26 :: 170

Message text:

After effects error: Didn’t delete empty file " " because it was larger than
expected.

Message interpretation:

A temporary file could not be deleted.

Possible causes:

This error was noted in the render log of a user and is related to multiprocessing (Render Multiple Frames Simultanously) and possibly the use of specific formats handled through MediaCore. In both cases After Effects uses temporary files. They are either duplicates of source footage files to allow multiple render instances to access the same data without causing trouble with the operating system’s file handling routines or they are uncompressed conform files associated with compressed audio footage sources, e.g. embedded audio in AVCHD and otehr MPEG derivative files. When the program does no longer need them, it will attempt to delete unnecessary duplicates but may not always succeed. Because of the nature of the method of using multiple program instances, this error may also apply to network rendering.

Resolution or workaround:

File I/O errors can best be resolved by keeping your drives healthy and clean. Tips on how to do that can be found on this page. Any leftover temporary files can be deleted manually without risk once the render has been completed successfully. For the location of the individual directories, refer to this page.

Message text:

After Effects can’t continue: Damaged item.

Message interpretation:

An effect returned an invalid value and caused the program to crash.

Possible causes:

This is an internal error that eludes the user’s ability to influence or correct it. It may be caused by plug-ins "that do not behave" because they are either outdated and thus incompatible or still under development (Beta).

Resolution or workaround:

Get the latest version of the plug-ins that are compatible with your version of After Effects from the manufacturer.

Message text:

After Effects error: Render can’t continue – out of disk space on all overflow volumes.

Message interpretation:

Your disks are are either truly full (which is rare) or for some reason After Effects thinks they are because it cannot write to them.

Possible causes:

Your local harddrives or your network storage are full. This is however extremely rare and unlikely. In most cases there willl be other reasons. If you are rendering using a network, the network might be poorly configured, resulting in datarates too low to mainatin a decent performance. On local disks you may experience fragmentation that will prevent the program form writing large enough chunks, thus also resulting in this error.

If you are using file systems such as FAT 16 or FAT 32, your filesizes may exceed the maximum of 2GB or 4GB, respectively. Likewise, those systems impose limits on the number of files in a directory (for image sequences) and the number of hierarchy levels/ recursions in your folder structure which need to be figured in.

The most common source of trouble are bad disk controller hardware and drivers. Advanced device modes for RAID and/or controllers that are not part of the motherboard, often require installation of dedicated drivers for Firewire, SATA, SCSI and even USB. If the driver is flakey or the device not 100% compliant to the host operating system, it may show odd power saving behaviors, write delays and an assortment of other misconduct that will mess up things.

For CS3 and CS4, another possible point of failure is introduced by the temporary files for multiprocessor rendering. These will reside in your user home directory and may accumulate on consecutive uses of the aforementioned feature. A similar behavior can be observed for Gridiron Software‘s NucleoPro. Information on temporary directories can be found here.

Resolution or workaround:

Get bigger disks or free up space. Defragment the drives. Make sure, all your hardware controllers and drivers work as expected. Reinstall them if necessary or try to find newer/ more compatible versions of them. Regularly clean out your directories that are used during rendering. More information regarding disk health can be found in this article.

Message text:

Last frame was written to one or more output modules, but not all.

Message interpretation:

A composition could not be rendered to different output formats during the same render.

Possible causes:

This error is quite easily reproducible. When you add a composition to the Render Queue and add a second output module using Composition – Add Output Module in the main menu, the error will come up if one of the specified outputs is in a directory that cannot be written to. The program will then immediatley stop the rendering and never render more than one frame.

Resolution or workaround:

Choose directories you can write to and make sure the user levele permissions are set correctly on them.

Message text:

After Effects: not enough memory to create list.

Message interpretation:

One or more of After Effects‘ internal lists could not be populated.

