AE cannot connect to CA dynamic link

[kjetils30485119]

Hi,

I have been using After effects to build scenes with characters from Character Animator for a while now. Upon latest opening up of the project I get this:

"After Effects error: failed to connect to Adobe Dynamic Link project (86::1)"

What has happened and how do I fix it?

[oksamurai]

This is a new one to me so I asked the rest of the team (who are way smarter than me). A few questions they had:

• No recent app/os updates?
• Ch project location/name didn't change?
• Restart of machine doesn't help?
• Is that message appearing in AE?
• How are you setting up the connection?
• Which versions of the apps do you have and where are they installed?

[kjetils30485119]

• No recent app/os updates?

No, none after starting this project (cc2017), Windows 10

• Ch project location/name didn't change?

Changed the scene names several times,

Also made folders and put scenes into folders after they were linked to AE.

I have recently pasted new versions of AI files I've

received from our illustrator.

The last thing I remember doing was rigging a scene in

CA with multiple puppets in it.

I tried exporting one of these as a puppet to send to you,

and I chose a Dropbox folder directly (CC folders are never in sync and we stopped using it). I got an error message saying it could not write to this folder, and all

that was exported was the tmp folder. I then exported to a

local folder, which worked fine.

• Restart of machine doesn't help?

...Didn't get around to that - I'll check first thing in the morning.

• Is that message appearing in AE?

Yes, dialog box.

• How are you setting up the connection?

Drag-drop scenes into folders in the project panel in

AE.

• Which versions of the apps do you have and where are they installed?

AE 2017

CA beta 5

Local disk.

//Kjetil

Den 6. des. 2016 kl. 17.52 skrev oksamurai <forums_noreply@adobe.com<mailto:forums_noreply@adobe.com>>:

AE cannot connect to CA dynamic link

created by oksamurai<https://forums.adobe.com/people/oksamurai> in Character Animator - View the full discussion<https://forums.adobe.com/message/9184118#9184118>

[kjetils30485119]

[egustal]

I have the same issue during app update, however. Went from 17 to 18, and I also updated Ch. I can open the project in AE 17 fine, but then I can't connect to media encoder (because a new one was installed). Then if I open my project in AE 18, all the Ch dynamic links break. Bad situtaion either way. 

[kjetils30485119]

Restarting the computer did not help.

[kjetils30485119]

After this message has apperared for each scene I have imported from CA, I get another message saying one file is missing since last time.

In the project panel, all of my CA scenes now shows up with color bars.

Any idea how to see what folder they are pointing to?

Adding the same scenes from the same CA project by drag-and-drop works.

My entire project is on a separate external drive btw.

[kjetils30485119]

I tried pressing reload footage on one of the missing scenes, and the dynamic link seems to find the project.

However, the scene names have been removed, so all I can see in my project is the name of the CA project. Linking back to the different scenes will therefore be by pure guess.

Once I selected a scene to reconnect, the scene appeared as a new scene in the project panel instead of actually reconnecting to the scene i wanted to reload.

The import dynamic link dialog box reappered after this, but then this happened.

"stopped working" - close application.

What do you recommend? Deleting all of my CA scenes in the AE project and importing them in again?

[kjetils30485119]

Another question.

Why does my main CA project appear as being last edited a month ago (4 november 2016) when the project autosaves all the time in CA? And why does it show up as having a size of 0kb?

[kjetils30485119]

Upon next opening up of the project, I am now not seeing the error message anymore. The dynamic link box shows up and asks to connect per scene (although, again, it does not ask for which scene, only what CA project).

I am now just clicking on all scenes from top to bottom.

[kjetils30485119]

​After importing by guessing all scenes have now been put into wrong AE comps. In addition, the dynamic link scenes from CA are not working - only color bars.

[oksamurai]

Seems like there's a bug here. We've filed it - someone may try to contact you about it, thank you for all the info.

From the team: "i'm not seeing the error msg, but i can repro bad behavior when i try to move a scene that is currently dynamically linked to AE into a different folder in CH -- the DL footage in AE goes black. purging cache causes AE to hang. maybe related? maybe see if restoring the scene location (i.e., moving it out of the folder that it was placed in) helps?"

I've been using dynamic link a lot and have seen the color bars a few times, but not as an icon, only in the comp and showing a broken dynamic link icon in the project panel. I've also seen weird flickers and other strange things at times. Usually in my case, restarting the app fixed the issue - but it sounds like that isn't the case here. And at most I've only been using like 2 dynamic links / characters in any given project.

[kjetils30485119]

Hello again,

I think this is related to this error, but i am not sure.

When I try to import new scenes into a AE project which already has scenes from the same CH project, one or more of the already existing CH dynamic links break, as you can see in the attached image. The selected CH scene has just been imported, and two other scenes have been broken.

I then try to right-click and reload the broken links, which results in the same 86::1 message as before.

This is starting to get very frustrating.

[oksamurai]

Have you done anything to the scenes at any point, like move them to a different folder, rename them, etc? There is an existing bug about this that will be fixed in the next version - trying to figure out if that's the issue here or not.

[kjetils30485119]

No, not that I can remember. I did try to upgrade to the latest AE, but downgraded again to see if that helped (which it didn't).

The only thing I can think of is I have changed the SSD position from being connected internally via SATA, to being connected via a USB3 bay. It has been assigned the same letter, but I don't know if this can be related?

A similar problem occured again today. I opened a AE project which had already lost connection to the CH dynamic link upon opening up.

Then, after I tried reloading the CH scenes - which at first seemed to work - when I pressed play at the timeline, an error message saying the I/O structure was damaged popped up.

I close the app, reopen the project while having the CH project open as well, the same thing happens (86::1)

I then try to delete the CH scenes, and reimporting them by drag-drop from CH.

They appear in the project panel, now they are working again in the timeline.

[oksamurai]

So it sounds like you've found a temporary fix?

This does sound like a rename/move issue, and hopefully the fix in the next release will solve this. We've seen issues with putting files in cloud backup folders, external drives, etc - CH makes a lot of temporary files, and things can currently get lost in translation sometimes if stuff gets renamed or cloud synced or moved.

[kjetils30485119]

I'm still experiencing this. Seems to happen more often if Character Animator is busy loading something/etc. when I open After Effects project containing Ch scenes. I've started using export to png as you mentioned in a different post.

[paiges86490643]

Hey, I'm having the same issue. It's driving me crazy. I can't get anything to fix it and I have so many linked files it's impossible to guess which is which since it removed all the names. What is the export to png solution you mentioned previously?

[oksamurai]

If you do File > Export > Png Sequence and WAV, that will make a folder of png image files for every frame of your animation. Then in AE you can go to File > Scripts > New Comp From Character Animator Recording.jsx to bring it into AE manually.

[paiges86490643]

Thank you!!

Sent from my iPhone

[paiges86490643]

Hey, when I tried this it made a.XML file and when I try to bring it and it said it's not a recignized file type. Am I doing something wrong? Sorry to bother you again.

Sent from my iPhone

[kjetils30485119]

You have to go to file> script > Ch script to import the scene. Select the first image of the sequence.

//Kjetil

Den 20. mar. 2017 kl. 18.59 skrev paiges86490643 <forums_noreply@adobe.com<mailto:forums_noreply@adobe.com>>:

AE cannot connect to CA dynamic link

created by paiges86490643<https://forums.adobe.com/people/paiges86490643> in Character Animator - View the full discussion<https://forums.adobe.com/message/9403632#9403632>