My Time Bar keeps resetting ?

[isaiahc74232757]

I can't play through my sequence in Adobe After Effects my time bar keeps resetting mid session when I try to preview.

[Rick Gerard]

Probably normal behavior. You can't learn AE by just poking around in the app. Start here: Basic AE

Ram Preview depends on available system resources and your composition. This is one of the most typical complaints of folks that have not taken the time to learn anything about the app.

If you happen to be experienced and are having this problem then we need workflow and system details down to the last decimal point.

[isaiahc74232757]

I got Adobe Effects yesterday.

So my RAM is what's making the Time Bar Reset and not play through ?

There is no setting to fix it ?

[P.M.B]

We really don't know what you mean when you say your "time bar keeps resetting".

One of the problems with trying to use After Effects without spending some time to properly learn

the basics (like how previewing works and how to set up your preview preferences)

is an inability to articulate issues.

Playback varies depending what key you're using to stop and start playback.

These settings are determined in the preview panel.

These setting could be set to only play cached frames (green bar)

It could also be you're out of RAM

or that your cache is full

And it could also be that your work space doesn't extend to the end of you "sequence".

I strongly suggest getting some free or premium screen capture software,

opening a Vimeo or Youtube account and start uploading videos of the inevitable problems you are going to run into which

you can then embed in your posts here.  At least until you learn enough to be able clearly articulate the problems you're having.

[PASTIVITY]

I can clearly understand what OP is saying, and I'm not an "Adobe Community Profesional" like you. Don't immediatley blame them for not spending enough time with the app. Theres clearly an issue that shouldn't even be happening regardless of skill level. While the project is playing, it just stops and resets right back to the beginning. How didn't you get that from their perfectly clear description of the issue. It's literally happening to me as I type this. The video is playing, then suddenly resets back to the start of the video. I have ALL of my ram allocated to After Effects to get the most RAM usage that it can get. So now two people have explained the issue to you, and hopefully I clarified exactly what OP meant, since you want to tell them to "learn enough to be able to clearly articulate the problem their having." Also, maybe if the maximum file size to upload a video of the "inevitable problems we're going to run into" was more than a measly 47gb, then we'd be able to share with you what exactly we're experiencing that you dont seem to comprehend, rather than having to go through uploading a video to Youtube for your convenience... I hope I was articulate enough for you..."Gutterfish"...not very respectful to assume OP dont know what they're doing, just because both YOU and Rick somehow dont understand what they're clearly explaining, because I managed to understand the moment I read it. You dont need any system specifications down to "the last decimal point." But, I'll provide mine since you so arrogantly asked, Rick. 24 gb DDR4 RAM, NVIDIA RTX3060 GPU, AMD Ryzen 9 5000 series CPU, All RAM allocated to AE as previously stated. Enoy the visuals of what OP clearly explained that you somehow don't understand, and would rather blame them for being inexperienced, when you don't even know their skill level. I'd appreciate a "well articulated" response to this issue, to use your own words...

[Luke25612451m0e8]

Typically... no reply. Have you found a way around this Pastivity?

[PASTIVITY]

From what i've found through my troubleshooting, you have to go past the blue loading bar that you'll see in my video with the issue, play the video, and it will clear the blue and make it green indicating it's been rendered. The issue is that it is strange it does that when you've completely rendered the video and all of a sudden it starts cuts to the beginning. Seems like a stupid bug that these guys would rather be condescending about to the poster instead of actually help them.

[carver76]

Haha, I was going to respond to that jerk, then I realized you articulated everything I wanted to say just perfectly. Some people are so arrogant, just to make themselves feel superior I suppose...

[PASTIVITY]

glad i'm not the only one who noticed.

[Warren Heaton]

@carver76 

Fortunately, the After Effects User Guide is written for all level users, and the tutorials are categorized for "beginner" and "experienced".  

What this post asks about is covered in part 3 of "Work with compositions".  If doing the tutorials in order, that's 43 minutes of free, self-guided tutorials instead of waiting an unknown amount of time for a response on the Community Forums.

[Warren Heaton]

After Effects provides several options for previewing that make various tradeoffs between speed and fidelity.  For "well-articulated" instructions, go to the After Effects User Guide, Previewing, then scroll down to "Default Preview Settings" and "Preview modes and Viewer Quality preferences".

A green progress bar indicates frames loaded into the cache along the top of the Time Ruler.  Non-green areas indicate frames that are partially cached.  Look at the Info panel in the upper right corner of the interface to check the playback framerate and many frames are playing within the Work Area.

@PASTIVITY Both your sample video and your system specifications are very helpful.  If you change your Comp Resolution from "Full" to "Half", the entire three minutes of your Work Area should turn green.  If you're using the current version of After Effects and Composition > Preview > Cache Frames While Idle has not been disabled then non-green areas should turn green as soon as the "Idle Delay Before Caching Starts" timer runs out (Preferences > Previews > Cache Frames When Idle).  If "Half" doesn't allow you to preview the Work Area, try "Quarter".  It may also help to purge Image Cache Memory.

Rick Gerard linked to a great resource for learning After Effects at no additional cost.  Other resources include After Effects Classroom in a Book (2022 release) for $51.99 to $116.98), After Effects CC 2022 Essential Training on LinkedIn Learning (requires subscription), and After Effects Kickstart from School of Motion (about $800 to $1,500).

[Joost van der Hoeven]

I'm guessing your computer is low on RAM for the comp you are trying to playback. Can you share some tech info? Like OS and version, CPU, RAM, GPU vRAM, Ae version? Thanks. Also a screen grab of your issue will be helpful.

FAQ: What information should I provide when asking a question on this forum?
https://community.adobe.com/t5/after-effects-discussions/faq-what-information-should-i-provide-when-...

[Warren Heaton]

Try lowering the Composition Resolution (View > Full, Half, Third, Quarter, and Custom) and/or skipping frames (Preview panel, set "Skip" to "1").  If the default Preview options have not been changed, pressing Shift + Numberpad 0 automatically sets the Resolution to the current Magnification level of the Comp and skips 1 frame.

A lower Resolution means longer previews at lower image quality while skipping frames means longer previews that are not as smooth.

After Effects provides several options for previewing that make various tradeoffs between speed and fidelity.  For more information, go to After Effects User Guide, Previewing, then scroll down to "Preview modes and Viewer Quality preferences".