Unable to solve exporting issue - "Error Compiling Movie"
by Timbot
on
May 20, 2006 at 6:08:01 am
I have reached the end of my rope and now I've resorted to asking someone here how to help me. I have tried so many different things.
I have created 13 22minute length cartoon episodes, of which I have edited and animated in Pro 1.5. Each episode is divided into 3 7minute segments. The show is complete after a year of production, and countless hours of full time work.
The cartoon has been made in 1920x1080 dimensions for High Definition exporting, but when I try to export these seven minute brackets, I get the infamous "error compiling movie - error unknown" message.
The videos need to be exported as a high quality or HD quicktime. I have tried H.264, DV100 (DVCPROHD) and other various quicktime codecs.. but they all return the same error. There are no decent, working AVI codecs either. It's either a low quality highly compressed format, or the uncompressed video that is ridiculously huge. The final thing needs to be in quicktime anyway, as this is what the producers have specified.
The frustrating thing is that sometimes I can export very very small amounts of it successfully, so I don't understand why it doesn't work if the sequence is longer.
I tried upgrading to Pro 2.0 and I also bought more RAM, but I still get the error. Sometimes it renders right up to the end, and then displays the error.
My specs are:
Pentium 4 3.2ghz
3gb DDR RAM
Lots of hard drive space
I have literally been spending weeks trying to solve this problem, and it's getting me pretty down. If anyone can help me solve this issue, I will be a happy man.
Re: Unable to solve exporting issue - "Error Compiling Movie" by Ron Lindeboom on May 20, 2006 at 2:32:33 pm
Nothing else comes to mind when reading this, so I thought I'd suggest that if you know someone who has Canopus Procoder that you might give them a clip to try encoding and see if that works. If it does, it may be something worth adding to your kit.
I wish I had a better suggestion but that's all that comes to mind just crawling out of bed, before the wondrous caffeine has had its chance to work.
Re: Unable to solve exporting issue - "Error Compiling Movie" by Steven L. Gotz on May 20, 2006 at 2:40:49 pm
IMHO, there is no way to get a great Quicktime out of Premiere Pro without purchasing the Sorenson 3 Pro codec. It is twice as good at half the file size.
However, perhaps the problem is that you are using a preset as is? If so, then you really need to go in and tweak it. Just keep in mind that you are probably going to need somewhere around 5GB per segment. (Depends on the footage of course.) If you consider that too large, you might want to rethink that. HD is, by definition, a huge monster.
If it was up to me, I suppose I would be using Quicktime Animation, and damn the file size.
Re: Unable to solve exporting issue - "Error Compiling Movie" by Ron Lindeboom on May 20, 2006 at 2:55:06 pm
Sorenson for PCs, eh, Steven? I was thinking of Sorenson but wasn't aware that it ran on PCs, so I didn't want to suggest a tool that wasn't on the platform in question. Thanks for the lesson, Mighty One. ;o)
Out of curiosity, do you know how Sorenson for Windows and Canopus Procoder compare? I ask so that I can understand where they each sit in the Windows food chain.
Re: Unable to solve exporting issue - "Error Compiling Movie" by Timbot on May 20, 2006 at 3:36:14 pm
Thanks for the suggestions.
The size of the files isn't really a concern (churning out uncompressed AVIs however, is not practical and my computer would probably cark it).
I have tried the "Quicktime animation" codec, but I get the same error. I'm thinking that maybe the complexity and multiple layers and sequences in the project are just too much for Premiere to handle.
Your suggestion for using another codec (and one that I have to pay for) probably won't be worth it, because I assume the same error will arise. I think even some AVI compressions have returned the error.
The show has been made with each scene (being anywhere from 40seconds to several minutes) made as a separate project/sequence. Then when all of them were completed, they were imported into one main sequence. Some of the scenes are very complex and have lots of layers of video (which is made up of hundreds of still images).
I'm thinking maybe the size of the prproj file itself might be having an effect.
Re: Unable to solve exporting issue - "Error Compiling Movie" by Steven L. Gotz on May 20, 2006 at 5:24:35 pm
Try exporting just the workarea, and try a short section. If that works, then perhaps it is a memory or disk space issue. Let us know. If even a short one fails, then there must be something else wrong.
Re: Unable to solve exporting issue - "Error Compiling Movie" by Aanarav Sareen on May 20, 2006 at 7:36:32 pm
Oh! The dreaded unknown error. I spent an entire weekend solving the error for a client of mine (which ended up taking over 20 hours to solve). Try this:
1. Close Premiere Pro.
2. Download and install this codec.
3. Open your Premiere Pro project.
4. File > Export > Export to Movie
5. Select 'Settings'.
6. Follow this short demo that I created: http://asvideoproductions.com/stuff/Huff_Demo/Huff_Demo.html 7. Once you are done exporting, post back and we will export the QT MOV.
Re: Unable to solve exporting issue - "Error Compiling Movie" by Timbot on May 21, 2006 at 3:40:47 am
I'm confused.. you didn't specify which codec. Also, I don't quite understand step 7.. won't that mean the quality will degrade from converting it so many times?
Re: Unable to solve exporting issue - "Error Compiling Movie" by Timbot on May 21, 2006 at 6:07:14 am
Ok, I installed the 2.1.1 version and had the problem I previously mentioned (the export suddenly bails about 20 to 30% of the way through). I thought maybe it might've had something to do with the version, so I installed an older one and had the exact same problem...
