With the Color Range keyer selecting colour has stopped working for some footage

[A.I.1]

In AE CC 2017, I have a composition (A) where the footage is from another composition (B) and this composition (A) had 11 colour range keys on it. And they had worked at one point and I had selected the colour to key. Now, when I add a color range key to the composition, pressing the icon to select the colour to key switches to the (eyedropper?) icon but when I place it over the footage to select the colour it changes back to the normal mouse pointer so doesn't select the colour.

The video that's started having a problem is quicktime pro-res - even though colour range key worked okay on it previously (note: I'm using Windows 10).

I've also tried using the footage from composition (B) in a new composition but that does the same thing (just shows mouse cursor over the footage). But if I put a color range effect on a video rendered with quicktime jpeg2000 it works as normal (shows the eye dropper when cursor is placed over the footage).

I've tried loading the pro-res video into a brand new (empty) project and the color range keyer works as normal there (shows the correct icon when placed over the footage).

Is there a quick/simple way of fixing it in AE CC 2017 (there's an issue with the project when you load it into AE CC 2018 too, and that doesn't load a quicktime jpeg2000 compressed file and I doubt it will render to it either) so in the main project the color picker works properly with the pro-res video like it had done when I added the previous color range effects?

Note: I've tried turning hardware acceleration off in "general->display" but that didn't make it work again with the pro-res based comps in the main project.

[A.I.1]

Is there something within the main project that's become corrupted? Would I have to copy everything out of the project into a new project (and is there a good way to do that)? Or would it be better to re-encode the pro-res file as an uncompressed video and replace the video in the project with the uncompressed one (even though that will create a big file (since it's a 4K video) and that will create a file I shouldn't need if the project still worked with pro-res?

edit: I tried replacing the video in the project with a png compressed version of it and the colour picker still doesn' work in that project for that video.

[OussK]

Sure you can collect all media and create a new project with collect files

Go to File/Dependencies/Collect Files

[A.I.1]

Thanks a lot. I collected the files (though not the media) and saved that. Though when I open that project (that was the collected files) I still get the same issue with the eye dropper icon changing to the normal mouse pointer when when I click on the color range key effect and move the mouse over the ProRes mov or a composition derived from it (ie. clicking on the eye dropper icon would change it to the eye dropper but then moving the eye dropper to the composition window to select a colour would change it back to an arrow pointer). Though when I select "new project" and put that mov into it (just that) and add the color range effect, the colour picker (eye dropper icon) works normally with it.

[A.I.1]

Basically the problem project has 1 composition with a lot of masks and mask keyframes (as well as lot of paints on of transparency) and that composition is part of another composition where I've got a lot of keying and a key cleaner (and similar) and refine mask effect.

To resolve this problem with the color key no longer selecting in this project, if it can't be fixed would I be best rendering the first composition to a quicktime png file (100% quality+alpha)? and putting the color keys in a brand new project and doing another render for the client from that new project? Would I lose quality because of the "trillions of colours" in the ProRes source file (which would I assume then be millions of colours in the quicktime png - would that lead to a worse key)?

[Rick Gerard]

Why not render it to Prorez 10 bit with an alpha or some other 10bit format? Even if you are using the companders properly Color Range is only an 8-bit effect so you are not going to get very subtle edges when you use it.

I have not used color range keying for years because there are much better ways to get there. If you are working in higher bit depths you are loosing all of the subtly on the edges that you could get with Keylight. If you have more than one color to key in a shot you can easily apply multiple copies of Keylight. Are you sure you are working in the most efficient way?

[A.I.1]

I can't render in ProRes because I'm on using a PC and I can read ProRes videos but not output to them. I just remembered I have the "Go Pro Cineform" codec so I could output a .mov with that codec with trillians of colours so that might be best, if I output with that with high quality and trillians of colours+alpha, as an intermediate file before applyin the colour keys. Though if I could easily re-create the whole project so it didn't need that step and if it could work after doing that (and collect files didn't get me a working color range key effect for the new project) I'd do that as that should be better.

I did try using keylight before using colour range (I normally would use it if I could for a green screen shot) but for some reason when I used if for this project it didn't give the result I wanted, but I've just tried it again now and it does seem to be giving quite a good key and I might use that multiple times (for the different coloured background) and that does have a colour picker that works (unlike color range for this project). Thanks.

edit: I assume if I want to use keylight multiple times for the different coloured greens etc. it would be best to use a very low screen gain so it just gets the particular colour for each use of keylight - otherwise it changes the greenish to blackish on parts it doesn't key properly.

edit: keylight placed directly on the original ProRes mov file layer worked quite well but placed on the layer that is another comp (eg. a pre-comp? - ie. the composition that is the result of that prores video+all the masks etc.) it doesn't work very well for some reason.

[GAMESTER5F99]

Sir I need your help, while I was editing on my green screen video on After Effects, I simply use the Color Range Tool . Everythimg worked very well, but while I exported that file into Media Encoder, the output showed totally black... And when the full was ready to watch, the full video was just showing black and the audio was running.... I have tried several atempts  but not worked....

Please Help Soon...