Image Buffer Error

Compositing
1

When After Effects pukes on a render and gives the error message "Could not create 0000x 000 image buffer" (where 0000 x 000 is a resolution), is this simply a lack of memory or is there some other problem at work here?

I've noticed that I get this even when attempting to render out a lower resolution version movie from a project that may contain footage or comps that are very large (I'm working on an HD project right now).

I have 2Gb of memory on XP and have allocated 120 percent of it to AE.

I'm running AE 7 and so far have found it to be pretty terrible at handling even moderately large render sizes...

Anyone got any tips?

thx.

2

prerender those large comps, then nest back in main comp. wastes a diskspace, but at least brings the results.

3

Technically you're right of course, but not feasible. In many cases I'm attempting to render out smaller versions to AVOID having to render the HD versions, which in many cases are works-in-progress. We're talking several hours a render in many cases...

So, thanks for the suggestion of the workaround. But my question was really regarding the cause of these error messages. That is, is this simply a memory issue, or something else as well...?