reproduce the issue and are now investigating potential fixes.

Thanks again,

- John, After Effects Engineering Team