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Activity Forums Adobe After Effects AE started reordering my layers when I try to select them — Glitch?

  • AE started reordering my layers when I try to select them — Glitch?

    Posted by Hunter Shanks on June 29, 2016 at 4:51 pm

    After Effects randomly started reordering the layers in my project the other day, rendering the program unusable. I think I must have changed a setting because AE has worked flawlessly for years and I haven’t made any recent updates to my system or to the application.

    Whenever I select a Layer Name from the timeline, AE automatically reorders it by moving it down three positions in the layer hierarchy. It is very bizarre, and I can’t select a layer to work on without it moving down the hierarchy. After two days of messing with system and application settings, I can’t find a way to get rid of it — any ideas on what settings I may have messed up?

    Running the latest version of CS6 — Have tried resetting the cache as well as the workspace, and the problem exists with every file I try to open. Again, program has been working for a long time without any issues.

    Jason Jantzen replied 9 years, 10 months ago 4 Members · 6 Replies
  • 6 Replies
  • Walter Soyka

    June 29, 2016 at 7:52 pm

    Very strange! Have you tried resetting your preferences? Hold Ctrl+Alt+Shift (Windows) or Command+Option+Shift (Mac OS) while Ae is starting.

    Walter Soyka
    Designer & Mad Scientist at Keen Live [link]
    Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
    @keenlive   |   RenderBreak [blog]   |   Profile [LinkedIn]

  • Frank Feijen

    June 30, 2016 at 12:38 pm

    Could it be a ram-issue? Sometimes, when I have too many programs doing stuff at the same time, my cursor becomes ‘sticky’…

  • Jason Jantzen

    June 30, 2016 at 6:15 pm

    You know, the old “try reinstalling” adage isn’t as bad as it used to be. You can uninstall the program while maintaining your presets, plugins, scripts, and preferences. If resetting your pref file didn’t work, then reinstalling might be the answer.

    Jason Jantzen
    vimeo.com/jasonj

  • Hunter Shanks

    July 1, 2016 at 1:02 pm

    Sometimes it helps to have someone repeat the obvious — thank you for your response!

    I thought I had reset my prefs several times, but after reading this it turns out I wasn’t pressing Cmd+Opt+Shift fast enough… it needs to be held down before the application is launched for the dialogue box to pop up.

    This seems to have cleared the problem up for know, but I am very curious as to what could have been going on.

  • Hunter Shanks

    July 1, 2016 at 1:06 pm

    Fortunately I wasn’t resetting the prefs correctly, and everything is working again — but this is very good to know, was really dreading having to reinstall plugins and scripts.

  • Jason Jantzen

    July 1, 2016 at 3:07 pm

    See, that’s what I used to feel like too. If you check the box to ensure that you KEEP your preferences when uninstalling, then you’ll also keep your plugins, scripts, and presets. At least, that’s what’s supposed to happen 😉

    Glad to hear everything’s back in order. I know and feel your frustration.

    Jason Jantzen
    vimeo.com/jasonj

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