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art_enthusiast
Participant
September 6, 2023
Answered

After Effects Interface Too Dark

  • September 6, 2023
  • 3 replies
  • 732 views

Is there a way to alter the After Effects interface colors? I am tired of trying to find the timeline scroll bar at the bottom.

 

The Appearance section under the app Settings menu does nothing useful.

 

Thanks.

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Melanie Stirner

Hi art_enthusiast 🙂

I know it is not what you've been asking for, but when you want to move through the timeline horizontally and have problems finding the scroll bar (I think it's too dark, too), you can also use different and probably even easier ways to navigate through the timeline:

1. press shift and then scroll with your mouse (or whatever you use) ... scroll + shift enables you to scroll horizontally

2. you can use the spacebar, too! 🙂 holding the spacebar when having the mouse in the timeline activates the handtool (as you might know from several graphic tools) ... as long as you hold it, you can pan through the timeline 

3 replies

Melanie Stirner
Melanie StirnerCorrect answer
Participating Frequently
September 7, 2023

Hi art_enthusiast 🙂

I know it is not what you've been asking for, but when you want to move through the timeline horizontally and have problems finding the scroll bar (I think it's too dark, too), you can also use different and probably even easier ways to navigate through the timeline:

1. press shift and then scroll with your mouse (or whatever you use) ... scroll + shift enables you to scroll horizontally

2. you can use the spacebar, too! 🙂 holding the spacebar when having the mouse in the timeline activates the handtool (as you might know from several graphic tools) ... as long as you hold it, you can pan through the timeline 

Mylenium
Legend
September 7, 2023

Yeah, AE's accessibility sucks. As I'm going blind I realize more and more how terrible it is and how much I yearn for the good old days when AE had a bright interface...

 

Mylenium

Warren Heaton
Community Expert
Community Expert
September 6, 2023

There's the brightness slider under Preferences > Appearance.

It would be great if After Effects had Photoshop's Preferences > Interface > Color Scheme.

art_enthusiast
Participant
September 6, 2023

Thank you, Warren. I've fiddled with that. That adjustment lightens all of the interface, and the timeline slider isn't particularly visible once I've done that. If I could, I'd make that slider pink.

Warren Heaton
Community Expert
Community Expert
September 7, 2023

I still miss when the highlight was yellow.  It provided a better contrast.