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cableguy316
Participating Frequently
October 1, 2020
Question

Rotobrush doesn't work - flickers black when trying to draw

  • October 1, 2020
  • 3 replies
  • 3488 views

I have a rather simple clip of a woman standing in front of a solid color wall that I'm trying to rotobrush.  However, when I go to brush on it, the screen continually flickers black and doesn't draw the pink lines it's supposed to.  When I stop drawing, AE sort of spazzes out, and after that even if I delete the Rotobrush effect, I don't get proper playback or even scrubbing.  I can even switch to other comps or projects.

 

I've trashed prefs to no avail. The behavior persists.  AE behaves for me otherwise making motion graphics.

 

My AE is up to date, this behavior happens even after a fresh reboot.  Decent custom system with an RTX 2070 Super GPU, 4K monitor.

3 replies

M
Micheal25910774wzdt
Participant
September 14, 2025

Here is when it happens, why it happens and how to solve it,
When it happens: it happens when you are applying the nagative brush effect (Alt + Left click)
Why it happens: it happens because sometimes after effesct may go dark as a result of calculating the area you want to remove from the mask.

How to solve it: After you hold Alt and Left click to remove a masked area, DO NOT LET GO OF "ALT" UNTIL THE CALCULATION IS COMPLETE.


frankiedl
frankiedl
Participating Frequently
April 11, 2023

I am experiencing the same problem, windows 11 everything to its latest version, never had this issue before.

R
Community Expert
Rick GerardCommunity Expert
Community Expert
October 2, 2020
  • Does your system meet the minimum system requirements?
  • Is your version of AE up-to-date?
  • What format is the original footage?
  • Is this a new problem?

Answer at least a couple of those and maybe we can come up with a solution or a workaround.

 

C
cableguy316Author
Participating Frequently
October 2, 2020

Intel Core i5-6600K (32GB)

Nvidia RTX 2070-Super (16GB)

512GB SSD, Samsung M.2 drive

etc etc

 

Up-to-date.

 

Footage is H264 converted to ProRes 422.

 

I've never seen this problem before, though I've also never used Rotobrush on this system.  Otherwise AE works fine on it.

 

I just tried this on my 2019 16" MacBook Pro and Rotobrush worked, but this time it had a weird issue where I would have to manually move to a different frame to see my results - if I drew a brush, the screen would go black.  On that system I have successfully used Rotobrush before.  That system is also fully updated.

 

Our subject thought their pink wall would make a substitute for greenscreen.  Sigh.

 

    E
    editjames
    Participant
    November 11, 2020

    I am having the same problem.

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