After Effects 2023 Error: FailRenderException

Deadline
1

Hello all.

I’m attempting to use Deadline as a means of rendering my After Effects comps in the background on my iMac Pro 2.5 GHz 14-Core Intel Xeon W. I previously used RenderGarden for my background rendering needs, but an unfortunate update to macOS Monterey rendered the utility useless.

I tried to using Media Encoder for a time, but it would often turn a 2 hour render into a 10+ hour render, and that’s simply unacceptable.

I’ve used Deadline in studio environments, but never in the single-machine setup I’m attempting to do now.

I have the Repository and all other Deadline files installed in the “Shared” user directory.
I initially setup a second admin user on my computer (username: deadline) on which to run the worker, but kept running into read/write failures each time I’d submit a render. I’ve since installed the worker on the root user login, and no longer get read/write errors.

Instead I now get the following error (including the full job log below for all the context). I’m hoping somebody here might have achieved a similar single-machine After Effects / Deadline setup, and can advise me on how best to get it working. Or simply somebody with enough knowledge/experience who can help me navigate this error.

Thanks for any help, tips and tricks you may be able to provide.

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Error

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Error: FailRenderException : There were 1 or more errors with the output

at Deadline.Plugins.DeadlinePlugin.FailRender(String message) (Python.Runtime.PythonException)

File “/Users/Shared/Thinkbox/Deadline10/workers/GreyMatter-Pro/plugins/63ee961e770f76d77e8119cc/AfterEffects.py”, line 469, in PostRenderTasks

self.FailRender( “There were 1 or more errors with the output” )

at Python.Runtime.Dispatcher.Dispatch(ArrayList args)

at __FranticX_GenericDelegate0Dispatcher.Invoke()

at FranticX.Processes.ManagedProcess.PostRenderTasks()

at Deadline.Plugins.DeadlinePlugin.PostRenderTasks()

at FranticX.Processes.ManagedProcess.Execute(Boolean waitForExit)

at Deadline.Plugins.PluginWrapper.RenderTasks(Task task, String& outMessage, AbortLevel& abortLevel)

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Type

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RenderPluginException

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Stack Trace

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at Deadline.Plugins.SandboxedPlugin.d(DeadlineMessage bgr, CancellationToken bgs)

at Deadline.Plugins.SandboxedPlugin.RenderTask(Task task, CancellationToken cancellationToken)

at Deadline.Slaves.SlaveRenderThread.c(TaskLogWriter ajw, CancellationToken ajx)

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Log

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2023-02-16 12:46:30: 0: Loading Job’s Plugin timeout is Disabled

2023-02-16 12:46:30: 0: SandboxedPlugin: Render Job As User disabled, running as current user ‘root’

2023-02-16 12:46:32: 0: Executing plugin command of type ‘Initialize Plugin’

2023-02-16 12:46:32: 0: INFO: Executing plugin script ‘/Users/Shared/Thinkbox/Deadline10/workers/GreyMatter-Pro/plugins/63ee961e770f76d77e8119cc/AfterEffects.py’

2023-02-16 12:46:32: 0: INFO: Plugin execution sandbox using Python version 3

2023-02-16 12:46:32: 0: INFO: Fail Without Finished Message set to: False

2023-02-16 12:46:32: 0: INFO: Fail on Existing After Effects process: False

2023-02-16 12:46:32: 0: INFO: About: After Effects Plugin for Deadline

2023-02-16 12:46:32: 0: INFO: The job’s environment will be merged with the current environment before rendering

2023-02-16 12:46:32: 0: Done executing plugin command of type ‘Initialize Plugin’

2023-02-16 12:46:32: 0: Start Job timeout is disabled.

2023-02-16 12:46:32: 0: Task timeout is disabled.

2023-02-16 12:46:32: 0: Loaded job: deadline_test_comp_v11.aep - Comp 1 (63ee961e770f76d77e8119cc)

2023-02-16 12:46:33: 0: Executing plugin command of type ‘Start Job’

2023-02-16 12:46:33: 0: DEBUG: S3BackedCache Client is not installed.

2023-02-16 12:46:33: 0: INFO: Executing global asset transfer preload script ‘/Users/Shared/Thinkbox/Deadline10/workers/GreyMatter-Pro/plugins/63ee961e770f76d77e8119cc/GlobalAssetTransferPreLoad.py’

2023-02-16 12:46:33: 0: INFO: Looking for legacy (pre-10.0.26) AWS Portal File Transfer…

2023-02-16 12:46:33: 0: INFO: No legacy (pre-10.0.26) File Transfer controller is available for this platform (darwin).

2023-02-16 12:46:33: 0: INFO: Could not find legacy (pre-10.0.26) AWS Portal File Transfer.

