New CC update (10/6/14) change the Blue color????

Report · Oct 06, 2014

I appreciate the hardwork involved in updating the apps, but the light blue on grey isn't cuttin' it for my eyes. Is there a way to change it? I can't seem to find a setting in Prefs > Appearances.

Report · Oct 08, 2014

I like the new UI improvements, but the new blue Highlight-Color is cancer for my eyes and is more distracting than helpful. It would be great to have an option to change this.

Report · Oct 08, 2014

At least Adobe hasn't messed up Photoshop!

Report · Oct 08, 2014

As mentioned before this is not a minor change it is dramatic, when you staring 12 h a day on a screen that is hurting your eyes.

If i compare it to the very well balanced color scheme of my cinema 4d R16 Interface a few things come in mind.

1. The Contrast of the white typo is to harsh. Make it a touch of grey and it is ok.

2. Because of the complete lost of the tiny bevels (buttons/Menues) the only chance for the ux-designer is to raise contrast. It´s not well done. Way to high. For me flatdesign is not working with greyshades

3. The Flyoutmenues (Mainmenues, but even the Menues in the effects) pop up with a very bright grey (Windows standard). At c4d it is integrated in the color scheme. Looks sweet

4. Give us controll over the different elements of the interface. Some presets and custom controll.

For me the blue labels look fresh (maybe a litle brighter because of the greyshade contrast) but i canot enyoy the color because of the other interface mistakes.

For me it is a bit straining to work with ae these days 🙂

PS: Dont like the arrows in the effects menues (2 different, too big)

Report · Oct 08, 2014

Agree that the colour should be user-defined, or at least come with a couple of themes, so we have some control. The blue is too strong IMO, it affects the whole look of the window, including whatever footage is viewed.

Also many of the asset icons in the project panel are monochrome - even the comps - with no options to change. It makes locating footage, image sequences and comps that much harder, I much prefer the old CC icons in the project list.

Report · Oct 13, 2014

The icons are useless now. They may as well take them out. Why are they still in color in PPRO but monochromatic in AE? I just look at the tag color now to determine what's what quickly.

Report · Oct 13, 2014

Which icons are you referring to KMS? (Just curious) Thanks.

Report · Oct 13, 2014

The icons in the project panel. The icons for a composition and an image sequence are so similar they look the same at first glance. The icons now are just more visual noise. Luckily, the custom icons (set in my OS) I have for footage and audio are still in color.

Report · Oct 13, 2014

Thanks, KMS ... great, there's that to look forward to as well.

Report · Oct 08, 2014

I have to join the chorus here...

I find the colour choices of the new UI a real step backwards.

* The blue is very hard on the eyes - and less distinct - all at the same time!

As an example I find the difference between selected and unselected keyframes much less obvious with the blue.

* I find the overall scheme too dark - I have it ramped up to it's lightest setting currently.

* Comp icons have gone mono - again less distinct.

The gold scheme was much better.

This UI is a major issue when your users are staring at a screen most of the day.

Report · Oct 08, 2014

I agree. What kind off screens are the designers using if they don't get eye strain from looking at this 12 hours a day?

Report · Oct 13, 2014

I'm cross posting this info from the Premier thread about the same subject - sorry about that... hope it's useful.

Instructions for changing the hot text colour in After Effects 2014 on Mac OSX.

__________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________

First quit your favourite design and animation program.

Next in the finder press on the ‘Go’ menu whilst holding down the ‘alt’ key.

Select ‘Library’

Navigate to ‘Adobe After Effects 13.0 Prefs.txt’ in this location:

/Users/<username>/Library/Preferences/com.adobe.AdobePremierePro.plist

Drag a back up copy of this text file onto your desktop by holding the ‘alt’ key before dragging,

Open the file in TextEdit and use Edit>Find>Find…

Type in ‘hot’ and you should find this:

"Hot Text Color (0xAaRrGgBb)" = "0xffc69100"

"Hot Text Color Override? (1 or 0)" = 00

First change the colour override to 01 instead of 00, meaning yes instead of no.

The last 6 characters are c69100. They simply represent a hex colour value for in this case yellow text (because I’m in AE 2014 with yellow text).

Change this text to a colour value chosen in Photoshop, something like “00ff4e” for a bright green. Look for the hex values in the colour picker preceded with a # symbol.

This gives you: "Hot Text Color (0xAaRrGgBb)" = "0xff00ff4e"

Save the file and restart AE.

__________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________

This is tested for the release named After Effects CC (2014).

If you want to change the blue text in the October 2014 release please give this technique a go and tell me if it works!

Report · Oct 14, 2014

Hey Stingray thanks for the tweak unfortunately it didn't work for me changing the hot color override on

but i'm also on a PC not a mac so maybe there is a different area under windows 8.1(IT installed it... lol).

the only pref file I could find was in this location

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\After Effects\13.1\

anyone else have any more ideas for this tweak?

Report · Dec 08, 2014

@Stingray
re: changing the color in the .plist file

Thanks for the tip, but I can't seem to make this work.

I'm dismayed that I'm forced to try, but enough has been said on that matter already.

I can locate ‘Adobe After Effects 13.1.1 Prefs.txt’ where you advise, and can open it in TextEdit, but there is no "hot text" to be found...

What am I doing wrong, any ideas?

Much appreciated.

Report · Dec 08, 2014

In the latest version, it's just dark blue ... no options at all other than how darrk tbe gray is on parts of the interface. Please feel free and WELCOME to post both bug and feature request reports on this ...

