Motion Graphics Template export fails and destroys current project
Exporting a motion graphics template sometimes fails with a missing files error (this is bug 1). This basically cancels the export, but has an even worse side effect (bug 2):
As I understand mogrt files are aftereffects projects collected and compressed into a zip file. The zip file only contains the assets that are needed for the composition exported as a mogrt. I'll call this project the "partial project", since it contains only a fraction of the original.
To achieve this, while exporting, after effects silently closes the current project in the background and opens this small partial project in place of it.
If there is an error while opening this partial project, the export process terminates, however after effects does not restore the current original project, but leaves the partial project open, BUT still references the original project file as the source. Your original composition will be opened as if nothing happened, so you may not notice, that there is problem. So if you save your project in this state, you will overwrite your original project file with the broken partial temporary project that was intended for the mogrt export, which essentially destroys your original project. And there is no recovery after that point, only your autosave folder.
Viktor Nagy
shared this idea
7 comments
-
Viktor Nagy
commented
Hi Dacia,
I have a log file (RDY file). This time AE did not even show me an error message, i was just missing the part of the project which was not needed for the last mogrt export. That is very bad news, since if it shows the error, I can close and reopen the project before accidentally saving the broken project on top of the original. But now, since I did not get the error message, I went on using it until I noticed that most of the project was missing.
Please tell me where can I send the log file. -
Viktor Nagy
commented
I have no missing files in the project.
It mostly consists of illustrator AI files imported as compositions in separate layers.
I also have a mov file which is around a 100 MB. (However when I first encountered this bug, there were no mov files in the composition)
The whole project is on my local drive. It can not go offline.
The interesting part is:
The error can happen even after the export was successful.
The scenario:
I start the mogrt export. Since the composition has a mov, it takes quite some time to export. So I switch to another application, while AE does its magic.
After I switch back, I am greeted with the error message.
However, the mogrt was created in the target folder.
Without dismissing the message, I dived into the folder structure it mentioned, and the folder with the uuid name was not there, so at least it was correct in that regard :).
To me, it would seem that there is some kind of async worker that sometimes removes the files before AE has a chance to close the temporary project and open the original. AE detects that the files disappeared and reports the missing file errors, which prevents it from re-loading the original project. But that is only a guess based on the limited time I had to investigate it.
Is there a way to send the screenshot and logfiles to you directly? -
Oh! A few more questions...
Are there any missing files in your project when you attempt the export or does the file go offline after the export fails?
Is there anything common about the files that go offline? Are they a particular format or do they live in the cloud vs being stored locally?
Thank you,
Dacia -
Thanks Viktor!
If you could take note of the actions you were taking before the errors occur that could possibly provide some clues. Any screen recordings would be greatly appreciated and of course, if there are any particular projects that are triggering the issue more than others, please send 'em my way 🙏🏽.
Thank you for taking the time to report this and for your help,
DaciaThere is an option under the Top Bar Help Menu that says "Enable Log Files." You have to restart the app after enabling but then the next time the issue occurs, you can navigate to the Help menu again and choose "Reveal Log Files."
-
Viktor Nagy
commented
The reduce project setting is not checked.
The version is: 17.1.1 (Build 34) -
Viktor Nagy
commented
Thank you Dacia for your response!
I sadly don't have a screenshot, but when the missing file error occures (bug 1), it is not refering to the original files as missing, but to collected files somewhere deep in a temp directory (Files under folders named as uuids, under AppData or something...).
I have encountered this bug on several occasions in the last few days, so I'll make sure to make a screenshot next time it happens. If there are log files or anything else that may help you, please point me in the right directon for those.
Cheers -
Hi Viktor,
Thank you for reporting this and apologies for your project being whittled down on export. That should definitely only occur if your Collect Dependencies settings are set to "Reduce Project" like in the attached screenshot. Would you mind checking to see what you see in the dialog when you go to File > Dependencies > Collect Files?
While the .aep that gets packaged in a Mogrt export will always be reduced to only the comps and footage used in the Main Comp and its nested comps, exporting that file should not be destructive to your project as a whole. Thats not cool!
Would you mind sharing the version of AE that you are working in, as well as your project?
I will also investigate the first bug that you mentioned and report back as I have more details.
Thanks again for making us aware of these issues,
DaciaCan you please share the v
