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dannnnnnnny1010101
Participant
December 5, 2024

Invisible Shape Layer created upon click - Even when I try to drag

  • December 5, 2024
  • 3 replies
  • 371 views

Hey - long time troubleshooter first time poster - 

 

1. Version of the app: 

25.0.1 (Build 2)

2. Platform and OS version:

MacOS 14.4.1 (23E224)

3. Basic steps to recreate the problem:

When I try to click and drag to create a shape layer, it immediately creates a (invisible) shape layer in my comp. It doesn't let me drag out the shape. 

Same thing is happening with my pen tool - when I click to create a point, it creates an invisible shape layer.

4. Expected Result vs. Actual

For the shape layer it should allow me to drag out a rectangle, but it creates a shape layer immediately. 

For the pen tool, it should create a point.

 

Danny

This topic has been closed for replies.

3 replies

JohnColombo17100380
Community Manager
JohnColombo17100380Community Manager
Community Manager
December 5, 2024

Hi @dannnnnnnny1010101,

Thank you for the screen recording! I see the issue—the new shapes are being drawn, but they are only 3 seconds long instead of the full comp length. Since your CTI is at ~6 seconds, you can't see the shapes or the vertices.

 

To fix this on your system, open Preferences/Settings, then go to the Import section. I suspect that the Still Footage duration is set to 3 seconds. Try changing it to Length of Composition. This reproduced the issue for me and then changing that setting fixed it.

 

This behavior seems like a bug to me, since Shape layers are not Still Footage and so they shouldn't be affected by that preference. I'm going to create a bug ticket linked to this post for further investigation on our side.

 

Thanks again for reporting this and please let me know if changing that Still Footage during pref doesn't fix the issue for you.

 

Cheers,

- John, After Effects Engineering Team 

D
dannnnnnnny1010101Author
Participant
December 5, 2024

Hey John -

 

Thanks for the quick reply. I am going to updage to 25.1 now and see if that does the trick. In the meantime I did record a screencap of the issue: https://screen.ac/4guLYwZL

 

Thanks again,

Danny

JohnColombo17100380
Community Manager
JohnColombo17100380Community Manager
Community Manager
December 5, 2024

Hi @dannnnnnnny1010101,

Thank you for reporting this issue. I'm not able to reproduce the behavior you've described—clicking and dragging to create a Shape layer is working as expected for me in After Effects 25.1 on macOS.

 

It sounds like the Shape layer that is supposed to hold the drawn shape is being created, but then the drag maybe isn't occurring. It's hard to say without a screen recording. If possible, would you be able to share a screen recording of the issue? That would answer a number of questions I have about what is occurring.

 

An update to After Effects (25.1) is currently rolling out as well. If you aren't in the midst of a project, would you be able to update and see if the issue continues to reproduce in 25.1?

 

Thanks again for reporting this and for any further information you can provide, 

- John, After Effects Engineering Team 

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