Mac Pinch Zoom in AfterEffects

[jordang71239565]

One of the features in AfterEffects I use more than anything, but notice the least out of all of them, was the pinch-zoom and two-finger scroll. I'm not sure if you can use these features on PC but if you've got a trackpad on your Mac, you've probably become just as dependent on this feature as I have. You can not only scroll and zoom on your preview, but you can scroll and zoom on your timeline as well, which is just the stuff dreams are made of.

But for some reason in AfterEffects, this amazing, intuitive feature has been removed/altered in the last 2 updates! I just installed the latest one this morning and the feature remains unfixed. I mean, you can still zoom on the preview but it just zooms in and out of 0,0 rather than centrally and certainly not where you put the cursor like before. And yes, the scroll works in the timeline, but the zooming isn't!

This feature isn't replaceable before you tell me to just use '+/-' instead. This is sacred.

My perfect resolve to this question is for someone to tell me there's a checkbox I need to go tick buried deep in the preferences somewhere.

If not:

ADOBE STOP SCREWING ME

Thank you

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hey there JordanG,

Sorry for this annoying issue. I'll investigate what's going on here as what you're reporting does sound odd. While I do, please file a bug report so we can elevate this forum issue for you and get this fixed for others.

Regards,
Kevin

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi JordanG,

I did try this on my own MacBook Pro and I got the behavior where pinch and zoom moves in and out on the comp around the cursor. Can you trash preferences and try once more?

Thanks so much!
Kevin

[jordang71239565]

Thanks for the reply Kevin, I'm happy to hear that it's probably just my system.

The trouble is, I've been able to restore my preferences in previous versions of Aftereffects but I'm finding that those ways no longer work. Do you have any suggestions?

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi JordanG,

Can you try to Clear Settings? More info: Sync Settings features in After Effects CC for sharing keyboard shortcuts, preferences, and other se...

Thanks,
Kevin

[Benedikt Hottner]

Dear Kevin,

I am having the exact same issue as jordanG. Clearing the setting unfortunately didn't do the trick. Could it be that pinching to zoom in the timeline is just not included in the application anymore?

Thanks,

Benedikt

[mosesb1971]

Hey Kevin, you're not the only one experiencing this. I too use a track pad and recently lost my pinch/zoom abilities. I wasn't sure if it was an OS issue, but all of my other applications seem to be working fine. I just deleted After Effects along with the preferences and reinstalled it from the Cloud. No changes. I hope we get a solution real soon.  Thanks for starting the string JordanG; and thanks for looking into this Kevin at Adobe.

[mosesb1971]

Ok. After messing with the trackpad, I found that swiping 2 fingers up/down or right/left allows me to zoom in and out. Hope this works for everyone. Now I'll just have to get use to this.

Moses

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi JordanG,

Still seeing this annoying error? Please let us know.

Thanks,
Kevin

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi,

Can everyone on this thread please file a bug? There is nothing currently written up in our database except for some fixed bugs that may have reared their ugly heads once more. If so, we're very sorry for that. Again, please file.

Thanks,
Kevin

[Benedikt Hottner]

I don't actually see it as a bug, somehow the feature just disappeared. Therefore I filled a add feature request.

Just to be clear, I am not talking about the two finger up and down, or left and right gesture. I am talking about the pinch to zoom gesture, the one that is also used in illustrator to zoom in and out. In a recent version I was able to use this gesture to zoom in out of the timeline, just like I am when pressing alt, option plus the two finger zoom.
I hope it is clear enough now. Excuse my bad english- I am from Germany.

Benedikt Hottner

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi Benedikt Hottner,

I could pinch/zoom on both my comp and timeline panels. Which version of OS X are you working with?

Thanks,
Kevin

[Benedikt Hottner]

Hey Kevin,

Version 10.12.4 (16E195) which should be the newest.

[Benedikt Hottner]

And I am working with the MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2016).

[Kevin-Monahan]

Oh, you are? Let me see if my colleagues can reproduce.

