After Effects 25.3 Should have never been released - Basic Features Not Working

[Joe_wpi]

I have been working with after effects for 19 years now and I can not think of a more problematic build than this release. Normally I can work around some level on bugs, or maybe just work on a mac or pc workstation depending on where or what bug i maybe encoutering, but this build doesnt work properly anywhere. Every 5 minutes of working I encounter an error.
Ram preview? Black frames, so clear cache. Now there are black frames in other places in the timeline. Reload footage, Now for the next few minutes, maybe just maybe no error frames, but that doesnt last for long before the error frames start appearing again. Basic feature not working.
Mask tracked in Mocha AE, usually works fine, but today, on random frames the mask just doesnt add or subtract, its as if its not even there. I can see the outline of the mask covering the object i want to remove. 1st frame works, 2nd frame doesnt, 3rd drame does. Should be an easy work around, delete the problem keyframe and let after effects interpolate. Doesnt work, glitched frame is still glitched. Increase the expansion on the glitched frame, and once it passes a very high number, all of a sudden its subtracting. The expansion is too big though, I shrink it back down, and it goes back to being broken. There are no other variubles in this situation either, just 1 layer with 1 mask. Basic feature not working.

Adobe is supposed to be a professional's choice softwear. This build is so far away from being called professional I believe Adobe owe's everyone who downloaded it an apology.

[caroline_edits]

Hey Joe,

Really sorry to hear this update hasn't been working well for you. I've seen a couple other folks face the black frames you're describing, we have engineers fixing it as we speak. Should be a fix released soon!

The issue with mask tracking is a new one! Let us know if there's anything you've already tried to fix it, I'd hate to the suggest the same thing twice. The first think I'm thinking of is to check your GPU for driver updates. Are you on a Mac or PC?

Best,

Caroline

[Johnny909]

Hey Caroline, i am having similar issues, but also a big one is that every project im opening after the update is losing its asset links and needs to be relinked, but the bigger issue is that it doesnt let me choose the right files! for example, iam trying to relink a png, it only allows selecting an mp4, this one made me rollback to 25.01.

[Joe_wpi]

@caroline_edits  Issues occurring on both mac and pc. The masking issue was occurring on Mac workstation with M2 Max chipset. Everything is up to date.

I tried many, many things to get the mask to work, but the only solution was to manually adjust the keyframes around the broken interpolated mask frames. If I pulled a vertex far enough, the mask would eventually flash into existence — and once it did, I didn’t have to touch it again. Clearly something is broken here, but I don’t have time to be a bug tester for Adobe. I lost so much time dealing with these bugs before finally rolling back.

I know I’m being a bit over the top here, but I really mean it. As a shareholder and a near-constant subscriber for the past 11 years, it is absolutely abhorrent that this build was released. On every workstation i have tried it on I have had broken frames. Did no one even test it?

There are old Lumetri scaling bug issues too, I remember seeing this on very old versions. You apply lumetri on a layer in after effects, theres a good chance that the footage underneath it will scale or change position for no reason. And thats with no peramiters applied, only putting the effect on causes the bug. 

[nishu_kush]

Hi Joe,

After Effects 25.3 has this bug where black frames and glitches appear randomly in the Timeline and export. Good news is this issue has been fixed in the patch release (25.3.1) that was released a few days ago. I am positive that you were hitting the bug that caused those black frames and issues with the mask.

Let me know how it goes.

Thanks,
Nishu

[Johnny909]

i am having similar issues, but also a big one is that every project im opening after the update is losing its asset links and needs to be relinked, but the bigger issue is that it doesnt let me choose the right files! for example, iam trying to relink a png, it only allows selecting an mp4, this one made me rollback to 25.01.

[Joe_wpi]

I rolled back to 25.2.2. Its night and day how much more stable it is over 25.3