Composition window blank in 25.6 (and now 24.2 - 25.6)

Forum|Forum|6 months ago
December 11, 2025
6 replies
347 views

Hi all,

I work in AE quite a bit but I haven't opened it on my home workstation in a bit (I also work on a mac). I'm now having a problem in which the composition window appears empty for any project (even a new one); it shows the composition background colour but even a new solid or shape layer doesn't show up. What DOES show up is the transform handles around said objects, and the composition thumbnail at top left updates with contents now and then.

Working on Win11, with a Ryzen 7 5800X cpu and a 5070 GPU. Really need to resolve this soon!

I've been wandering the internet for solutions and have tried...

- Reinstalling AE, also reinstalling after using CC Cleaner on it

- Purging all memory and disk caches

- Disabling GPU acceleration (this makes the comp window just go completely black)

- Updating Nvidia drivers (tried the latest Game Ready and then Studio with no change)

- Changing Windows graphics settings for AE to "High Performance"

- Running AE as an admin

- Double checking that the preview is set to show everything

- Checking for Capslock

- Checking the playhead position (again this occurs if I make a new project off a clean install and just add a solid to it without touching anything else)

- Confirming that my CPU / mobo does NOT have an integrated graphics set

- Removed my old GPU from the hidden devices list in Device Mgr

Any help would be a lifesaver. Thanks!

S

shoanyAuthor

Hello,

Disabled the only third party plugin I had, plus all the obsolete ones, then used the cleaner tool to clear AE, reinstalled and no changes. Thanks though.

S

shoanyAuthor

nishu_kush

Legend

Thanks for sharing the screen recording. Are there any third-party plug-ins installed? If so, can you disable the plug-ins (Effects > Manage Effects) and see if that makes a difference? If it doesn't or you don't have any plug-ins installed, try uninstalling After Effects using the Adobe Cleaner tool and then reinstalling it.

Let me know how it goes.

Thanks,
Nishu

orhanb3088029

Participant

i have the same issue.

mac studio m2 ultra

ae 25.6-25.6.4

S

shoanyAuthor

Thanks for the response, Nishu. From the "copy" button on said window (double checked I removed old GPU files, but it was a gtx 3070 so the drivers for the 5070 overlap):

Graphics Card
Vendor: NVIDIA
Device: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070
Version: 13.100000
Total Memory: 11.939453125 GB
Draft 3D: Available

nishu_kush

Legend

Thanks for the information. Can you share a screen recording of the full After Effects UI that shows the problem? It'll help us understand the issue better.

Looking forward to your response.

Thanks,
Nishu

S

shoanyAuthor

Hi Kevin,

I did try that! No luck. Unchecking acceleration just made the comp (which was showing the background colour only) go black. Same on restart, too.

Thanks,

Shawn

nishu_kush

Legend

Hi Shawn,

Sorry for the delayed response. You mentioned removing old GPU from the hidden devices list in Device Mgr. Were you using a different GPU before? If yes, please ensure to remove all the residue files from its driver. Also, go to After Effects Preferences > Memory & Performance > GPU Information and share a screenshot.

Looking forward to your response.

Thanks,
Nishu

S

shoanyAuthor

Minor update: the current beta version of After Effects works fine. So... short term great, hopefully whatever's different in there applies to the next stable release too.

Kevin J. Monahan Jr.

Legend

Hi shoany,

Thanks for the detailed post. Have you tried:

Edit ▸ Preferences ▸ Display

Uncheck: Hardware Accelerate Composition, Layer, and Footage Panels
Quit & relaunch AE and test a new comp with a Solid.

Let me know if that helps.

Thanks,

Kevin

Kevin Monahan - Sr. Community and Engagement Strategist – Adobe Pro Video and Audio

Sign up

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Sign in to Adobe Community

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.