Skip to main content
Participant
March 28, 2023

AE glitches out of composition when I click on effect in effects panel

  • March 28, 2023
  • 41 replies
  • 9148 views

When I apply an effect to a layer and then go to the effects panel to modify parameters of said effect, AE glitches to a different layer as soon as I touch the effect and often even jumps out of the composition to a layer in another composition if I have multiple compositions in the project. I always have to watch carefully if the selected layer is the one showing in the effects panel. The only way I can manage to modify the effects is if I lock the effects panel to the selected layer. As soon as I unlock the effects panel again it glitches to another layer and composition. It's extremely time consuming. Please help. 


1. AE version 24.1.0

2. Windows 11 Pro 23H2

3. Click on effect in effects panel

4. Expect to be able to modify parameter of effect, instead it glitches to a different effect on a different layer

 

41 replies

JohnColombo17100380
Community Manager
Community Manager
July 8, 2025

Hi all,

This bug was fixed in version 24.6, but this thread was not updated at the time. All bugs fixed in that version are listed here: https://helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/kb/fixed-issues.html#fixes-and-improvements 

 

Cheers,

- John, After Effects Engineering Team 

Known Participant
September 12, 2024

So this keeps happening.  I have a precomped video for example.  I apply a levels to it and brighten it up.  I precomp and move all attributes.  then I put that comp in another comp and click on it.  It shows levels, even though i know that effect is actually inside the comp.  So i click on the levels and it opens the comp and takes me to the levels effect.  

Legend
September 13, 2024

I think this is related to:

AE glitches out of composition when I click on effect in effects panel 

a known bug that is supposedly fixed but still seems to affect some users.

 

To avoid this issue, before switching to another composition, make sure no layers are selected in the composition you're about to leave.

nishu_kush
Community Manager
Community Manager
September 13, 2024

nicolasm61106185, can you confirm you're having the same issue as described in the thread suggested by Airweb_AE? Also, please let us know the version of After Effects you're using.


Thanks,
Nishu

Participant
August 12, 2024

Hello, unfortunately I've been having this glich bug with my AE v23.6.6 and 24.5. I installed the Beta version 25.0 but it crashes. When will this bug get fixed? It's impossible to use the software this way.

Participant
August 8, 2024

Issue:
I have encountered an extremely problematic bug in AE and it is greatly affecting my workflow. Whenever I use an effect on a layer and then go to the effects panel to modify parameters of said effect, AE glitches to a different layer as soon as I touch the effect and jumps out of the composition to a selected layer in another pre-comp. I always have to carefully look if the selected layer is the one showing in the effects panel. The only way I can modify the effects is if I lock the effects panel to the selected layer or if I go to every pre-comp and deselect all layers. When I unlock the effects panel again, it glitches to another layer and composition. It's extremely time consuming and makes working in a project with many comps nearly impossible. Furthermore, I use this professionally and it is going to affect our deadlines drastically.

I also found this forum post: https://community.adobe.com/t5/after-effects-bugs/ae-glitches-out-of-composition-when-i-click-on-effect-in-effects-panel/idi-p/14412552

This post illustrates the exact bug I have encountered as well if it helps. Nothing in this forum has worked for me.

 

Steps I have taken to attempt to remedy the issue:
Uninstall and reinstall AE

Uninstall and reinstall Creative Cloud, registry keys, files, and any other trace of Adobe Software

Updated GPU drivers and adjust Windows for best performance

Modified power plan

Restarted computer several times

Result:

Same result and bug is still present

 

Hardware/Software Specifications:

Windows 11 Pro 23H2

After Effects v24.5.0

CPU: Intel Xeon w5-3435X

GPU: Nvidia RTX A6000

RAM: 128GB DDR4 4800Mhz

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

 

Jenkmeister
August 8, 2024

If possible, could you install the AE Beta build from CCD and see if this still reproduces. We made some fixes around these issues. If not, we'll try to reproduce it from your steps.

Participant
August 8, 2024
Hello, yes I have been able to reproduce the issue in AE 2023 as well as AE beta.

Note that this issue only is present on 1 workstation, however it does not occur on our other 2 identical machines that are running the same AE versions.

We have also tried completely uninstalling and reinstalling all adobe software yet the issue still persists.



Get Outlook for iOS<>
֑nubnubbud
Inspiring
July 29, 2024

In order to fix it you need to work around about 18 years of update patches that were decently made, and 12 years of patches that were never made. Don't forget, they tried to deprecate MP4 (h.264) and after removing it, and being forced to add it back, it's one of the laggiest parts of the software.

 

I'm beginning to think they honestly have no clue what they are doing, and considering some of the devs are probably younger than the code... I don't blame them for not knowing why it's spaghetti code with really weird antiquated quirks.

Participant
July 24, 2024

this is so annoying, can't believe after so many builds and updates the issue still persists...... such simple issue like this why so difficult to fix...

dsol21
Known Participant
July 9, 2024

I've noticed an intermittent but extremely annoying bug that seems to have crept into the last few version of AE, whereby the effect controls panel will sometimes fail to update to show the currently selected layer.. When you click on a layer with an effect on, it briefly updates then immediate reverts to referencing another previously selected layer in another comp.  This is a very annoying bug and sometimes it cause the AE UI to get stuck in a loop jumping constantly between two layer references, like two different processes are trying to acccess the same window component.  It's hard to reproduce as it seems to happen randomly every now and again for me, but it's annoying enough that I wanted to report it!  The only fix right now is to click on the effects control panel top, and it will open up the comp that had the layer its referencing. Then if you close that, it seems to fix the issue temporarily.  I hope that the team can identify this issue!  I've attached a screen recording showing the issue.   This is on an intel iMac with MacOS 14.5

JohnColombo17100380
Community Manager
Community Manager
July 9, 2024

Hi @dsol21,

Thank you for reporting this issue. There is a potential fix for this issue in the latest public Beta build of After Effects (available in the Beta section of the Creative Cloud app). If you can, please give the Beta build a try with your project(s) and let us know if you continue to experience this issue.

 

This bug was previously reported, so I will merge your report into another thread.

 

Thanks again,

- John, After Effects Engineering Team 

JohnColombo17100380
Community Manager
Community Manager
June 28, 2024

Hi all,

Thank you again for your patience with this issue. There is a potential fix now available in the latest builds of After Effects (Beta), 24.6.0.36. Please give that build a try when you can and let us know if you continue to see the Effect Controls showing the wrong layer in projects where you've experienced this issue.

 

Thanks again,

- John, After Effects Engineering Team 

Participant
June 28, 2024

I have the bug as well. It makes it so hard to work.

Participant
June 24, 2024

This is still persisting please fix it already its so annoying