After Effects Warning Logged 2 Errors - Causes & Solutions

Whenever you render a composition in After Effects, usually the first thing you want to do is to check the output video and see if it looks good. However, sometimes you may encounter an error message that says “After Effects warning: logged 2 errors”. This error means that something went wrong while rendering your project, and it can prevent you from seeing the final result.

This error can be very annoying and frustrating, especially if you have spent a lot of time and effort on your project. It can also be very confusing, because the error message does not tell you what the problems are, or how to fix them. You have to look at the log file that is created by After Effects, and try to figure out the causes and solutions for the error.

But don’t worry, I’m here to help you with this problem. In this article, I will explain some of the common causes and solutions for the error “After Effects warning: logged 2 errors”. I will also show you how to perform the steps to resolve the error, and how to avoid it in the future. By following this article, you will be able to render your project successfully, and enjoy the results of your creativity.

In this article, you will learn:

• How to find and open the log file that contains the details of the error
• How to fix the insufficient memory or disk space problem, which can happen if you have too many layers, effects, or high-resolution footage in your project, or if you have other applications running in the background that use up your memory or disk space
• How to fix the cyclic references or invalid loops problem, which can happen if you have layers or effects that depend on each other in a circular way, such as using a layer as a source for an effect and then using that effect on the same layer or in a pre-comp
• How to fix the corrupted or incompatible files or plugins problem, which can happen if you have imported files or plugins that are damaged, outdated, or not supported by After Effects
• How to upgrade your computer’s hardware, such as adding more RAM or a larger hard drive, to improve your performance and avoid this problem in the future
  

What does the error mean?

The error “After Effects warning: logged 2 errors” means that After Effects encountered two problems while rendering or previewing your project. Rendering is the process of creating the final video output from your project, and previewing is the process of playing back your project in real time to see how it looks.

The error message usually shows up in a dialog box, and it also creates a log file that contains more details about the problems. The log file is located in the same folder as your project file, and it has the same name as your project file with a .log extension. For example, if your project file is called MyProject.aep, the log file will be called MyProject.log. You can open the log file with any text editor, such as Notepad or TextEdit, and see what the problems are.

The problems can be different depending on the situation, but they usually have something to do with your project settings, your layers, your effects, your files, or your plugins. I will explain some of the common causes and solutions for this error in the following sections.

‍

How to fix insufficient memory or disk space?

One of the possible causes for the error is that you don’t have enough memory or disk space to render or preview your project. Memory, also known as RAM, is the temporary storage that your computer uses to perform tasks, such as running applications or processing data. Disk space, also known as hard drive space, is the permanent storage that your computer uses to store files, such as your project file or your rendered video.

If you have too many layers, effects, or high-resolution footage in your project, or if you have other applications running in the background that use up your memory or disk space, you may run into this problem. To fix this, you need to free up some memory or disk space by doing the following steps:

• Step 1: Close any unnecessary applications or tabs that you are not using. This will reduce the amount of memory that is allocated to other applications, and make more memory available for After Effects. You can use the Task Manager on Windows or the Activity Monitor on Mac to see how much memory each application is using, and close the ones that are not essential.
• Step 2: Reduce the amount of memory allocated to other applications in After Effects. This will also make more memory available for After Effects. You can do this by going to After Effects CC > Preferences > Memory. You will see a slider that shows how much RAM is reserved for other applications, and how much RAM is available for After Effects. You can drag the slider to the left to decrease the RAM reserved for other applications, and increase the RAM available for After Effects. Click OK to apply the changes.
• Step 3: Purge the memory and disk cache in After Effects. This will delete all the temporary renders and free up space. The memory and disk cache are the places where After Effects stores the rendered frames of your project, so that it can play them back faster and smoother. However, sometimes the cache can get corrupted or full, and cause problems. You can purge the cache by going to Edit > Purge > All Memory & Disk Cache. You will see a confirmation dialog box, click OK to proceed.
• Step 4: Render your project in a lower resolution or quality. This will reduce the amount of data that After Effects has to process and store, and make the rendering or previewing faster and easier. You can do this by changing the settings in the Render Queue panel. The Render Queue panel is where you add your project to the queue of items to be rendered. You can access the Render Queue panel by going to Window > Render Queue. You will see a list of items in the queue, and each item has three columns: Render Settings, Output Module, and Output To. You can click on each column to change the settings for each item.
• To change the resolution, click on the Render Settings column, and choose Best Settings. This will open the Render Settings dialog box, where you can change the resolution of your project. You will see a drop-down menu that says Resolution, and you can choose a lower resolution, such as Half, Third, or Quarter. This will reduce the size of your project by half, third, or quarter, respectively. Click OK to apply the changes.
• To change the quality, click on the Output Module column, and choose Lossless. This will open the Output Module Settings dialog box, where you can change the quality and format of your output video. You will see a drop-down menu that says Format, and you can choose a different format, such as H.264, MPEG-4, or QuickTime. These formats are more compressed and smaller than the default AVI or MOV formats, and they can save you some disk space. You can also click on the Format Options button to change the quality settings, such as the bitrate, the frame rate, or the audio settings. You can lower the quality settings to reduce the size of your output video, but be careful not to lower them too much, or you may lose some details or clarity in your video. Click OK to apply the changes.
• Step 5: Split your project into smaller segments and render them separately. This will also reduce the amount of data that After Effects has to process and store, and make the rendering or previewing faster and easier. You can do this by using the Work Area Bar to select a portion of your timeline and render only that part. The Work Area Bar is the gray bar that spans across the top of your timeline, and it shows the range of frames that will be rendered or previewed. You can drag the handles of the Work Area Bar to adjust the range, and you can also use the keyboard shortcuts B and N to set the beginning and the end of the work area.
• To split your project, you can use the Work Area Bar to select a segment of your timeline, such as the first 10 seconds, and add it to the Render Queue. You can do this by going to Composition > Add to Render Queue, or by pressing Ctrl+M on Windows or Command+M on Mac. You will see the segment added to the Render Queue panel, and you can change the settings as explained in Step 4. You can also rename the output file by clicking on the Output To column, and choosing a different name, such as MyProject_Segment1.
• To render the segment, you can click on the Render button at the bottom of the Render Queue panel, or press Ctrl+Shift+/ on Windows or Command+Shift+/ on Mac. You will see the progress of the rendering in the panel, and you will hear a sound when the rendering is done. You can check the output file in the folder that you specified, and see if it looks good.
• To render the rest of the project, you can repeat the steps above for each segment of your timeline, such as the second 10 seconds, the third 10 seconds, and so on. You can also use the keyboard shortcuts Shift+B and Shift+N to move the work area to the next or previous segment. You can also use the keyboard shortcut Shift+/ to add the current work area to the Render Queue.
• To combine the segments, you can import them back into After Effects as footage, and create a new composition with them. You can do this by going to File > Import > File, and choosing the output files that you rendered. You will see them added to the Project panel, and you can drag them to the Timeline panel to create a new composition. You can also use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Alt+/ on Windows or Command+Option+/ on Mac to create a new composition from the selected files. You can then render the new composition as a single output file, or export it to another software, such as Premiere Pro or Media Encoder.

These are the steps to fix the insufficient memory or disk space problem. However, you should also consider upgrading your computer’s hardware, such as adding more RAM or a larger hard drive, to improve your performance and avoid this problem in the future.