Animation presets not saving expression names

[G_W]

Hi,

I ran into this problem where my animation presets that contain expressions load with errors because the expression control layers are loading with default names, not the custom names I have assigned to them.

It appears the custom names are not being saved in the animation preset thus breaking all the expressions.

Is this a known bug? Any work arounds? I rely on a shape layer library built on these presets.

Thanks for your time.

Glenn

(AE 2018, iMac (27-inch, Late 2012), MacOs Sierra 10.12.6)

[Rick Gerard · Accepted solution]

You have to make sure that you select the root of all the properties that you want to include in the animation preset. This does not work.

This does:

[G_W]

Thanks for your reply Rick. I still get broken expressions with default names. What version are you on?

[Rick Gerard]

Can you send a screenshot of the UI with the modified properties of all the layers and effects you are using showing (u key twice). As long as you have everything on the same layer and things are properly selected the custom names should come through.

I'm using the latest builds of CS6 through CC 2018. OSX 10.13.1

[G_W]

Thanks Rick.

Selection then:  Animation > Save Animation Preset...

This is the result when loading the preset:

[Rick Gerard]

You didn't look closely enough at my screenshots. Do Not select all of the elements, just select the root. Animation presets have always worked this way.

In your case just highlight Ellipse Path 1 properties you want to include and Effects. If you select all of the sliders and the color control none of the new names will be added to the preset and your expressions will break. This is normal and expected behavior.

[G_W]

Ok cool. I understand now. I got it to work.

So selecting only "Effects" as the root will preserve custom effect names but selecting each individual effect will break expression names.

Im just trying to leave a paper trail for anyone that makes the same mistake that I have.

Thanks for your help.

[Rick Gerard]

You got it. It has always been that way and there is actually a bit of logic in that feature. You can rename any effect applied in AE so if someone renamed something like Hue and Saturation to Fabulous color thingie it would be hard for someone to figure out what was going on in the effects panel. 

[G_W]

Copy that. Thanks again.

[HeyBishop]

There is a problem with this solution: when applying an animation preset (that was saved when selecting the 'Effect' root) to a layer that already has a effects, it will remove any effects already on that layer to replace it with the custom-named slider control.
Any ideas on how to deal with that?