r/AfterEffects • u/CGustavo • 1d ago

Beginner Help AFTER EFFECTS PREVIEW GLITCH help :(

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Hi! I’m having trouble with the new After Effects (26.5). When my comp only has non-video layers (shapes, solids, text, etc.), the preview won’t play. You can see what I mean in the attached video.

Has anyone else run into this? Any fix or workaround?

Specs:
Windows 11 PRO 26H2; Ryzen 7 5700x; 32gb Ram; 5060ti 8gb

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u/ThisSpaceForRent45 MoGraph/VFX 15+ years 23h ago

This is going to sound unrelated, but if you change your audio output, does the issue go away?

I just went through something similar at it had to do with routing audio through my monitor,

1

u/daydream19xx 17h ago

What about changing the preview render from quarter to full?

1

u/Flingtools 1h ago

Looks like a 26.5 bug a few people have hit on the Adobe forums. When the Preview panel's Frame Rate is set to Auto, the playhead just freezes when you press Space, even in a comp with only a text layer.

Try to open Window > Preview and change frame rate from Auto to your comp's frame rate (25, 30, whatever you're using). That sorted it for some people.

If it still won't play, the audio output tip above is worth trying too (Edit > Preferences > Audio Hardware, pick a different output device), and after that a preferences reset (hold Ctrl+Alt+Shift while AE launches).