Re: Unable to solve exporting issue - "Error Compiling Movie" by Peter Corbett on May 21, 2006 at 11:33:04 am
Have you got lots of filters and effects on the timeline? If so I would say you are doomed. I don't know why, but you are doomed. This has happened to me countless times with long timelines and lots of effects. The only workaround besides running off to tape or another Decklink is to export the effects sequences )ie. successive clips with fileters applied) then re-import them on to the timeline. This seems to fix the "error compiling movie" problem.
Peter Corbett
Powerhouse Productions
Australia
www.php.com.au
Re: Unable to solve exporting issue - "Error Compiling Movie" by Aanarav Sareen on May 21, 2006 at 6:46:28 pm
Tim,
Sorry, this is getting frustrating. I can imagine the frustration, since I had to do this myself. If for some reason, this doesn't get solved send me an email at premiere@asvideoproductions.com or leave me a voice-mail at 206-600-6824 (US) and I will try my best to help you out.
Re: Unable to solve exporting issue - "Error Compiling Movie" by Steven L. Gotz on May 20, 2006 at 5:23:11 pm
Ron,
To be honest, I have never compared the two. I have just seen the Sorenson results. Outstanding! But, Mac users have known that for years, right? You can buy the Pro cedec alone, or Squeeze. Great stuff.
Re: Unable to solve exporting issue - "Error Compiling Movie" by Steven L. Gotz on May 22, 2006 at 4:30:21 pm
Just in case anyone is still watching, I realized I should mention that the Sorenson Pro codec can not be used from within Premiere Pro. You have to buy Squeeze. The standalone is for other products. Big mistake on the part of Sorenson if you ask me.
Re: Unable to solve exporting issue - "Error Compiling Movie" by Aanarav Sareen on May 20, 2006 at 7:38:55 pm
[Ron Lindeboom]"do you know how Sorenson for Windows and Canopus Procoder compar"
Ron,
I have used both and both of them are quite equivalent to each other. However, Procoder is definitely superior to Squeeze when it comes down to MPEG encoding. Sounds like a good topic for a review, eh?
PS: Procoder has a dongle, something which I HATE (I only have 6 USB ports and I need them for my external drives and hence no Procoder on my main system)
Re: Unable to solve exporting issue - "Error Compiling Movie" by Peter Corbett on May 20, 2006 at 10:01:38 pm
I get the dreaded error message on long form stuff. The ONLY way I fixed it was to set up another basic Decklink system and run SDI from the edit master PC to the other PC. I then could encode the new 10-bit digital dub to any format I liked without problems. The error message usually appears if you have a certain combination or type of effects on the timeline. Or it could be memory related. I don't know for sure.
If you have a good "lossless" tape format like Digi Beta or PRO50, lay off and to tape then redigitise.
Peter Corbett
Powerhouse Productions
Australia
www.php.com.au
Re: Unable to solve exporting issue - "Error Compiling Movie" by ghobii on May 22, 2006 at 3:11:02 pm
You mentioned that your show was composed of many stills. I have done alot of these pan and scan shows myself and have found that it is absolutely neccesssary to keep the resolution of the stills as low as you can. Generally, anything below 1200 pixels in either direction seems safe. But much more then this and you can start to have various stability issues.
PPro2 seems much better at this then 1.5 but it is still a good rule of thumb to follow.
Re: Unable to solve exporting issue - "Error Compiling Movie" by Timbot on May 22, 2006 at 5:05:57 pm
Thanks for all your help guys!
I think I have sorted it out!
What I have done, is exported the seven minute bracket as an uncompressed AVI. This worked fine, but as you can imagine, the file was HUGE. Thankfully I have an extra, barely used, hard-drive. I then imported the AVI back into the project, where it seemed to maintain its original quality. I then exported to H.264 and it came out pretty crisp.
Because there's 13 22-minute episodes, obviously it's going to be crazy, so after I eventually get each seven minute segment into H.264, I can delete the AVIs and move onto the next segment.
Ghobii, you are right about the large still images. I have been working with PNG files that are 1920x1080 res. They seem to get by ok, but sometimes I put in much larger ones and have them pan in and out etc. These ones have problems sometimes, and they often turn black or go upside down. I actually think they were contributing to my original problem too. I beefed my computer up with lots of RAM, so they aren't too much of a hassle anymore.
I only bought the Premiere 2.0 upgrade recently and haven't really been able to see many new features that appeal to me. 1.5 actually seems to work better, so I'm still using that. I might move onto 2.0 in my nexy project.
Re: Unable to solve exporting issue - "Error Compiling Movie" by Anthony Miles on Jun 2, 2006 at 4:38:42 pm
Please Help!
How did you export to dv100 or dvcpro hd QuickTime. I have the same "Unknown error" problem with a huge documentary project and have spent 3 weeks trying to reconfigure the system to get the errors on export to go away with no avail. I have an FCP 5 system that works very well. I am at the point if I could just get the project off in chunks in dvcpro hd I would be very happy to move on.
So, I didn't see the dv100 codec in the QuickTime options in premiere pro 1.5. Maybe I just missed it but it would be a great thing to have. Please point me in the right direction.
I have a dual core p4D 3.0 GHz 3 gigs ram and lots of over a hundred gigs of free hard disk space. If there is a solution to get this thing of my PC to finish it I am game. I would even spend up to a 1000 on new computer parts if they would make the difference.
I also get that error PPro failed to return a video frame,,
