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_Clint_Hayes_
Participating Frequently
September 11, 2008
Answered

Can't select keyframes

  • September 11, 2008
  • 19 replies
  • 22266 views
I noticed someone else had a very similar problem back in February, but had just upgraded to CS3 and opened a 6.5 file. I'm working on a file I just began a couple of days ago in CS3 and have begun having the same problem today.

The problem is that at seemingly random times, keyframes that I've been moving back and forth to tweak suddenly cease to be selectable. If I singe-click on them with either mouse button, nothing happens. If I double-click on them with either mouse button, the current setting dialogue box pops up. BUT--if I drag a marquee around one or more of them, they will get selected--I just can't move them.

I'll drag a keyframe or keyframes one way, it won't be quite right, so I'll try to drag them back, and suddenly some of them won't go, and when I try to select them singly, they just stay gray. They show up in the graph editor, but I can't move them there either. I have no idea what's going on.

Anybody else know what's going on?

Thanks,

Clint
Correct answer Jonas Hummelstrand
Try clicking on the property's name in the Timeline window, which will select all the keyframes of that property. Then cut them with Ctrl-X / Cmd-X and paste them back.

- Jonas Hummelstrand
http://generalspecialist.com/

19 replies

Show previous replies
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_Clint_Hayes_Author
Participating Frequently
September 13, 2008
A-ha. Some progress here. Doing that made some of the previously inaccessible frames accessible again, but not all of them. I have opacity property that fades in, holds steady for a few seconds, then fades out. Before the cut/paste, all but the first one wouldn't let me grab them. After the cut/paste, only the last one, the final out keyframe, remained inaccessible. So something about the cut/paste frees some of them up.

What does that mean?
Jonas Hummelstrand
Jonas HummelstrandCorrect answer
Participating Frequently
September 13, 2008
Try clicking on the property's name in the Timeline window, which will select all the keyframes of that property. Then cut them with Ctrl-X / Cmd-X and paste them back.

- Jonas Hummelstrand
http://generalspecialist.com/
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_Clint_Hayes_Author
Participating Frequently
September 12, 2008
Nope, that didn't work either. I just increased the frame rate to 60 and they're just as unselectable and immobile. I just don't know.

Thanks for the suggestion.
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_Clint_Hayes_Author
Participating Frequently
September 12, 2008
I've dragged multiple keyframes several times, but not while holding the option key (I'm on a Mac). I'll change the frame rate just to check, but I've not messed with that before. Can I then put it back to 29.97 afterward? And can I not move multiple keyframes at once without screwing up the frame rate?

I'll check it out now.
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_Steve_Patterson_
Participating Frequently
September 12, 2008
Did you time stretch your keyframes perhaps?
You know, when you have multiple keyframes selected, hold down alt (PC), click on an end keyframe, and drag? Sometimes this can create weird keyframe/timeline related errors. Just out of curiosity, have you tried increasing the frame rate of your comp to see if you can then access the frozen keyframes?
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_Clint_Hayes_Author
Participating Frequently
September 11, 2008
Nope, haven't adjusted the frame rate of the composition, either. At least not consciously. And definitely not between moving frames. It's like by moving them around I'm doing something to them. I'm not doing anything different than I have in any other AE project I've created. I'm stumped.

I know it's something within the file, because I opened it in AE *on a different Mac* and the keyframes are still un-selectable.

Thanks again for the suggestions. I'm just about to start over.
Mylenium
Mylenium
Legend
September 11, 2008
Well, the list is not complete, just covering a few options. Perhaps in your case you created the comp at a different framerate, then adjusted it later after you already had moved keyframes. In that case, they too might have ended up "somewhere inbetween", not being movable. I agree, it's damn inconvenient, no matter what the reason and excuse.

Mylenium
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_Clint_Hayes_Author
Participating Frequently
September 11, 2008
Thanks much for the quick response. I don't understand why they'd be happening with this project, since none of the circumstances you list are anything I've done. It's a single composition, all at the same frame rate, and they're getting screwed up *within a layer.* And also, it's the first time it's happened. I've done numerous projects with AE CS3 now, and it's just starting now.

As for your solution, that's what I've been having to do, so I guess I'll just have to keep doing it. Bugger.

Thanks again for the reply.

Clint
Mylenium
Mylenium
Legend
September 11, 2008
It's a bug in the timebase calculations that happens under a number of circumstances including

- time-stretched items
- time-remapped items
- mixing compositions with different framerates, in particular mixing non-integer (e.g. 23,96fps) with full integer (24fps) ones

To cut a long story short: nothing you can do but delete the keyframes and create them again (and wait for CS4 to arrive in the hope it is finally fixed)

Mylenium
    J
    Jacques Broquard
    Participant
    February 20, 2025

    Thnk you! I can confirm in 2025, it is still happening. but this tip saved my brain, I had a 23.976 pice of footage in a 24fps timeline, lol. that's all it took. Uggh.

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