Inspiring

Question

Expressions Not Updating?

Forum|Forum|8 years ago
July 19, 2017
15 replies
12461 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

Show previous replies

P

pegeseus

Participant

FWIW I have the exact same issue and came here looking for a fix. My code is almost identical to yours but I'm on the most recent AE version. I have a master null that has a few checkbox controls on it controlling the visibility of a number of layers.

My expression:

temp = comp("EoG_brackets16_Finals_win").layer("master_null").effect("blue")("Checkbox");

if (temp == 0) 0 else 100;

The expression gives no errors and I can see the values updating but the composition window does not reflect the opacity changes. It's making life difficult as I specifically coded this up to save time and it's just causing headaches.

T

tipsyfreelancer

Participating Frequently

The workaround that works for me is to Save and the Re-open the project.

T

tristansummers

Inspiring

Hi

That is only useful when you notice it.

But not being able to trust what you see in the comp window is kind of a big deal!

It is weird how nobody seems to have spotted it, as I see it all over the place. Mac/PC latest version AE etc.

The egeneral issue is that there seems to be something that means the persistant cache doesn't update. Sometimes this is flushed by restarting AE, or emptying cache, but it would be good to know some other troubleshooting tips for when this doesn't happen, or how to prevent it happening.

I guess next thing is when you notice it, empty cache turn cache OFF, restart AE and see if that is what it is.

T

tipsyfreelancer

Participating Frequently

Yeah, its a workaround, not a solution.

Re-opening the project fixes it without needing to restart AE.

Szalam

Community Expert

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Marc+Trzepla wrote
Currently running After Effects 14.2.0.198 and this is on both Macintosh and Windows.

Have you tried the 14.2.1.x update?

L

lukehaddock

Participant

I use Dan Ebberts marker sync expression all the time.

Dan Ebberts's Expressioneering Design Guide

Long story short, its an expression that controls the time remap value of a nested composition.

What's weird is that I can see time remap value stop changing while scrubbing through the timeline (as it should), but the layer continues to animate as though time remap is still changing. This is not a user error, its a bug. And the sooner it gets fixed the better. Thanks.

M

Marc TrzeplaAuthor

Inspiring

Sorry for the radio silence - my original post was the day before vacation... I was busy trying to crank out everything that was due before I left. Didn't have time to reply.

Rick or anyone interested - here are screen captures of two sample expressions that don't update, the comp settings for one, and some effect sliders I used 'in' the expressions to dial in some values.

I did find that UN-checking the option in Preferences -> Display -> "Hardware Accelerate...Panels" helped 'a little' which makes me wonder if this is a display issue. Bummer it didn't resolve this 100% ... stinks when things only end up a 'little' fixed, you know?

I'll make sure to post this to the Bug Report.

F

FuriousBiscuit

Participant

Hi Marc Trzepla,

Sorry for this issue. Did you ever find a solution? Please let us know if our experts’ advice helped you or if you still need help.

Thanks,

Kevin

I'm, also having this issue. In my case, I just have expressions linking opacity to checkboxes in a control null, which was working fine yesterday, but for some reason the values in the timeline are updating but the preview is not. Also, when I add the composition to the render queue it renders whatever was visible before the opacity values were modified when the checkboxes were toggled.

Restarting AE refreshes the preview to the correct values, and clearing image cache does not help.

Running 14.2.134. Creative Cloud says no updates for AE are available

R

Rick Gerard

Community Expert

I can't reproduce any of the problems you are talking about. We don't have any idea what is going on in your comp. Try this. Select the layer or layers that are giving you problems and press the U key twice to reveal all modified properties. Make sure the composition is selected in the Project Panel so we can see the comp details. Print screen and then paste to the reply field on the forum. On a Mac press Shift + Ctrl/Cmnd + 3 to take a screenshot and drag it to the reply field from the desktop. Then give us workflow details so we can see what's going on. If the expressions take up more than one line then it would also be a good idea to copy and paste them to the forum. Without details I don't know what to suggest.

T

tristansummers

Inspiring

We know that an expression value is not being displayed in the Composition viewer.

An expression that usually works.

We know that emptying the cache does not correct it.

We know that sometimes restarting after effects makes the viewer refresh properly.

That in itself is a great finding and a great mystery.

The image is still stored in RAM somewhere?

We know that both expressions and previews have been re-coded recently.

As a user it is hard because we can't see behind the curtain to troubleshoot the inconsistency.

It seems clear this is an image cache issue.

I am trawling the forums for tips to solving this myself.

I'm wondering about all the different cahce points in a computer, processor, RAM, where could the ghosts be hiding?

P.M.B

Legend

For anyone who saw my posts about this in their notification disregard them. I'm a complete moron.

~Gutterfish

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