Skip to main content
M
Marc Trzepla
Inspiring
July 19, 2017
Question

Expressions Not Updating?

  • July 19, 2017
  • 15 replies
  • 12459 views

Currently running After Effects 14.2.0.198 and this is on both Macintosh and Windows.

There will be expressions that do not visually update to what the value says it is.

Example ... layer Opacity without an expression is 0%, layer is not visible. 

Add an expression (if/else toggle) for either 100% or 0% ... the expression will be enabled (no syntax errors) and the value colored in 'red' showing it has an expression on it ... of 0% ... but the layer will be 100% visible.   Stunner is that if I temporarily turn off the expression the layer disappears because the Opacity without an expression is 0%.  Toggle back on the expression-driven value of 0% and the layer is visible again.

Same with position.  I have Position expressions placing items in random locations.  If I dial in new seed values I can watch the 'red' expression-enabled position value change... but the layer itself doesn't move to the new position.

Edit -> Purge -> All Memory / All Memory & Disk Cache / Image Cache Memory has no effect.

Many times quitting AE and opening it back up refreshes to the correct value.

Any thoughts what's causing this?     Expressions are expressions are expressions... they return a value and the value 'should' visually reflect the numbers that correctly update in the 'red' text value field.     But don't.       

Thanks,

Marc

      15 replies

      P
      prodbydisco
      New Participant
      January 24, 2025

      Any solutions? still experiencing issues with expressions not visually updating in 2025 (ver 24.6.4). Purging all memory and disk cache is a workaround, same as duplicating and opening the new comp. But no actual solution yet...

      R
      RaZzaDaZz
      New Participant
      December 19, 2018

      Still having the same issues as OP.

      2 workarounds:

      Clicking through the timeline a couple of times (5 to 10 times to let it fully update) instead of dragging the timeline or...

      Saving and restarting the file after the render.

      Not really ideal for my client.

      Szalam
      Szalam
      Adobe Expert
      December 19, 2018

      What version of AE are you and your client using?

      R
      RaZzaDaZz
      New Participant
      December 19, 2018

      v15.0.0 (Build180). Updating now to v16.0.1... Feel kinda stupid that I forgot to turn on the auto-update.

      Anyway, hope this helps. Will edit if this resolves the issue.

      tristansummers​ will AE be full on javascript in 2019 instead of expressions? Sounds good I guess.

      EDIT: Jep resolved the issue...... Althought I have a few expression errors now. But seems fixable. Thanks!

      V
      vladz25674181
      New Participant
      August 3, 2018

      Try to put your Precomp at the start of your Main comp. The thing is about the time difference, I guess.
      At least it helped for me.

      RBIGibby84
      RBIGibby84
      New Participant
      June 19, 2018

      I have been having a similar issue in that when I render my expression starts glitching between the updated value and the previous value creating a seemingly random jump on certain frames.  I'm using Dataclay's Templater to batch render from a spreadsheet, and am using an expression to add the values of several text widths and then divide the total by 2 to center the position in the comp. It always works fine on the first one, but all the following renders have the random glitches. I am unable to update to CC2018 as my work as not approved to update our OS yet...ugh!

      Anyway, I did find an odd work around that seems to do the trick. I can't do a batch render anymore unfortunately, but instead of restarting After Effects or re-opening the project try this. Open your comp setting (CMD+K or Control+K on a PC probably), and change the background color, then hit cancel. For some reason this seems to updated all the expressions in the preview window (I know...weird right?).

      Has anyone else experienced the issue after updated to CC2018?

      RBIGibby84
      RBIGibby84
      New Participant
      June 19, 2018

      Well I have another workaround for those using Templater or if you just want your expressions to work after rendering. If you change your post render action to import in your output module it seems refresh everything after rendering. I just batch rendered with and without the import post render action on. For me at least it does the trick with import on. Again...Wierd!

      thomasb56634628
      thomasb56634628
      New Participant
      May 30, 2018

      Anyone still having this issue?

      I built a character rig for an animation (eye direction, eyebrows, etc) in my main comp and I am referencing all of those positions within pre-comps in the main comp and out of nowhere all of them stopped working. Restarted AE, restarted the computer, updated AE, nothing.

      D
      Davide Boscolo
      Inspiring
      May 30, 2018

      All the time I have relative links inside one composition and try to rename or duplicate the comp, I have an issue. I have to close AE and reopen it.

      T
      tristansummers
      Inspiring
      February 9, 2018

      If expression changes do not trigger a re render/update of cached frames, have you tried, say, adding an adjustment layer with an effect to trigger it. If this works then it maybe that helps with the hunt?

      T
      tristansummers
      Inspiring
      February 9, 2018

      In case you're are unable to recreate the problem, It may only happen when you have "a few" expressions in the comp. Something gets overloaded. I have a grid expression that used to be fine but now with over 20 or so layers it just chokes.

      K
      kungfooking
      Participating Frequently
      January 31, 2018

      FWIW, I've been having the same issue since updating to CC2017....After rendering, expressions no longer update the comp preview, but they do update in the timeline. I posted the thread that pegeseus referred to: Expressions stop working after rendering CC2017​. I just wanted to add my voice as someone else that is experiencing this bug.

      I don't know what's going on in the background, but I do agree that it seems like AE is having issues with the cache. I can confirm that purging the cache does nothing. Although saving, closing and then reopening the project seams to remedy the problem...But it's a work around, not a solution. I create a lot of toolkits for people that are not that savvy with AE, so it's especially frustrating for them as they don't really understand what's going on.

      Hopefully some from Adobe can figure out a solution soon.

      Thanks for everyones input and suggestions!

      -Mike

      Szalam
      Szalam
      Adobe Expert
      February 8, 2018

      Can those of you experiencing this issue please try it in the January 2018 update? There were a lot of bug changes and fixes in this version.

      K
      kungfooking
      Participating Frequently
      February 9, 2018

      I just tried it in the latest version of CC 2018, version 15.0.1 (Build 73). Unfortunately it's still not working, the expressions do not update after rendering.

      Is that the most current version? I did not see any updates in the CC application.

      Thanks for you help!

      -Mike

      C
      Clement_Picon
      New Participant
      January 11, 2018

      Has anyone found a fix yet?

      I'm experiencing the same problems here : Simple expressions like linking a source text to another layer in a different comp won't work after a render. Same for the opacity of a layer linked to a checkbox : the expression work, I can see the opacity value changing when checking / unchecking the box, but nothing happens in the display...

      I've experienced the problem on CC 2018 an tried to revert to CC 2017 and 2015, it didn't solve the problem.

      I'm using after effects on Windows 7 64 bits with 32Go of ram and a Intel Xeon CPU E5-2620 v3  2.40GHz.

      If anyone has a clue on how to fix this, I will be very thankful!

      P
      pegeseus
      New Participant
      September 25, 2017

      This issue appears to also be found in this thread: Expressions stop working after rendering CC2017

      I can confirm that running the Render Queue appears to make this happen.  I open a comp- expressions work fine.  I render a PNG and my expressions stop updating in the composition window.  All expressions continue to work as intended but there's no visual update.

      Show more replies
      Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
      Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices