Effects not clickable

[tmdavisart]

I'm doing my green screen key process, the same one I've done a thousand times, and all of a sudden I'm getting this weird path for the pen tool...and nothing is clickable.  I can't use the drop-down menus for anything and it's not letting me click other effects to continue the key.

I have Version V11.0.4.2 is there an update I need? It's CS6. Has anyone heard of this issue? I'm on a timetable for some video projects and I need to get past this.

Thanks for the help in advance!

[David Arbor]

You're running the latest version of CS6, so no more updates.

Can you be more specific, or better yet, show a screen recording of what's happening when you say "it's not letting me click other effects to continue the key." That will help narrow down the problem.

[tmdavisart]

Sure, check out the screen recording. It's making these weird squiggly lines that I never dealt with before. Then after that, I can't click the drop-down for the Keylight, so I go up to effects. However the 'Screen Matte' settings I usually use are in the drop-down menu I can't open as well. See the issue? This program has been shut down since Friday too.

[David Arbor]

Thanks for posting, that was really helpful. Like Roei said, it could be hardware. It seems like your mouse is sticking, which would cause the bezier handles to appear. When you clicked on your footage in the Timeline panel the Info panel said "Cancel drag. Cannot drop item into itself."

Are you using a Wacom tablet? If not, is it a wireless mouse? If so, try unplugging all your external peripherals, keyboard included, and try using a wired mouse if you have one.

Also, while this problem is occurring try dragging some icons around on your desktop. What happens? Do they move around normally or do they drop unexpectedly?

[Roei Tzoref]

very Weird. does it happen with a fresh project? reboot helps? could it be hardware malfunction (keyboard, mouse, Wacom) try to isolate the problem

[tmdavisart]

I'm using a wireless mouse, but when I drag icons on my desktop they move fine. Sometimes it shorts out tho, and I have to disconnect and reconnect the the USB sensor. I'll try to use a wired mouse and see if it's different.

[David Arbor]

You can also see if there's an updated driver for your mouse. These kinds of issues can happen a lot when you update your OS and the mouse driver doesn't support it yet.

[tmdavisart]

I'm thinking it's more like a program issue, because I'm doing a simple video edit of changing contact information in AE and it's not showing up. Is there a troubleshooting option for AE?

[David Arbor]

Sorry, I'm not sure what you mean. But some general troubleshooting steps are to trash the preferences and restart After Effects, create a brand new project and see if the problem still occurs, or even create a test user account and see if the problem occurs there.

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi tmdavisart,

...and nothing is clickable. I can't use the drop-down menus for anything and it's not letting me click other effects to continue the key.

Did you ever solve this issue? Please let us know.

Regards,
Kevin

[tmdavisart]

It seems that the mac had a storage issue that was lagging the program. Once I deleted a bunch of files that were taking up space, it worked just like before.

[Warren Heaton]

Sounds like something was happening with virtual memory.  Try to keep at least 10% of the Macintosh HD available at all times if not more.  (For those of use that have 128GB or 256GB HDs, this is often easier said than done.)

Each click in your sample video matches what happens with a click and drag when drawing a Bezier path.  So, there was some sort of lag with the mouse click.