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Crash / Critical

Sapphire plugin crash / red screen

The error

"After Effects error: crash occurred while invoking effect plug-in (Sapphire)" — AE crashes or shows a red screen adding/rendering a Sapphire effect.

Why this happens

GPU acceleration incompatibility, a Sapphire/AE version mismatch, or a licensing issue.

How to fix it

1. File > Project Settings > Video Rendering and Effects > Mercury Software Only.
2. Update Sapphire to the version matching your AE build; check the BorisFX licensing tool.
3. Reset preferences / plugin cache.

Source: Compass research report · "Sapphire crash" · id 14

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