Composition Window Preview not showing anything

Report · Feb 04, 2017

Hi folks,

i am struggling with the following problem:

Regardless of the version of Ae (i run both the final CC2015 Version, as well as the most recent CC2017 update) - after trying to preview a composition in my project, the composition window becomes empty and doesn't display anything (see images attached). After that, no matter what composition i open, it all remains blank, when scrubbing through the timeline and when previewing. When i try to quit Ae after that, it becomes unresponsive - i can't exit it other than killing the process in the task manager..

I have tried the following:

- purge cache/image memory

- import project into a new project

- open project in different versions of AE

After seeing similar problems in other threads (with none of the "solutions" helping) let me assure the following:

- it is not a magnification or zooming issue, when i start the preview i can see everything, the preview is just killed after that rightaway

- the CTI is at a point in time where things should be visible

- my preview mode is "Off (Final Quality)" and no matter what i change it to, the problem remains

- i AM using the most recent versions and drivers, yes i do.

I'm running Ae on a Windows 7 Pro machine with 32GB of Ram and a GeForce GTX1070 with the most recent drivers, updates, etc.

Any help is greatly appreciated, since i can't continue to work this way..

Kindest regards

iPixxels

Report · Feb 04, 2017

First, those are not comp panels, those are layer panels. Second, did you try using Fit for the Magnification factor? Third, did you try resetting your work spaces? Fourth question, are you using multiple displays? Last question, has AE ever worked before on this machine?

If you've tried everything and you have reset your preferences and your system matches the minimum system requirements and nothing is still working then we need a lot more information about your system.

Report · Feb 05, 2017

Hi Rick,

thank you for your help - the screenshot shows what is being displayed after i double click on a composition, so i was assuming that these are composition panels, not layer panels, as the composition content had been displayed before.

I have tried using "Fit" it did not help, as the magnification level wasn't touched before the preview and it was displaying just fine. I tried resetting workspaces and preferences, to no avail.

I am using two 27" displays connected via DP. AE has been working just fine before, i did not make any changes to the OS or the software and drivers whatsoever.

My system matches the minimum system requirements.

I run Win 7 Pro on the following machine:

Intel i7 4960X - 3,6 GhZ

32GB DDR3 Ram

500GB SSD (Installation Location)

2 x 2 TB HDD

GeForce GTX 1080

I'm starting to think that the project might be broken, but then again importing it into a new project or copying the content of the affected composition into a new one didn't change anything. I'm not using any plugins on the composition, just a few basic expressions and keyframes.. i'm stumped

Any help or idea is greatly appreciated!

Kind regards

iPixxels

Report · Feb 06, 2017

I'm having the same problem - have tried resetting panels dozens of times, rebooting, opening the backed up project etc etc. It keeps jumping from an all white undocked panel (will not allow docking) to an all grey one like your ref pic. Going crazy. Need to work on this today but I can't see anything!!! argh

Report · Feb 07, 2017

I'd recommend contacting Adobe support.

Report · Feb 09, 2017

It turned out that the update to CC2017 had somehow corrupted a plugin used in the composition - i had to remove the plugin and reinstall it, it works fine now.

Thanks for your suggestions!

Report · Feb 09, 2017

Thank you both for following up and letting us know what worked for you!

interactivePixels, what plugin was it?

Report · Feb 09, 2017

I first suspected "DUIK" to be the problem, when it was actually "RE:Flex" - i will get in touch with the customer support to find out why it is crashing my project, for now simply disabling the effect renders my project usable again.

Report · Feb 09, 2017

Thanks guys - I ended up removing 2017 AE (after reinstalling several times) and installing 2015. That stopped working as well so I

had to go through and clear off every remnant of AE then I moved my cache to a separate hard drive and installed 2015 again.

So far so good! I'm 4 days behind on a contract now so fingers crossed:-)

Report · May 03, 2022

I had the same issue, this video fixed it right away

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rl8LxHBSX88

Report · Jul 12, 2024

how ironic that you can't view this video.