2023-02-16 12:46:33: 0: INFO: Legacy (pre-10.0.26) AWS Portal File Transfer is not installed on the system.

2023-02-16 12:46:33: 0: Done executing plugin command of type ‘Start Job’

2023-02-16 12:46:33: 0: Plugin rendering frame(s): 1-97

2023-02-16 12:46:33: 0: Executing plugin command of type ‘Render Task’

2023-02-16 12:46:33: 0: INFO: Attempting to create “/var/root/Documents/ae_render_only_node.txt” to force After Effects to run in Render Engine mode

2023-02-16 12:46:33: 0: INFO: Stdout Redirection Enabled: True

2023-02-16 12:46:33: 0: INFO: Asynchronous Stdout Enabled: False

2023-02-16 12:46:33: 0: INFO: Stdout Handling Enabled: True

2023-02-16 12:46:33: 0: INFO: Popup Handling Enabled: True

2023-02-16 12:46:33: 0: INFO: QT Popup Handling Enabled: False

2023-02-16 12:46:33: 0: INFO: WindowsForms10.Window.8.app.* Popup Handling Enabled: False

2023-02-16 12:46:33: 0: INFO: Using Process Tree: True

2023-02-16 12:46:33: 0: INFO: Hiding DOS Window: True

2023-02-16 12:46:33: 0: INFO: Creating New Console: False

2023-02-16 12:46:33: 0: INFO: Running as user: root

2023-02-16 12:46:33: 0: INFO: Executable: “/Applications/Adobe After Effects 2023/aerender”

2023-02-16 12:46:33: 0: INFO: Argument: -project “/Users/Shared/Thinkbox/Deadline10/workers/GreyMatter-Pro/jobsData/63ee961e770f76d77e8119cc/deadline_test_comp_v11.aep” -comp “Comp 1” -s 1 -e 97 -mp -v ERRORS_AND_PROGRESS -close DO_NOT_SAVE_CHANGES -sound OFF

2023-02-16 12:46:33: 0: INFO: Full Command: “/Applications/Adobe After Effects 2023/aerender” -project “/Users/Shared/Thinkbox/Deadline10/workers/GreyMatter-Pro/jobsData/63ee961e770f76d77e8119cc/deadline_test_comp_v11.aep” -comp “Comp 1” -s 1 -e 97 -mp -v ERRORS_AND_PROGRESS -close DO_NOT_SAVE_CHANGES -sound OFF

2023-02-16 12:46:33: 0: INFO: Startup Directory: “/Applications/Adobe After Effects 2023”

2023-02-16 12:46:33: 0: INFO: Process Priority: BelowNormal

2023-02-16 12:46:33: 0: INFO: Process Affinity: default

2023-02-16 12:46:33: 0: INFO: Process is now running

2023-02-16 12:46:59: 0: INFO: Submitted from After Effects version: 23.1x83

2023-02-16 12:46:59: 0: STDOUT: aerender version 23.1x83

2023-02-16 12:46:59: 0: STDOUT: PROGRESS: Launching After Effects…

2023-02-16 12:46:59: 0: INFO: Process exit code: 0

2023-02-16 12:46:59: 0: INFO: Checking for file “/var/root/Documents/ae_render_only_node.txt”

2023-02-16 12:46:59: 0: INFO: Attempting to delete “/var/root/Documents/ae_render_only_node.txt” to allow After Effects to run in the workstation environment

2023-02-16 12:46:59: 0: INFO: Checking file size of “/Users/Shared/temp/TestComp_v11.mov”

2023-02-16 12:46:59: 0: INFO: TestComp_v11.mov does not exist

2023-02-16 12:46:59: 0: Done executing plugin command of type ‘Render Task’

Details

Date: 02/16/2023 12:47:03
Frames: 1-97
Elapsed Time: 00:00:00:33
Job Submit Date: 02/16/2023 12:46:22
Job User: adamcsager
Average RAM Usage: 32655521792 (24%)
Peak RAM Usage: 32723054592 (24%)
Average CPU Usage: 9%
Peak CPU Usage: 19%
Used CPU Clocks (x10^6 cycles): 183168
Total CPU Clocks (x10^6 cycles): 2035196

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Worker Information

Worker Name: GreyMatter-Pro
Version: v10.2.0.9 Release (896353057)
Operating System: macOS 12.6.1
Machine User: root
IP Address: 10.0.3.13
MAC Address: D0:81:7A:DB:B2:1F
CPU Architecture: x86_64
CPUs: 28
CPU Usage: 7%
Memory Usage: 30.4 GB / 128.0 GB (23%)
Free Disk Space: 1.492 TB
Video Card: Radeon Pro Vega 64X

2

It looks like the output file didn’t get created, so the task fails output size check run afterwards.

