Premiere Pro CC "Unable to Produce Frame"

[verticalcreative]

Hey all, looking for some help for a time sensitive project.

I am trying to export a video project and every time I try and export it, Media Encoder fails and gives me the following information:

"Export Error

Error compiling movie.

Accelerated Renderer Error

Unable to produce frame."

I am dealing with about 22 minutes of footage, almost all of which is 4K within a 1080 project file, with the 4K scaled to different project files. Attempting to export to H.264. Working off of a external hardrive running USB 3.0. Beyond that, I'm not sure what information what may be relevant, so forgive me if I'm leaving out any important details.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

[excited_Genie16B8]

My first thought is to turn off GPU rendering.  Your scaling might be pushing your card past it's limits.

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi mrlukecampbell,

"Export Error - Error compiling movie.

Accelerated Renderer Error

Unable to produce frame."

Reading these errors, it sounds like your GPU is running out of VRAM for the task(s) that you are trying to perform. From the info you gave, you are scaling footage as you are encoding it. This taxes your particular GPU too much, so it could not finish the encoding process.

Normally, encoding does not engage the GPU unless you are doing things like scaling, using GPU accelerated effects (including Lumetri color effects), etc. You are scaling at the very least, so your GPU is engaged during the encoding process. My guess is that it is underpowered or not functioning correctly. We'd need to know your full system info.

I have a few recommendations:

• File > Project Settings > General
  • Change the renderer to "Software Only" (if you use Media Encoder, change it there too)
  • The drawback of "Software Only" that the export is much, much longer than it would with a sturdier GPU
• Take advantage of the smart rendering process as much as possible, especially if you have a somewhat underpowered GPU.
  • Currently, you are not taking much advantage of that by encoding directly to H.264.
  • You might try mastering to DNxHD, Cineform, or ProRes instead
  • Create H.264 files from the master
  • Drawback: this is more a process you need to consider in the beginning of a project, not now.
• Install a GPU with more VRAM.
  • If I were under the gun, and on a deadline, I'd run down to your local computer hardware and get a 4GB or more VRAM GPU.

Thanks,
Kevin

[isaac612]

I have same issue! as you told,it work thanks a lot! 

[Arav5E14]

Thank you so much for this! I realized that i was exporting at 6000x4000 when I should have been exporting at 1920x1080.

Much thanks! (:

[Vincent27841450mnid]

Dang. Thank you so much! Helped me a lot! 

[bclarkified]

This started happening to us after installing 2015.3.  Render would crap out and throw the "unable to produce frame" errors.  What FIXED it was uninstalling 2015.3 premiere.  Installing Premiere 2015.1 then updating to 2015.2.   THENNN run the update for 2015.3 but go into advanced setting and tell it to keep old version.  Also keep the preferences.  So far this has worked but I'll let you know if it's crap again.

Let me know if it helps you.

BC

[timw37088702]

Was really hoping this would help us over here, but no luck.  Still looking for a solution to this...

[excited_Genie16B8]

We all are, Tim.

[timw37088702]

Well, add this to the pile of frustration...

Swapped out our two (now defunct?) gtx 980's and tried installing a single brand new Quadro K2200 running certified driver 354.56 on our windows 10 64bit fresh install and still no luck with exporting anything above HD with max quality enabled... 

Was certain that this would work, given that the K2200 is certified/recommended for use with Premiere Pro CC, but apparently not? 

Kevin-Monahan​  what information do you need from us to elevate this issue?  Or better yet, maybe we can come up with a workaround that doesn't involve circumventing CUDA support?  At the very least, maybe point us in the direction of a stable driver to run alongside 2015.3.   Going back to 2015.2 isn't going to work for us over here.  I know, I know, we should never update in the midst of a project, but truly, if a card is certified for use, I don't think users like us should ever have to contend with system-killer software updates like this.  What's the meaning of "certified" if we can't even export a measly 2 second test clip, never mind a full feature or commercial.   Not trying to point the finger, I'm truly not sure what the issue is, but I'm still mystified why one of our rigs is sailing smoothly with a Titan X and the other is struggling this hard to export anything above HD, the two systems are nearly identical to one another, save for the GPU discrepancy.  Something doesn't add up. 

Is there anywhere to go from here, or is the best course simply to wait for an update?

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi TimW,

Swapped out our two (now defunct?) gtx 980's and tried installing a single brand new Quadro K2200 running certified driver 354.56 on our windows 10 64bit fresh install and still no luck with exporting anything above HD with max quality enabled...

That is not the correct driver. See this webpage: NVIDIA DRIVERS Quadro Desktop/Notebook Driver Release Windows 10 R367 WHQL

I have no trouble with this GPU.

Thanks,
Kevin

[Carlos Morillo]

I've ran into this issue on several different projects and different machine configurations. Premiere CC 15.1 and 15.2 both seem to do a much better job handling multiple layers and scaling than 15.3. Tested on a system with and older GTX 580 and another system with a newer quadro card both with updated drivers. Same results. 15.3 gives the "Unable to produce frame" error but 15.1 and 15.2 work fine. Has the way GPU memory utilization changed in 15.3? It seems like a major step backwards in this regard.

[excited_Genie16B8]

I've been getting this a lot lately as well.  Seems to only happen when AME is trying to encode and I'm doing something in PP.  If I leave the machine alone, the same files encode just fine.

[Kevin-Monahan]

What kind of GPU do you have again, Jim? I know it's NVIDIA.

