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HELP – Bizarre Catch 22!
Hi,
I really would appreciate help on this very strange predicament:
Was trying to get Echo Fire to work with After Effects and the Support tech said to change the Video Preview to either “Computer Monitor Only” or “Desktop Only”. It was already on the first one (which wasn’t working) so I chose the nearest to the other one – which was something like “Digital Desktop Display” (can’t remember!)
Anyway, I click Ok and After Effects promptly disappears from view!!! All I have in place is a black screen. I can see that AE is still actually there because I have two monitors and the Comp. window is still present in the second one. Also, when I click on any other program in the first monitor I can see AE sitting there underneath but if I click on it the screen turns black again.
Now I’m stuck in this weird situation of not being able to get to After Effects to turn the Video Preview back to its previous setting.
Man, I really would never have gone near that setting if I knew it could do this. Of course, I’m in the middle of a project for a client and I’m just sitting here (staring at the blackness) trying everything I can think of to get back to AE… without success. And the clock is ticking!
Would SO MUCH appreciate some help from any smart users out there. I’m stumped.
Thanks in advance,
ALEX
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9 Replies
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Restart AE with the CTRL (CMND for Mac) key down until you see AE’s interface. The keystroke deletes your old preference file and creates a new one.
Ensure that you jump into preferences to set it back to when things were healthy.
And never believe everything that tech support tells you.
Good Luck
Roland Kahlenberg
https://www.broadcastGEMs.com – Adobe After Effects project files
https://www.myspace.com/rorkrgbspace -
Hey RoRK,
Thanks for the help… but it ain’t workin’. Have tried it several times and I still get the black screen.
So frustrating!!!
AE is just there but every time I click on it… BLACKNESS.
Any other way to get there?
Desperate,
ALEX
Note to Software Developers – There should be NO button that can do this in any program!
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Does hitting “escape” help?
Sometimes it does …
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If ESC doesn’t work:
As After Effects reboots hold Command+Option+Shift (MAC) or Control+ Alt +Shift to reset the prefs. This will reset to application defaults.
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I thought that Echo Fire was discontinued a while back – soon after AE supported firewire out on its own.
Anyways, look for your AE Prefs file and open it up with a plain text editor (best to make a backup with a Save as routine before venturing further).
Then scroll down to the bottom of the document and look for
[“Win32 Video Preview Pref Section”]
“All Window Updates” = 00
“Device” = 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
“Device Display Mode” = “1”
“Disable OHCI Preview” = 00
“Disable QT Preview” = 00
“Including While Rendering Movies” = 00
“Mirror on Desktop During Playbacks” = 00
“RAM Previews” = 00
“Scale to fit video monitor” = 00
“Scaling Quality” = “1”
“Video Monitor Aspect Ratio” = “1”Off course you’re on a Mac, so it won’t say Win32 there but look for Firewire Preview or perhaps IEEE1394 Preview. Set it to 00 ( 2 zeroes).
The other two crucial items to look at are Mirror On Desktop …
AND
“Device” = 000 … (that’s 40 zeroes in there)Ensure that your prefs are set to those values. Save the file – ensure that it is plain text format. Recite your favorite prayer and restart AE.
Good Luck
Roland Kahlenberg
https://www.broadcastGEMs.com – Adobe After Effects project files
https://www.myspace.com/rorkrgbspace -
[Brian Charles] “As After Effects reboots hold Command+Option+Shift (MAC) or Control+ Alt +Shift to reset the prefs. This will reset to application defaults.”
Hi Charles
I thought it was a single key, CTRL, to trash current prefs and to start off with factory defaults.HTH
Roland Kahlenberg
https://www.broadcastGEMs.com – Adobe After Effects project files
https://www.myspace.com/rorkrgbspace -
Whoah… thanks for the responses. Very much appreciated.
The fix ended up being Cmnd+Option+Shift – ‘trash the pref’s’.
Had me REALLY worried for awhile there.
Thanks so much guys.
Cheers,
ALEX
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[Alex Kuzelicki] “The fix ended up being Cmnd+Option+Shift – ‘trash the pref’s’.”
Hah! See what I mean when I said, earlier, – never believe what you read … . 😉
HTH
Roland Kahlenberg
https://www.broadcastGEMs.com – Adobe After Effects project files
https://www.myspace.com/rorkrgbspace -
Ha ha.
Thanks RoRK… but somehow I think I’ll still listen to whatever you have to offer.
Appreciated,
ALEX
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