Message text:

After Effects error: Cannot import Illustrator files because the parser plug-in could not be found.

Message interpretation:

A vector art file could not be imported.

Possible causes:

After Effects supports the use of vector files by ways of the Illustrator AI and PDF format. Both methods however rely on the same routines by reading the PDF compatible data even for AI files. If that data is missing, the program is unable to read anything. This can happen, if you turn off the respective feature in Adobe Illustrator or the file was obtained from another source or exported from another vector drawing program like Corel Draw for instance. Another possible cause is of course that the required module is really missing or damaged, e.g. by an update that didn’t go through correctly.

Resolution or workaround:

In case the file does not meet the required specifications or is damaged, open it in Illustrator and save it with correct options to a new file. If the parser plug-in is missing or otherwise defunct, reinstall the program. Since PDF technology is shared between different Adobe applications, it may also be necessary to reinstall Acrobat/ Adobe Reader.

Message text:

After Effects error: Could not open " ", because it is not a valid Photoshop document.

Message interpretation:

A Photoshop document could not be opened because its internal structure is invalid.

Possible causes:

This issue occured with a file that was being downloaded and was not yet complete. Other processes that result in the file being incomplete may also cause this error.

Resolution or workaround:

Wait for the file to download completely before attempting to use it in After Effects.

Message text:

After Effects error: Image size or format not supported by compressor, or there may be a hardware component problem.

Message interpretation:

A composition’s settings or render settings are not compatible with the chosen CoDec or compression.

Possible causes:

Some format-specific CoDecs only support resolutions and framerates associated with that specific format. In the given example, a user was trying to encode his output to Microsoft DV, without having correctly used the required anamorphic composition settings.

Resolution or workaround:

Adjust your composition settings to comply with the desired output format. If that is not possible, nest your existing comp into one that matches the specifications. If only small corrections are required, the crop and scale options in the Output Module Settings may suffice.

Message text:

After Effects error: An unspecified AVI or DirectShow error occurred (1).

Message interpretation:

See 53 :: 33

Possible causes:

See 53 :: 33

Resolution or workaround:

See 53 :: 33

Message text:

After Effects error: Retrieving frame from video stream. (3)

Message interpretation:

The video file could be read, however it was not possible to decode the requested frame.

Possible causes:

In line with the 53 :: 33 errors, this one is an indication, that the compression of the video file may be unsuitable. Even though it loaded successfully, its internal structure does not yield any data usable by After Effects. This error is not limited to Windows-specific formats but can also occur with Quicktime movies and MPEG derivatives.

Resolution or workaround:

Convert the file to another format using another CoDec.

Message text:

After Effects error: No such avi compressor (-2147205007).

Message interpretation:

Encoding an compressed AVI file did not work because After Effects is unable to use the CoDec.

Possible causes:

This is related to an identical error with the same ID. Just as with decoding DirectShow content, it is often not possible to render such files directly from within the program.

Possible causes:

Render out a clip in an unconspicuous format such as uncompressed AVI then use the tools mentioned above or others like ProCoder to do the final encoding for delivery.

Message text:

After Effects error: An unspecified AVI or DirectShow error occurred.

Message interpretation:

It was not possible to load an AVI, Windows Media or other movie file.

Possible causes:

In order to accelerate playback of multimedia content, Microsoft introduced an accelerated display architecture for this kind of stuff with Windows 95, called DirectShow. While beneficial to the playback of those files, it brought with it a new system for encoding and decoding such content. This extends to things such as embedding meta information to copy protection to how the file is written or read. The latter two might be the issue here. With formats such as DivX, XviD and a few others it is not possible to make sense of the internal structure. These formats are optimized for playback at low data rates and thus use multiplexed streams, meaning that audio and video parts are intertwined for each frame and cannot be decoded separately. This goes against how After Effects works and expects data and thus often results in these clips being not usable. The situation is worsened by the fact, that there are very noticable changes in the mentioned CoDecs from sub-version to sub-version. E.g. opening a DivX 5.2 file might work, whereas DivX 5.3 would fail.

Resolution or workaround:

The only proper solution to circumvent all potential pitfalls is to convert the file using external programs. There is a large number of tools out there that can do it. The most pupular free ones are VirtualDub, VLC mod and SUPER©.

Message text:

After Effects error: An error occurred while writing. T (-2147205010)

Message interpretation:

An unspecified error occured while writing a file to disc.

Possible causes:

Not applicable.

Resolution or workaround:

Not applicable.

Message text:

After Effects warning: Composition contains blending modes which are not available in Photoshop. Some layers have been saved with the closest equivalent blending mode.

Message interpretation:

When saving a layered Photoshop document, not all blending modes could be exported with identical settings.

Possible causes:

The Composition >> Save Frame >> As Photoshop Layers… function can be used to transfer a frame of the composition with the layer structure intact to Adobe Photoshop or other programs. However, blending modes between the two programs are not fully identical for technical reasons. Therefore After Effects tries to pick the most appropriate blendmode that will retain the overall look while keeping the editability.

Resolution or workaround:

Not applicable.