Transform Effects Not Responding for Certain Clips.

[The Mavo]

I took one of my existing After Effects project files and am modifying it to create a different cut.

But now, for some reason, I’m unable to change the values in some of the layers in the timeline. All the impacted layers happen to be of video footage. And the “stuck” values are all in the Transform section of those layers.

After Effects turns the values red and prevents me from modifying them. I can add keyframes, but AE will not keep the numbers I try to type into the timeline in those red sections. I've attached a screenshot which shows that the values have turned red.

What is happening and how can I resolve it to regain control of the layer values?

[Rick Gerard · Accepted solution]

When any property in the timeline has a red value, that property is controlled by an expression. Unless the expression has a value + in it somewhere, the property is controlled entirely by the expression. It cannot be changed unless you change the thing (property) that is controlling the original property. 

If you disable the expression, the animation will probably go away, and the project will be broken. 

Pressing the 'e' key twice or spinning down the expression twirly in the timeline will show you the expression. That should give you some clue about how it all works. 

[The Mavo]

Thanks for your reply, Rick. I selected one of the “stuck” layers and double-tapped the E key. Then I simply deleted all the text that accompanied each expression. That seems to have resolved the issue. I can modify the different values and traits normally again.

Oddly, I don’t recall creating any expressions for this particular project. But, it was originally made quite a while ago, so who knows...