The 2026 Splash Screen Makes Me Feel Sick, Uneasy, and Scared

Question

Don’t get me wrong. If this image showed up in an artist’s portfolio, I’d be more than happy to appreciate it.
But for someone like me who opens After Effects multiple times a day, this splash screen feels like a jump scare. It actually gives me nightmares.

I know I can modify the splash screen by following tutorials online, but doing so triggers Adobe to think I’m using a pirated copy and throws a five-day grace period warning at me. That doesn’t exactly feel like a long term solution.

Other than that, I haven’t run into many issues with the 2026 version. It includes features I’ve been waiting for a long time, and I really don’t want to hold off on upgrading just to wait for the next release.

ShiveringCactus · Answer

Oh that’s a shame about swapping the image out triggering a piracy warning. I didn’t know you could do that, and now I’m disappointed to learn you can’t!

I think best practice for starting After Effects is probably:

Turn on PC, scroll phone during boot up and log in. Keep scrolling until Creative Cloud has loaded (so your fonts are there).
Click on After Effects, get up and make a coffee.
Drink coffee while checking socials.
Visit Adobe’s forum to see what questions you can answer.
Make a second coffee.
Remember you need to put the washing machine on, get up and do that.
Get back to computer and check out R/AfterEffects for cool videos.
Consider making a third coffee while opening your AE project. Decide against it as it’s nearly lunchtime.

With these simple steps you’ll avoid seeing the splash screen.

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