I have submitted AE CS4 comps via Deadline 6 for a long time without issue. But it’s been awhile since I did this (nothing has changed regarding my Deadline6 setup).
So I setup a comp in AE CS4 and specify output filenames, PNG sequence, etc. as normal. I go and submit the comp via Deadline6 without problems. But when the comp starts to render on the farm, the task status starts showing red and I open the error log and it basically says:
aeRender error: Specified Render Queue item needs output file but none provided, etc.
The comps in the Render Queue in AE CS4 have the output files specified just like I always do. I have checked and double-checked the output paths and they are there as UNC paths as always.
In the past when I do this successfully, I submit via Deadline6 and specify the comp to load and the sub-comp to render and copy the sub-comp name into the job name slot. I specify the frame range to render and submit. It has worked for ages… but now it’s throwing this error.
If I manually add the UNC path for frames into the Output (optional) slot, the submission renders without complaint. But I know I haven’t had to do this in the past as it’s a HUGE extra hassle to have to precisely get the UNC path in there correctly, and I would remember that.
Any ideas why this has started happening?
(As an aside, I recently built a new main workstation and the AE file being submitted is loaded from that machine… but it loads no problem. And as I mentioned, the output file is properly set in the AE comp in the Render Queue).
Thanks!