Kevin

[excited_Genie16B8]

An older 560 Ti for now.  Soon to be a 960 with 4GB of VRAM (as soon as the new 1070's can be had for the expected $380 retail price).

[georgeh72620547]

I had this too - seemed to fix it on mine by turning off maximum render quality on the output.

[Airden]

I ran into this problem too while working with Proxies in 2015.3.  I was taking A7sii 4K footage and creating 1080p Pro Res proxies, and I got this error using a iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2015) with AMD Radeon R9 M395X 4GB.  In fact this error was preceded by another one - "A low-level exception occurred in: QuickTime (Exporter:9)". 

I seem to have fixed the problem by going to the Media Encoder preferences and choosing (OpenCL) instead of (Metal) as the Mercury Playback Engine GPU Acceleration option (Under 'Video Rendering' in 'General)'.  So far so good.  I hope this holds because I'm excited about proxies but the process has been much less than smooth so far.  Especially compared to FCPX. Pease Adobe, don't make me have to use FCPX!

[excited_Genie16B8]

I just filed a total of 26 bug reports on this issue, the number of times my export has failed with this error.  I know it's a bit of a pain, but I would encourage everyone with this error to do the same.  My thinking is that if Adobe sees just how frequently the error occurs, it will gain importance for an immediate fix.

[timw37088702]

For what it's worth, we have two near identical custom rigs, only difference is the gpu.  The rig with the gtx 980 is unable to export anything at all with max quality enabled in export window, no matter what.  Tried every possible solution I can imagine, no luck.  On the other hand the system with the titan x is handling and exporting as it was in 2015.2.  Had nothing but problems after the update with the 980 rig, and it shouldn't be with 4gb vram, no?

[excited_Genie16B8]

No, it definitely shouldn't be.  That's why I think everyone getting this error should file a separate bug report for every instance of this error.  Flood the Adobe database with this bug report so that it gets fixed ASAP, because this one really can be a paycheck killer.

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi TimW,

The rig with the gtx 980 is unable to export anything at all with max quality enabled in export window, no matter what.

For some technical reason, this GPU is not on our list of recommended GPUs. Therefore, we do not endorse the use of this GPU with current versions of Premiere Pro. With it, you may be subject to unexpected behavior, lack of CUDA support, etc.

Although this is not an ancient GPU, it does appear to require drivers that are out of sync with current drivers required for current versions of Premiere Pro. My recommendation, therefore, is to update your GPU hardware. I recently replaced my Quadro 4000 with a K5000 for the same reason. The difference is marked and why I recommend that you do the same.

I did warn that this situation would eventually affect customers around a year ago on my blog. Sorry.

I'll continue to search around for potential workarounds for you, or if anyone else has something worthy to offer, please do so.

Regards,
Kevin

[excited_Genie16B8]

Although this is not an ancient GPU, it does appear to require drivers that are out of sync with current drivers required for current versions of Premiere Pro.

Man, I'm normally thinking you're one of the good guys, Kevin.  But this smacks of smoke and poo poo.

[Kevin-Monahan]

Although this is not an ancient GPU, it does appear to require drivers that are out of sync with current drivers required for current versions of Premiere Pro.

Man, I'm normally thinking you're one of the good guys, Kevin. But this smacks of smoke and poo poo.

Jim, really??? My blog post was written by advice from Premiere Pro engineering. Please write a bug up and tell them what you think of their advice.

Face facts, my friend. You're running on a five year old GPU. Is it so outlandish to suggest that you might need to upgrade your hardware periodically, say, every five years?

I'm just sayin'....

And I didn't BECOME one of the bad guys. I'm a good guy. Well, most people that know me say that.

Regards,
Kevin

[excited_Genie16B8]

Face facts, my friend. You're running on a five year old GPU. Is it so outlandish to suggest that you might need to upgrade your hardware periodically, say, every five years?

Oh, I don't argue that.  My hardware is definitely is need of an upgrade.

But your post was in response to someone running a 980, the top tier card available at a reasonable price when 2015.3 dropped.  And I'm running the same driver I would be running even with a newer card, the same driver many other people posting here are likely also running.

Further, when I go to the nVidia web site, they list the same driver for the 1080, the 980 and even my lowly 560 Ti.  This is why I'm very skeptical about your statement "[your 980] does appear to require drivers that are out of sync with current drivers required for current versions of Premiere Pro".  It just doesn't make sense.  There are no newer drives, not even for the 1080, which wasn't even available when 2015.3 was released.

Either something has been miscommunicated, or someone is blowing smoke up both our buttocks.

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi Jim,

But your post was in response to someone running a 980, the top tier card available at a reasonable price when 2015.3 dropped. And I'm running the same driver I would be running even with a newer card, the same driver many other people posting here are likely also running.

Now that we're a bit further down the road, it does seem that there are two issues going on here. One is the issue you're having and the one I mentioned.

The other is that the drivers for the newer NVIDIA GPUs are not working for that card on 10.3, or that there is a bug similar to the one I wrote up a workaround for in a FAQ: FAQ: Why is my GPU not available for Mercury Playback Engine GPU acceleration? 

I would be curious to see what happens with the same GPU in 10.4.

Bottom line, though. Engineering did tell me that CUDA would not work in future versions of Premiere Pro with certain legacy NVIDA GPUs. I do feel that issue is biting a certain percentage of our users.

I'll keep searching for more answers and will keep the thread open so we can find out more.

Thanks,
Kevin