Trouble with After Effects Creative Cloud issues with Warp Stabilizer Background Processing Continues

OK, more on the problem.

First off I got After Effects to open after one crash after one crash (you can see the crash log in TXT form here). I re-opened the project, which was created via dynamic link from a sequence in Premiere Pro, though has since been relinked to the the ProRES footage I created. I tried re-starting the Warp Stabilizer analysis, and again it just gave me initializing.

AE-WarpStabilzerInitializing

And the blue was frozen on the image:

AE-AnalyzingBackground

I checked Activity Monitor and 2 Adobe Processes are not responding, The Adobe QT32 Server and the aeselflink.

AE-NotResponding

And after a minute I got the following error message:

AE-DynamicLinkTimedOut

Strangely when I try Warp Stabilizer in Premiere Pro it processes in less than a minute per clip, working just fine in the background, but it does not work at all in After Effects.

I have run permission repairs with both Disk Utility and Onyx, with a full user permissions reset, but that did nothing. Nor did using Onyx to run the daily, weekly and monthly scripts and cleaning out the Caches.

I am going to post on the Adobe Forums now, and see if I can get any help there. This is really frustrating!

Having After Effects Creative Cloud issues with Warp Stabilizer Background Processing Trouble

Shot some test footage of my puppy Indiana Bones yesterday, and wanted to process it. Was trying to use the Warp Stabilizer Effect in CC 2014 on about 7 clips I shot yesterday on Canon 60D, and ran into the issue where the background processing would not work in After Effects. It just got to initializing, and nothing every happened.

At first I thought it might be having trouble with the Long GOP files from the 60D, so I converted everything to ProRes HQ, but that didn’t help at all. I then saved the project down to just CC and tried it there, but am having the exact same issue.

I tried to find solutions on the Adobe forums, and saw it could be Firewall or issues with Virus Protection or Port blocking software, but I am running none of that on this machine, so that isn’t it. I also saw a post about logging out of creative cloud and back in and it would install a new version of creative cloud, but it just logged me back in, with no new version, and didn’t solve any of the possible folder permission errors it was supposed to fix.

I tried deleting the opm.db file at ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/OOBE/opm.db, but that just left Creative Cloud with a spinning beach ball, so that is no good.

CCSpinning

Now I am re-downloading and re-installing the Creative Cloud app to see if that helps. Anyone else think the new adobe site is much harder to navigate? Took me a while to find the Creative Cloud desktop app download (it can currently be found here).

OK, re-installed the Creative Cloud desktop app and it let me log in easily and am booting After Effects CC 2014. Will report on how it goes.

VFXER reviews Zaxwerks ProAnimator 8

VFXER has a great new review of the new Zaxwerks ProAnimator 8. It is a good review and does the comparisons with Element 3D and Cinema 4D.

Here is the first video from Zaxwerks on new features. And it seems that the newest feature is speed, as they say fast many many many times in the video! And it does look fast even with Ray Tracing turned on, which Element 3D cannot do.

And the Shadows sounds great, as you don’t get shadows from Element 3D, and it includes Lens Flares and Lighting Rigs within the plug in (or stand alone app) which you need Optical Flares to do this with Element 3D.

Honestly I had written off 3D Invigorator Pro as soon as I tried out Element 3D, as it was just so much easier to use and more powerful and quick. And I like how Element 3D integrates the 3D so well into After Effects 3D world (which it looks like it still does better), but this version is the first to impress me in a while. The biggest issue for me is price. $399 is more than basic Element 3D and Optical Flares from VideoCopilot. And even the $149 upgrade price seems a bit steep. And I don’t know that I need it now that I have element 3D and can use Cinema 4D within after effects. Still looks like the upgrade they should have done long ago!

Larry Jordan on why Final Cut Pro 7 editors should consider Adobe Premiere Pro CC and some of my thoughts

Larry Jordan has a very informative and in depth article on why Final Cut Pro 7 Editors should consider Premiere Pro.

I long ago made the switch on my personal system, and am starting to see companies move away from Final Cut Pro 7.

I know that Trailer Park made the move fully to AVID Media Composer for all of it’s bays, but they have graphics departments, so you basically are only cutting graphics into your edit there. And I have heard rumored that it is the studios forcing many companies to move to AVID. I actually wonder if they are getting kickbacks or if it is just older people more familiar with AVID? It is a rock solid system, but it seems so dated compared to Premiere Pro which I would say is a much more modern editing software.

As for Direct Response Beach Body made the move to Premiere Pro, which to me only makes sense for Graphics Heavy projects. Especially with a fast video card.

After Effects CC 2014 New Features

Adobe has update After Effects in the Creative cloud subscription to version CC 2014.

Built in keying has been enhanced with a Key Cleaner to fix compression artifacts in a key. And Advanced Spill Supressor does an impressive job of removing spill. Won’t touch Red Giant’s keying suite, but will improve Keylight in certain situations.

You can now link individual masks to effects on a single layer, and dissolve effects to lessen effect. This will clean things up by letting you so different masked effects on a single layer and track each mask individually. And you can get those masks from layer masks in Premiere Pro.

You can create Live Text Templates to leave individual text editable in premiere, especially great for lower thirds.

I/O has now been replaced by the Mercury Transmit engine from Premiere Pro, which should be faster.

Like the rest of creative cloud, there is Type Kit desktop font integration.

The iOS Kuler is now integrated into an After effects Panel.

Curves have been improved.

Mocha has been updated to version 3.2.1.

Not as big of an update as Premier Pro, but impressive nonetheless.

What’s new in Premiere Pro CC 2014

PremierePro

Adobe has released a full document on what is new of Premiere Pro CC 2014.

They have videos to demo the new major features, such as Masking and Tracking within Premiere Pro, Live Text Templates from After Effects for editable lower thirds and title cards, the awesome Master Clip effects which are added to master clips and show up everywhere the clips show up.

Other less publicized features are you can set up automatic project backup to creative cloud. Reverse Frame Matching! Set clips to Frame Size from a drop down menu, and they don’t rasterize, so you are always going to the original to get the best image! AWESOME!

You now have some choice when importing projects, and can import just sequences and create folders and have the choice of duplicating media or automatically using media already in your project.

You can also browse after effects projects in the Media Browser, so you can preview compositions before importing.

A feature that should have always been there in every program is to Maintain Audio Pitch while scrubbing and playback either slow or fast! YES!!

There are Voice Over enhancements. All effects are now cross platform, which means we have lost many effects (though none were that great anyway).

And the most awesome for speed is Cross Dissolve transitions can be saved as Presets! So you can have multiple length effects set up already, and you can change multiple transitions at once!

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Premiere is really improving, and at this rate will easily be the best editor choice around. AVID is going to have to learn that they need to upgrade quickly now that they are also doing the subscription model or they will fall behind really fast!