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Adobe Media Encoder Renders Old Project Version
I’m having a strange issue with AME.
So say I have a project file. I render a composition with AME and upon review of the output movie, notice that I’ve made a minor mistake.
I go back to the AEP file, make my fix, save, then re-open the project in AME and select the correct composition. The whole thing renders. I watch the new movie and the mistake is still in there!
“huh, I could have sworn I fixed that.” Indeed I go back to the project and it IS fixed. So, changing nothing, I export from AME again and this time the fix takes.
Now this has happened several times to me in the last few weeks, so it’s not like I just accidentally forgot to re-import the project file into AME, or forgot to save my changes first.
Any insight into how I can make sure my renders match my project file out of AME, without saving a new version every single time?
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8 Replies
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What version of AE are you running?
Also, why not save a new version? I incrementally save all the time. That way, if something gets corrupted in one project file (or the client wants to put something back in that they removed), I can just go back a file version number or two (or twenty).
Seriously, for some projects I have over 50 file versions.– The Great Szalam
(The ‘Great’ stands for ‘Not So Great, in fact, Extremely Humble’)No trees were harmed in the creation of this message, but several thousand electrons were mildly inconvenienced.
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I’m running CC 2014.
I’m really trying to figure out why this is happening so I can control for it. Saving a new file is an obvious solution, but it doesn’t help me understand why this issue is happening.
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Are you closing AME at any point? I wonder if it’s got a cache of projects it’s done or something. It seems a bit odd to me.
– The Great Szalam
(The ‘Great’ stands for ‘Not So Great, in fact, Extremely Humble’)No trees were harmed in the creation of this message, but several thousand electrons were mildly inconvenienced.
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I have not tried restarting AME before rendering. Just since when I’m making a tiny correction like this I’m moving pretty fast. It’s worth a try.
Though, frankly, if it does have a cache, it certainly isn’t using it to import the AEP file any faster.
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I’m just wondering if it’s pulling from RAM or some memory of its own and that’s why it’s not reflecting your changes.
– The Great Szalam
(The ‘Great’ stands for ‘Not So Great, in fact, Extremely Humble’)No trees were harmed in the creation of this message, but several thousand electrons were mildly inconvenienced.
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Generally, Adobe Media Encoder should not render an old version of your After Effects composition, but there are some circumstances that could cause this. To explain why, I’ll detail some of the under-the-hood details of how Adobe Media Encoder and After Effects interact:
1. In After Effects, the Composition > Add To Adobe Media Encoder Queue command saves a copy of your project in a temporary folder (compositionName_AME, saved in the project file directory), and this is the project that is sent to Adobe Media Encoder. This also occurs when you drag a composition from the Project panel in After Effects to the Queue panel in Adobe Media Encoder.
Because this temp project is separate from your original project, changes you save into your project are not reflected in the temp project. Therefore, if you make changes to your project, you should not reuse an instance of this temp project in Adobe Media Encoder’s queue. Instead, use the Add To Adobe Media Encoder Queue command again to send a fresh copy.
2. In Adobe Media Encoder, you can also add compositions by using the File > Add or Add After Effects Composition commands. The Add dialog can also be invoked by double-clicking in the empty space in the Queue panel.
This method will reference your original project file, no temp projects are involved, so changes you save into your project will be reflected.
However, once Adobe Media Encoder has loaded a composition into memory, it will not refresh it after you save changes into the project. This is a bug. To work around this problem, quit Adobe Media Encoder, wait about 5-10 seconds to allow all of the sub-processes to shut down, then relaunch Adobe Media Encoder. (This may not be necessary 100% of the time, as when Adobe Media Encoder runs out of memory it will close unused sub-processes automatically, and reload them when you request their use again.)
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Thank you. Your last paragraph matches my experience precisely. From now on I will shut down AME between uses and hope this gets addressed in a future update.
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For anyone experiencing this bug, don’t forget to file a bug report [link]. It’ll help Adobe officially track what needs to be fixed. And, remember, the more people who report a certain problem, the quicker it’ll be fixed.
– The Great Szalam
(The ‘Great’ stands for ‘Not So Great, in fact, Extremely Humble’)No trees were harmed in the creation of this message, but several thousand electrons were mildly inconvenienced.
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