I’d assume that this project does create output usually, so I’d take the troubleshooting guide path and pull the command we ran aerender with out.

For this task it was:

2023-02-16 12:46:33: 0: INFO: Full Command: “/Applications/Adobe After Effects 2023/aerender” -project “/Users/Shared/Thinkbox/Deadline10/workers/GreyMatter-Pro/jobsData/63ee961e770f76d77e8119cc/deadline_test_comp_v11.aep” -comp “Comp 1” -s 1 -e 97 -mp -v ERRORS_AND_PROGRESS -close DO_NOT_SAVE_CHANGES -sound OFF

The bit you’re interested in is:

“/Applications/Adobe After Effects 2023/aerender” -project “/REPLACE WITH THE REAL PATH TO/deadline_test_comp_v11.aep” -comp “Comp 1” -s 1 -e 97 -mp -v ERRORS_AND_PROGRESS -close DO_NOT_SAVE_CHANGES -sound OFF

My immediate suspicion would be that the correct comp isn’t named ‘Comp 1’, just because I can’t think of what else would cause issues.

Also, given it’s a MacOS machine be sure to add /bin/sh to Full Disk Access under Privacy in the Security & Privacy Control Panel. You may need to navigate to the /bin folder using Go > Go to Folder… (Command-Shift-G). You can drag sh onto the panel.

3

Thanks for the suggestions, Justin. I really, really appreciate lending your time and experience to helping me navigate these issues.

I am still stumped. I can literally hop over to the root user, copy/paste the exact same command line into Terminal, and the AE comp will render precisely as intended. But… for some reason, that same command line fails to actually produce a file via the Deadline Worker.

In addition to ensuring /bin/sh was added to the Full Disk Access list in the Control Panel, I read through the Troubleshooting Guide to which you kindly linked me, and did my best to identify and eliminate as many potential points of failure as possible, but there’s nothing more I can do to simplify the project.

  • it’s referencing no external files,
  • it’s rendering to a local directory,
  • no plugins are even being used.
  • comp names and paths don’t contain any spaces or special characters. and
  • the precise same command line works just fine when entered manually into Terminal.

I am just not familiar enough with Deadline to know what else might be preventing the Worker from producing a file.

I suppose I will continue using Media Encoder for now, but, hopefully, further contributions to this thread will shed some light on the matter.

Thanks nonetheless,Justin.

4

That’s really strange. Given those tests then the issue is in the After Effects plugin, it’s just not that complicated, so I’m not sure what could be going wrong.

When the plugin is printing Checking file size of “/Users/Shared/temp/TestComp_v11.mov”, is that file name correct? And does that file actually not exist at that location after the Worker has rendered it?

The only thing failing the task is the check of the output file’s size, though the comp also takes under a second to render in Deadline so it could be that no output is created.

5

Yes, filename is correct. And no, the file doesn’t exist after the render. I keep my eyes on the target directory, and no data is ever written.

Any other ideas?

6

Something I hadn’t thought about - is Deadline running as a daemon on your machine? We know After Effects can seriously misbehave in that case. And when you’re running the command yourself you’re not running After Effects as a daemon, instead you’re running it as a regular user.

If you are running the launcher as a service, try stopping the Worker and starting it from the install path (at the DEADLINE_PATH environment variable) and re-run the test. That’ll have the Worker running as a regular user, and by extension After Effects run as a regular user.

7

I don’t have Deadline configured to run as a daemon. All the Deadline files and repository are installed in the “Shared” folder within the Users directory (screenshot of my folder structure). I had initially setup a deadlineuser user on which to run the Worker, but I kept getting read/write permissions errors, so I now am launching the worker with the root user, which, I believe, should avoid any permissions issues moving forward.

Blockquote
…try stopping the Worker and starting it from the install path (at the DEADLINE_PATH environment variable) and re-run the test.
Blockquote

I’m presently logging-in to the root user, and double-clicking the DeadlineLauncher10 application. And then, leaving the root user logged-in, navigate back to my primary user login (adamcsager), and submitting my renders and monitor from there.

Should I be going about any of this differently?

8

Nope that should be just fine. All that was troubleshooting steps for if the launcher was running as a daemon.

The only other things I can think of changing to further split the issue down are:

  1. Output path - Maybe the Worker is triggering a cleanup of the /temp directory and it’s clearing away the output file?
  2. Try taking the ‘full command’ you’re testing with at the command line, and submit it as a CommandLine job in the Monitor under Submit->Miscellaneous. That’ll be just like running the comamnd from the command prompt, but within the Worker’s render sandbox.

I’m not convinced of either but if we can keep on removing variables we’ll nail down whatever’s wrong here.