iPhone AVErrorInvalidVideoComposition error when doing image overlay on video?

Question

I have combined the 2 code chunks found here into one solid chunk (and verified the process with an Apple Developer Xcode tutorial file). When I run it, however, I get an error. It says:

Error Domain=AVFoundationErrorDomain Code=-11841 "The operation couldn’t be completed. (AVFoundationErrorDomain error -11841.)"

Any idea why it throws an AVErrorInvalidVideoComposition error? Thanks! (I'm new here so please let me know if you need more info.)

NSURL *videoURL = [info valueForKey:UIImagePickerControllerMediaURL];

/// UIImage into CALayer
UIImage *myImage = [UIImage imageNamed:@"Test.png"];
CALayer *aLayer = [CALayer layer];
aLayer.contents = (id)myImage.CGImage;

AVURLAsset* url = [AVURLAsset URLAssetWithURL:videoURL options:nil];
AVMutableComposition *videoComposition = [[AVMutableComposition alloc] init];
NSError *error;
NSFileManager *fileManager = [NSFileManager defaultManager];

AVMutableCompositionTrack *compositionVideoTrack = [videoComposition  addMutableTrackWithMediaType:AVMediaTypeVideo preferredTrackID:kCMPersistentTrackID_Invalid];
AVAssetTrack *clipVideoTrack = [[url tracksWithMediaType:AVMediaTypeVideo] objectAtIndex:0];
[compositionVideoTrack insertTimeRange:CMTimeRangeMake(kCMTimeZero, [url duration])  ofTrack:clipVideoTrack atTime:kCMTimeZero error:&error];

AVMutableVideoComposition* videoComp = [[AVMutableVideoComposition alloc] init];
videoComp.renderSize = CGSizeMake(640, 480);
videoComp.frameDuration = CMTimeMake(1, 30);
CALayer *parentLayer = [CALayer layer];
CALayer *videoLayer = [CALayer layer];
parentLayer.frame = CGRectMake(0, 0, videoComp.renderSize.width, videoComp.renderSize.height);
videoLayer.frame = CGRectMake(0, 0, videoComp.renderSize.width, videoComp.renderSize.height);
[parentLayer addSublayer:videoLayer];
[parentLayer addSublayer:aLayer];
videoComp.animationTool = [AVVideoCompositionCoreAnimationTool videoCompositionCoreAnimationToolWithPostProcessingAsVideoLayer:videoLayer inLayer:parentLayer];


/// instruction
AVMutableVideoCompositionInstruction *instruction = [AVMutableVideoCompositionInstruction videoCompositionInstruction];
instruction.timeRange = CMTimeRangeMake(kCMTimeZero, CMTimeMakeWithSeconds(60, 30) );
AVMutableVideoCompositionLayerInstruction* layerInstruction = [AVMutableVideoCompositionLayerInstruction videoCompositionLayerInstructionWithAssetTrack:clipVideoTrack];
instruction.layerInstructions = [NSArray arrayWithObject:layerInstruction];
videoComp.instructions = [NSArray arrayWithObject: instruction];

/// outputs
NSString *filePath = nil;
filePath = [NSSearchPathForDirectoriesInDomains(NSDocumentDirectory, NSUserDomainMask, YES) objectAtIndex:0];
filePath = [filePath stringByAppendingPathComponent:@"temp.mov"]; 
NSLog(@"exporting to: %@", filePath);
if ([fileManager fileExistsAtPath:filePath]) 
{
    BOOL success = [fileManager removeItemAtPath:filePath error:&error];
    if (!success) NSLog(@"FM error: %@", [error localizedDescription]);
}

/// exporting
AVAssetExportSession *exporter;
exporter = [[AVAssetExportSession alloc] initWithAsset:videoComposition presetName:AVAssetExportPresetHighestQuality] ;
exporter.videoComposition = videoComp;
exporter.outputURL=[NSURL fileURLWithPath:filePath];
exporter.outputFileType=AVFileTypeQuickTimeMovie;


[exporter exportAsynchronouslyWithCompletionHandler:^(void){
    switch (exporter.status) {
        case AVAssetExportSessionStatusFailed:
            NSLog(@"exporting failed:%@",exporter.error);
            break;
        case AVAssetExportSessionStatusCompleted:
            NSLog(@"exporting completed");
            UISaveVideoAtPathToSavedPhotosAlbum(filePath, self, @selector(video:didFinishSavingWithError:contextInfo:), NULL);
            break;
        case AVAssetExportSessionStatusCancelled:
            NSLog(@"export cancelled");
            break;
    }
}];

Answer 1

One common problem with invalid compositions is time.

If your various assets that you are combining don't have the same length, make sure the composition you create covers the entire segment.

Check to ensure that your AVMutableVideoCompositionInstruction's timeRange is correct.