Thanks,
Kevin

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi Benedikt,

We have a bug filed, however, it's not yet fixed. It is affecting users on OS X 10.12 which is why I'm not seeing it on my personal system. That means we could use info about your system and workflow to help solve it. Can you assist with that? Here is the link. I will paste this forum post into the existing bug for added traction. Those others on post should also file bugs, please.

We'd really appreciate that, so thanks in advance!

Kevin

[Jimbo4dojo]

Hi Kevin
Any update on this?

Thanks,
James

[Szalam]

Did the update two days ago help anything? I don't see this issue mentioned, but sometimes small bug fixes don't.

If you are still experiencing the issue, file another bug report on the new version.

[Jimbo4dojo]

Hi Szalam,
I have submitted another bug report.
if this feature is not coming back is there a way to have that confirmed?
I miss it every day  : |

[Jimbo4dojo]

Hi Kevin, any update would be greatly appreciated 

[Rick Gerard]

It's not a bug, there is a change in behavior for the better. Read the documentation.

Don't pinch in the comp panel, put two fingers on the trackpad and drag up and down. Hold down the spacebar and one finger click and drag to center the point of interest in the comp panel and then two finger slide to move in and out through the magnification ratio's available in the comp panel. You can keep the spacebar held down and switch between zoom and drag by click and one finger drag for position, then two-finger slide up or down. The / key will center the comp in the comp panel no matter what the Magnification Ratio, Shift + / will center and fit the comp to the comp panel.

Two finger right or left will move scroll through the timeline.  Hold down the Alt/Option key and two-finger drag to the left to zoom out on the timeline, drag to the right to zoom in. The modifier key is the switch for two-finger drag in the timeline.

In Illustrator you use two-finger slide to drag and two-finger pinch to zoom and out. No click, just slide the fingers. Same with Photoshop and a bunch of other apps. If you carefully read the new feature documentation you would find most of these things.

[AlMarenco]

For the better? Who gets to decide that? It'd be nice if Adobe got down to fixing serious problems, instead of "fixing" things that weren't broken, and expecting us to read their update notes to figure out which stuff that worked before doesn't work anymore. I'd really appreciate it if there was a way to revert this behavior back to how it used to be. Much like the keyboard shortcuts, it should be down to what each editor finds most comfortable, not what adobe thinks "would be better". The fact that this thread remained unsolved for a whole year is mind-boggling.

[jordang71239565]

I completely agree. All Adobe updates come prefaced with 'General improvements...', '..this update is HIGHLY recommended to all users', 'contains important performance updates.'

Who decides what benefits all users? It feels like the deciding vote goes to a panel of people who've never used the software because after nearly 2 years without this tool, I've never been more certain that it is far and way the biggest asset and time-saver in AfterEffects. And somehow, some way it was decided that it would be forcibly removed from the software without consulting the user-base to see if it was a wanted change, and it most certainly wasn't.

I appreciate your eyes on this Kevin, but it doesn't seem to matter how many bugs I file. And filing a 'new feature' request is frankly insulting considering how foundational this feature was, and yet I file the request. Where are the fruits of our labour? Has this not caused enough of a stir at Adobe? Have our cries fallen on deaf, rich ears?

Go speak to a manager. Ring some bells. Bring it back for the sake of our livelihoods Kevin.

Our futures depend on you Kev.

[Mohamed Ali Ben Thaier]

Can you please tell me what's better than pinch zooming in the timeline????

[adamneer]

I've actually NEVER had this much needed functionality with my Mac trackpad in AE. Pinch zoom has always worked (although WAY to sensitively) in Premiere's timeline, but never in AE, regardless of version or OS number. So if this is something that is supposed to work, Adobe has some MAJOR bugs in their input device coding in AE. That doesn't surprise me though, considering how many issues they've come across with Wacom tablets in AE and Photoshop over the past few years. I've only very recently begun giving 2017 a shot because of how much trouble it's been using my Wacom in anything post-2014.