Hello everyone!
The Problem:
I updated to the latest versions of Adobe CC products yesterday, only to find that I cannot render from After Effects as I normally did – when I go to "File > Export > Add to Adobe Media Encoder Queue" absolutely nothing happens. When I drag a comp from AE to AME, AME gets stuck on "Connecting to Dynamic Link Server..." and won't proceed.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to what may have happened during the update to break AME's connection to the Dynamic Link Server?
My system:
27-inch, Mid 2011 iMac
2.7 GHz Intel Core i5
16GB RAM
Sierra 10.12.4
Software:
After Effects 2017.2 Release, Version 14.2.0.198
Adobe Media Encoder 2017.1 Release, Build 11.1.0.170
Troubleshooting Steps Taken:
1. As I mentioned, both After Effects and AME are the latest updates, I've checked several times. It's bothersome to me that I have the 2017.2 version of AE and the 2017.1 version of AME, but that appears to be the latest versions of both.
2. I uninstalled AME, manually moved the leftover preference files from previous installs out of the way, and reinstalled the software using the CC tool.
3. I verified that I can connect via Dynamic Link between After Effects and Premier Pro (which I rarely use).
4. I ran a static file through AME with no problems.
5. I tried dropping and dragging an AE comp to AME, but as mentioned above, the file gets stuck on "Connecting to Dynamic Link Server..." and refuses to budge.
Temporary Workaround
I have resorted to exporting my After Effects files using AE's native Render Queue using lossless settings, saving the resultant .mov file in a watch folder which AME then picks up and processes to our specifications. This works, obviously, but takes longer and interrupts the workflow a bit and simply isn't as convenient as being able to export directly to Adobe Media Encoder from AE.
In conclusion… I'm sure I'm missing something simple here. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions I'd greatly appreciate ay insight! This software is very complex, issues like this will happen from time to time - I'm just happy that Adobe usually responds fairly quickly and always finds a fix.