Intermittent issues

This section covers rare and unpredictable errors that can occur during both analysis and rendering. These issues are typically triggered by transient infrastructure conditions, timing anomalies, or external system behavior. While they may not be consistently reproducible, understanding their causes can help you mitigate their impact or avoid them entirely.

After Effects error

After Effects errors during automated rendering can be tricky, as they often happen randomly and don’t show up when working directly in the app. These can happen randomly, and they usually stem from things like hidden properties, keyframed expressions, missing layers, or unexpected project structure.

If you hit one of these, the best first step is to check the provided After Effects log, it usually contains a clue about what went wrong. In many cases, the fix is a quick change in your After Effects project. But if you’re unsure, or the error keeps coming back despite your changes, feel free to reach out to support with the project and/or render ID, and we will be happy to help troubleshoot it with you.

{
  "code" : "WORKER_AFTER_EFFECTS_ERROR",
  "message" : "Could not render the video.",
  "params" : {
    "log" : "aerender version 25.1x68\r\nPROGRESS: Launching After Effects..."
  }
}

Timeout error

Timeout errors occur when After Effects hangs during execution and stops reporting progress. If no progress is detected for 90 seconds, the process is considered stuck and the execution is automatically failed. These hangs can be caused by various factors, from unexpected project content (like raw camera files or unsupported plugins) to temporary infrastructure slowdowns due to the high system load.

Unfortunately, there’s no guaranteed fix for these errors. The best course of action is simply to retry the render. In most cases, it will succeed on the next attempt.

If timeouts happen consistently with the same project, it’s worth reviewing the project for heavy assets, complex expressions, or third-party plugins that may not behave well in automated rendering.

{
  "code" : "WORKER_TIMEOUT",
  "message" : "Rendering exceeded time limit."
}

Fatal error

Fatal errors indicate that something went wrong within our platform itself, not in your project. These are rare, but when they happen, it means we’ve hit a bug or an unexpected condition that we don’t handle properly.

If you encounter such errors, please reach out to support immediately. Make sure to include the project and/or render ID so we can investigate and resolve the issue as quickly as possible.

{
  "code" : "WORKER_FATAL_ERROR",
  "message" : "Unexpected error occurred, please contact support."
}

Infrastructure failure

Infrastructure failures happen when we’re unable to submit a rendering or analysis job to our internal job queue. These errors are very rare and typically indicate a temporary issue with the platform’s job management system or its surrounding infrastructure.

When this occurs, there’s usually nothing wrong with your project itself. The best solution is simply to wait a few moments and retry — the issue is almost always short-lived and resolves automatically.

{
  "code" : "INFRASTRUCTURE_FAILURE",
  "message" : "Failed to submit render job to worker queue."
}