Participating Frequently

Answered

Can't click/drag end of layer in timeline

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
June 1, 2021
3 replies
5479 views

Doing the basic tutorial in AE 18.0.0.

Get to the section where I'm supposed to shorten one of the layers by clicking on the right end of the layer and dragging it leftward. Super familiar with this in Premiere Pro.

Using the selection tool (v), I select a layer. Then I hover over the right end of any of that layer and nothing indicates I can effect the bar.

Trying to click on the right end of the bar does nothing. The two-way arrow blinks on and off and disappears. Likewise trying to click/drag the left end of any of the bars.

The comp is 1 frame long. I tried several commands for zooming in and out on the timeline though it's not like premiere where you could zoom out and see the empty end of the timeline.

I also changed the length of the comp to ten frames; no help.

I used the ~ key make the timeline panel fill the screen.

Is this a bug? I'm following the tutorial meticulously.

Thanks in advance.

Doug

User interface or workspaces

This topic has been closed for replies.

Correct answer Ali Jaber

Well, if the duration of your composition is One frame (the first case), then of course you can't make your layers shorter in duration, that's why everything worked fine when you made a second composition that has longer duration

T

Tony Krijnen

Participant

I had the same problem, in the end I found the easiest solution is to put the marker where you want to end that timeline and from Edit hit the Split Layer option (Ctrl + Shift + D). This duplicates the track but now ending where the marker was. Then I deleted the original track.

Another solution is to open the transform and set the opacity so the object is no longer displayed.

R

Rick Gerard

Community Expert

What tutorial are you using? If you are new I would start with the Learn workspace and go through the short UI training by just following the prompts. Then I would advise you to start with the User Guide, available on the After Effects Product page, this forum's landing page, and through the help files.

If you ever have problems with a tutorial please post a link. There are a lot of tutorials on the net that are recipes that enthusiasts have found, copied, or stumbled upon that are poorly explained and some of the workflows are just plain awful so always post a link to the tutorial that is giving you problems.

Doug vanderHoofAuthor

Participating Frequently

Hi Rick,

Kind thanks for the reply.

I did exactly those things. I started with 'Introducing the basics' offered on the AE startup screen. It was that tutorial that had the bug in it, the one frame comp that had the instruction to drag the end of it.

I also read the User Guide carefully. I was surprised that it wasn't more detailed and sorted by very specific tasks.

Both Adobe sources were helpful in some ways but didn't answer my question.

Thanks again. See you around here.

Doug

Doug vanderHoofAuthor

Participating Frequently

More info on the OP:

I created my own project/composition with video footage and there's no problem dragging the end of the bar. It acts the way I expected.

A

Ali Jaber

Correct answer

Community Expert

Well, if the duration of your composition is One frame (the first case), then of course you can't make your layers shorter in duration, that's why everything worked fine when you made a second composition that has longer duration

Doug vanderHoofAuthor

Participating Frequently

Ali_Jaber,

Thanks again.

Now I idly wonder why Adobe's tutorial has a one frame comp.

Oh well...

See you around here,

Doug

Sign up

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Sign in to Adobe Community

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Scanning file for viruses.

This file cannot be downloaded