Participant

Answered

Why can't I see anything in my composition window?

Forum|Forum|14 years ago
June 27, 2011
10 replies
233504 views

When I have created a composition, then for some reason I cannot see anything in my composition window. It is just BLACK.

When I first started following the instructions, from youtube, on how to create muzzle flashes, I could see my muzzleflash on top my chosen image in the

composition window. For some reason now it just shows black. Maybe I have changed some setting. I have tried to reinstall AE, but that did not help either.

HELP any advice?

PS Im a complete novice, so straight forward simple advice will be well received.

Preview

Correct answer ben.bland

Maybe a few years too late for your problem, buuut... here's what I did to solve this same issue, after trying everyone else's suggestions.

Look at where the playhead is. In my case it was way off somewhere on another part of the timeline, so the composition that I was trying to edit was not visible because it wasn't active at that particular point in the timeline. With the composition open, I just clicked on the Time Ruler at the top of the Timeline and voila, the composition appeared.

Dumb, maybe, but easy to do. And I doubt I would have found it in any tutorials.

A

ankita.mhatre@branch.sharekhan

Participant

after effects compositing preview is black

katieb23108983

Participant

howdy -- 10 yrs later-- if you've see. little dot in one of your layer in the left part of your timeline (near all the eyeballs) unclick it. i read all these comments and nothing worked until i tried this in desparation and all my stuff came back (thank god!). i had accidentally clicked a shortcut key (i have no idea which key) and it turned this 'black screen on'. it was a brief nightmare.. but this was my eventual fix. hope this helps someone else! (maybe) if all the other stuff above fails.

ItsMeSdeep

Participant

Rameez_Khan

Legend

Hi ItsMeSdeep,

I'm not sure what "this" is.

What are you referring to? Can you please elaborate?

Thanks,

Rameez

nhatp87010557

Participant

it's 9 years later since your original post but I've just experienced the same issue so I just would like to share.

By reading all the comments I can see there are different reasons that lead to a composition not showing up. In my case it was because I somehow, accidentally set the composition's preview time to negative. Instead of putting 0:00:10:10, I put -0:00:10:11.

N

Niutoseku

Participant

Hey, maybe someone's still struggling, like me. Actually I tried everything, and nothing helped. To be clear: I tried everything in AE, but the Adobe Illustrator was the key problem here. I made a new workspace to create second text and Ctrl+S updated this in the AE immediately. So if you copied the text somewhere (I recommend to do every single graphics in new project in AI), then delete this workspace you made in original vector project. (or click Ctrl Z multiple times). It actually worked. I am glad to help anybody who still pull his hair out.

H

hughebCP

Participant

For anyone coming to this post way later such as me, my issue was caused by having a second instance of After Effects running because it did not properly close, I fixed the issue by ending the second instance in task manager, hope this helps future readers

T

tuathlal70966666

Participant

Hey, I am also having trouble viewing pics and text I have in my composition. This is my first time using After Effects and I am following a tutorial on Youtube.

Can anyone help me to make the text and picture I imported visible?

Cheers,

Tuathla.

Szalam

Community Expert

Choose the reset option on your character palette.

Y

yvanne05

Participant

I'm having the same issue!!

B

ben.blandCorrect answer

Participating Frequently

Maybe a few years too late for your problem, buuut... here's what I did to solve this same issue, after trying everyone else's suggestions.

Look at where the playhead is. In my case it was way off somewhere on another part of the timeline, so the composition that I was trying to edit was not visible because it wasn't active at that particular point in the timeline. With the composition open, I just clicked on the Time Ruler at the top of the Timeline and voila, the composition appeared.

Dumb, maybe, but easy to do. And I doubt I would have found it in any tutorials.

S

sut2006

Participant

Thank You ben.bland!! Your solution is what I needed !!

Todd_Kopriva

Inspiring

If you're new to After Effects, I very strongly recommend that you begin here to learn After Effects.

If you post a screenshot of your Composition panel and Timeline panel, we'll be more likely to be able to help you with this issue.

8

888RazAuthor

Participant

First. Thanks a lot for answering .

Ok. I have checked my CapsLock and it makes no difference all.

I have also done a screendump as you requested. Hopes it helps.

I have also checked the site that you sent with your reply. It is really good and I totally agree that as a beginner you should NOT do over-complicated stuff.

So what I had done before writing on this forum was to try and follow the absolute first tutorial that Adobe provides. Exactly for the reason that I could learn it slowly and properly, as you point out. BUT what does one do when almost from the beginning you see that the guy doing the tutorial can see his picture of the faucet on his Composition Window and I cannot? It stopped me learning anymore. Frustration set in ...

I really hope I can get this resolved so that I can continue learning. I have also tried to re-install AE with no effect. Hmmmmm

Is there not a way to TOTALLY reset AE? Or is this not necessary? Looking much forward to your replies.

Todd_Kopriva

Inspiring

You switched your Composition panel to Wireframe view mode. Don't do that. See this page for information about view modes.

> So what I had done before writing on this forum was to try and follow the absolute first tutorial that Adobe provides. Exactly for the reason that I could learn it slowly and properly, as you point out. BUT what does one do when almost from the beginning you see that the guy doing the tutorial can see his picture of the faucet on his Composition Window and I cannot? It stopped me learning anymore

What tutorial are you talking about?

As I said, I very strongly recommend that you begin here to learn After Effects. Trust me.

vipul vaibhav

Adobe Employee

Is your caps lock key on by any chance?

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