Possible causes:

This specific error cropped up in the context of the Sure Target plug-in. This plug-in applies a set of expressions and the user attempted to bake the results into keyframes for network rendering using the Convert Expressions to Keyframes keyframe assistant. Possibly due to an incorrectly set framerate, the plug-in probably attempted to produce keyframes at invalid times, resulting in the error. Since such operations can produce quite a lot of keyframes depending on the duration of the layer or composition, you can also simply run out of memory. This may also apply to other plug-ins that use a similar methodology and create large numbers of keys, e.g. such as Trapcode Soundkeys. Another case may be presented, when you time stretch or time-remap layers.

Resolution or workaround:

First, make sure your footage interpretation and composition framerates match to avoid "crooked" values being produced. If you use time-remapping and time stretching, pre-compose the layer and only then apply the effect or expression in question, avoiding a temporal logic mess. If that is not possible, try to bake the keyframes on an unremapped layer and then use copy&paste to transfer it back to the actual layer. Use a similar approach, when you run out of memory. Split the layer into multiple segments using Layer – Split in the menu or the Ctrl+Shift+D shortcut, then convert each segment individually. Once you have the keyframes, paste them back to your initial layer that has the full duration.

Message text:

After Effects can’t continue: Damaged item.

Message interpretation:

An unspecified item appears to be damaged.

Possible causes:

This error more frequently appeared with the availability of intel Nehalem Xeon based Mac Pro systems and seems to be related to using Hyperthreading and multiprocessing. In those cases the file I/O overhead seems to jumble up the data streams.

Resolution or workaround:

You may try to turn off Hyperthreading as explained in this error code listing. Generally, though, it is sufficient to turn of the Render Multiple Frames Simultanously feature in your After Effects preferences. even with the feature enabled, restarting the program should at least temporarily fix the issue.

Message text:

After Effects error: Internal verifiaction failure, sorry! {can’t evaluate expr on parentless stream}.

Message interpretation:

An expression could not be evaluated, because it does seem to not belong to any property.

Possible causes:

This message is part of a series of errors (also see this error) triggered by a very specific scenario. In the given case, the user had linked mask shapes across layers using simple pickwhip expressions, a feature which has been introduced in CS4. In addition, he reversed the layer in time, which caused this issue.

Resolution or workaround:

The solution is actually quite obvious: Link the masks, but do so in a separate sub-composition. Then time-reverse that composition when it becomes the layer in the main composition. If that is not possible, avoid the linking of the masks all together and copy&paste the actual data instead.

Message text:

After Effects error: Root should be layer.

Message interpretation:

A function failed, because it could not associate its container element.

Possible causes:

This message is part of a series of errors (also see this error) triggered by a very specific scenario. In the given case, the user had linked mask shapes across layers using simple pickwhip expressions, a feature which has been introduced in CS4. In addition, he reversed the layer in time, which caused this issue.

Resolution or workaround:

The solution is actually quite obvious: Link the masks, but do so in a separate sub-composition. Then time-reverse that composition when it becomes the layer in the main composition. If that is not possible, avoid the linking of the masks all together and copy&paste the actual data instead.

Message text:

After Effects warning: Memory inefficiency due to 2 unbalanced layer checkouts.

Message interpretation:

Memory used by the program was not released due to a plug-in not releasing it.

Possible causes:

This is a programmatic error that cannot be influenced by the user. In the given case it was experienced with a Beta version of an unreleased plug-in.

Resolution or workaround:

Not applicable

Message text:

After Effects Error: Interpolation method not allowed for this stream (2).

Message interpretation:

A keyframe interpolation method is not suitable for a given property stream.

Possible causes:

In the specific example, The Wiggler palette was used to create randomized values on a property. However, when attempting to apply the data, wrong dimensions and value ranges were chosen. Because the tool will always create keys at each frame, setting the wrong ranges will cause problems with their sub-frame interpolation because it would result in illegal values.

Resolution or workaround:

Simply choose the correct settings in the panel.