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Rectangle-Tool doesnt work
Hey there,
sorry in advance for the stupid question … I am a ae-beginner (I do have basic knowledge in FCP Motion)! But to me this seems to be a really weird problem.
Actually it shouldn´t be a big challenge, but somehow I am not able to draw a simple rectangle in after effects! Togehter with my girlfriend we are trying to do a little fun-project. Therefor we need a rectangle.
So if I make a new composition and use the rectangle-tool nothing happens. Only a half transparent rectangle shows up until I release the mouse button. And as well AE doesn´t make a shape-layer if I use the r-tool.
If I do make a shape-layer manually before, the tool isn´t drawing neither. At least nothing visible. If I look at the preferencies in the comp-window (under content), it says that there is a shape on the layer. As well I do get the blue anchorpoint in the middle of the form, but nothing else. I picked a colour for the shape and edges …I can “solve” this problem, by doing a double-click on the icon to draw a rectangle. Then there is the screen-filling rectangle. Afterwards I can draw rectangles manually as well – with the chosen colours, edge-amount etc.
Another possibility is, to use the pen-tool. If I use the pen-tool and click to do the first point of the path and swap to the rectangle-tool, then the rectangle-tool again doesn´t make a visible form (but again the blue anchorpoint is visible). But if I use the pen tool again and draw a second point – so there is a line – the rectangle-tool works normal …
I hope the explanation wasn´t to complicated – especially because the problem is actually so ridiculous. As far as we realized, we are the only persons having that problem. Nobody else reported this “problem” before.
Does anyone have an idea?
Many thanks in advance!
Tim -
9 Replies
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I’m not exactly sure why you aren’t creating shapes correctly. Being that you are new to AE, I’m going to suggest you take a look at these TUTORIALS by Andrew Devis. Jump right to the shape one, perhaps you have missed a simple step(though what it is, eludes me).
If after watching the tutorials, you don’t figure out what it is, report back and we’ll see what we can figure out.
Johnny Cuevas, Editor
Thinkck.com“I have not failed 700 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”
—THOMAS EDISON on inventing the light bulb. -
Hi John,
thanks a lot for your advices. So I already watched the tutorials. But unfortunatly it doesn´t solve my problem. E.g. in the video “shape layers 1” he is creating a shape-layer simply by using the rectangle-tool. If I use the rectangle-tool (not for masking, I know the princip of masking quite well from fcp´s motion!), nothing happens. No shape-layer is created. Same when I create a shape-layer manually – I can´t use the rectangle-tool (well I can, but nothing happens …)
Like I said in my previous post – the only possibilities for me are either to double-click on the rectangle-icon or to use the pen-tool. After the screen-filling rectangle is done automaticly (or the 2nd point with the pen-tool is done) I can draw some manually as well.
Any ideas?
Thanks again,
Tim -
Which version of AE are you using? Also, have you pressed the check for updates? I’ve read your posts and it seems you are doing everything correctly, so I’m pretty stumped.
If it’s not too much trouble, create a new project, create a new comp and make whatever shapes you can then save it and upload it to the COW(last icon above the message box) and post a link. Maybe there is something that will jump out, though I’m not sure what it could be.
Johnny Cuevas, Editor
Thinkck.com“I have not failed 700 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”
—THOMAS EDISON on inventing the light bulb. -
Hey John,
thanks again. I am using cs5.5. the rest of ae seems to work right. To get it right: you want me to save the project-file? Can do that …
t.
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I’m absolutely confused and really don’t understand why the shape tool isn’t working. I opened your project, hit the rectangle button was able to create shapes.
One thing you could try is deleting your preferences. Immediately after you start AE, hold down “Shift +Cntl+Alt”, when you do that AE will delete your preferences and restore the defaults. Occasionally a corrupted preference file can cause some abnormalities in AE.
Johnny Cuevas, Editor
Thinkck.com“I have not failed 700 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”
—THOMAS EDISON on inventing the light bulb. -
Great!! Now it works again. Must have been something with the preferencies … !! Thanks a lot!!!!
Best,
Tim -
… hm after I reseted the preferencies, it worked. But now again, I am having the same problems. I was still in the same project / com; then again I wanted to use the rectangle-tool and then again there was the pop-up which said, that the roto-brush and other painting / drawing tools shall be used in the layers window. weird, isn´t it?
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You’re probably working in the layers tab. Make sure you’re in the ‘composition’ tab at the top of the screen.
Benjamin Ausmith
Post-Production Assistant
Monadnock Media, inc.
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