Neil

Report · Dec 08, 2014

I just can't understand the choice of colors by Adobe's staff. Everyone knows that putting dark colored characters on a dark background are unreadable. The comment and citation by Jonabell above illustrates perfectly the nonsense of the choice of colors made by Adobe for Premiere as well as AE but of course, they are so clever that whatever we could say is considered nonsense....They are never wrong, we're just too dumb....And for some of us we have another problem, we are wrong to be so old and should find a good medicine to rejuvenate!! Would Bogomoletz do the trick?

Report · Dec 08, 2014

Don't know what Bogomoletz is ... hope it's a good local liquor or vino or beer ... !

It does seem that the reaction to the color change caught them a little off-guard, doesn't it? And ... well, for someone who's been involved in graphic design for our own studio's marketing for over 35 years, it does seem to violate about every precept we ever learned. Plus, if one does think at all about typical human eye capabilities, it's an odd choice also. And as you noted, one that is even worse for experienced users. Ahem.

So ... doesn't bother me these questions keep popping up. I think it's just further push to get a better option with the next "ish" of the programs.

Neil

Report · Dec 08, 2014

"Don't know what Bogomoletz is ... hope it's a good local liquor or vino or beer ... !"; alas no my friend; it's a serum invented by Alexander Bogomotelz (Kiev 1881-Kiev 1946) which was supposed to prevent senescence! Today our dear movie stars use "cola-gel" or face lifting until when they squeeze their ....., they smile! lol ! And when they smile too much the whole thing goes to shreds! Have a nice day.

Report · Dec 08, 2014

Oh ... where's Bogo when you need him? And yea, some stars have had so much facelifting done they grimace more than smile!

Neil

Report · Oct 13, 2014

I too have to say the blue is taxing on the eyes. As one person said, I rather like blue AS A COLOR compared to yellow, but for the interface it is headache inducing and not in any way useful. In fact, coupled with the horrendous contrast involved in the keyframing issue, it is bad enough I will not be using the upgrade. I would go as far to say as, if they do not change it back or allow for it to be user-selectable, than I won't be continuing my CC subscription either.

Report · Oct 13, 2014

Unfortunately, I feel the same way... Trying to figure out if I can live with CS6 again. The new version of CC is just not usable. All the features in the world don't make a difference if I can't look at it for any length of time. I think they got inspiration from mobile apps on this one. Mobile apps designed to be pretty and looked at for a short period. We need functionality over creating nice looking screenshots of the application.

On the upside, Encore is still the same .

Report · Oct 13, 2014

I am astonished at the level of animosity a simple color has created.

To the development team at Adobe - I will say that it has been statistically shown that a dissatisfied person is more than 10 time more likely to express that disappointment than a person who is pleased or indifferent is to voice their opinion, and that generally, for every 1 person who complains there potentially dozens of perfectly satisfied people who never make their presence known. The bottom line is that some people are never satisfied, and / or possess an extreme aversion to change. Threatening to dump an essential suite of software over something so trivial is ludicrous beyond words.

I have been using this release extensively since it was issued last week, and have had 0 headaches or difficulties in using the program. In fact, I find the overall cooler temperature of the grays and blues to be rather soothing. Clearly your UI designers and the majority of the QA and other designers within your walls who have tested this feel similarly.

All of this to say, I know that in your line of work, bitching and moaning is about all you ever hear, and when someone has worked hard at something, and they are proud of the results, it can be disheartening and frustrating to face such negativity. So, I just wanted to step up and offer you a little of the opposite. And, as it has been previously suggested, probably the best way to fix this issue for the less-nimble of your user base is probably to offer user-selecteable color options, so people can up with their own layouts that 'work well for them', as no color you choose at this point is going to make everyone happy. So, instead of wasting time chasing the dragon, just turn over the keys.

Overall, good job guys, and don't let the haters bring you down.

Report · Oct 13, 2014

Willie, "thank you" for your unequivocally insulting and patronizing rant, which provided zero benefit to which I would say most would agree was a very civil, if not reasonable, request to Adobe. I would think they would be glad to hear such reasonable feedback.

Also, I don't recall ANYONE EVER complaining about the yellow accents or keyframes. (If you could be so kind as to provide a thread, or any other scintilla of evidence to support this, please do.) So your witless bemoaning of others' clearly PHYSICAL adverse reaction to the color change is instulting and child-like. You show in incredible dearth of understanding or compassion when it comes to real physical ailments. This would LITERALLY prevent me (and apparently many others) from using the software for any great length of time.

I suggest your save your criticisms of critical talk for something more worthy.

Report · Oct 13, 2014

Ahh Timmy... If you're seeing condescension or insults, then that's because it is how you chose to perceive it and is a reflection of your overall negativity as a person. My only goal here was to play the other side of the coin to make certain that the outcry here wasn't the only voice being represented. The event that is me expressing my honest opinion is not the issue. Your response to that event to perceive it as you did led to the outcome of you feeling as you do. Change your response to the event in question if you wish to have a more favorable outcome. For example - if my statement had had to do with me bashing your pink hair, your response would likely be. "I don't have pink hair, this guy doesn't know what he's talking about" Same thing here. If you think I am full of it - great! You're allowed to, but addressing it with negativity is not going to make anything better. If you don't like what I have to say, ignore it and move on. Your life will be better for it.

Report · Oct 13, 2014

Stop the personal attacks.

Any further post containing a personal attack will be deleted.

Report · Oct 13, 2014

Hi, Tod. Is there a way to roll back to the previous version of AE? Is there a link or something? This update really messed my project and the deadline is close. Despite all the unpleasant UI changes I'm getting an error. Internal Verification Failure, Sorry! {unexpected match name searched for in group} (29 :: 0). This project was working fine yesterday before an update. Also when I'm double-click on the footage to reveal it in the footage panel the panel flicker to red color before opening the footage. Does anyone experiencing the same?