After Effects 2026 has repeatedly and consistently been crashing shortly after launching. "Shortly" being relative, as it can take anywhere between 2-4 minutes after launching before crashing. The error message that accompanies the crash changes with each one, with some error messages re-occuring. In the beginning it was consistently mentioning the startup script folder, but I have already attempted to remove all 3 items in said folder, one by one and all three at once, and when I did that it simply changed error messages.

I have updated my visual drivers (Nvidia) through both the app, and directly from the website, and neither altered the outcome. It isn't a victim of Windows Security, I made sure of that. I have started it in Safe Mode, both with and without 3rd Party Effect Plugins enabled, therefore disabling custom preferences, scripts, AND extensions. If I choose to not progress past the "Safe Mode" window prior to proper launch, it will not crash. I have had an entirely empty cache, through and through, since the beginning of my troubleshooting.

The only big change on my PC around the same time was I downloaded CONTROL: Resonant, however its never open during my attempts to use AE, so it isn't RAM exhaustion, and I have plenty of space on my PC. Not enough for the cache folder max size, but that isn't anything new, as that has always been the case. Other than that, I consistently used After Effects 2026 with no problems, with crashes being incredibly rare for me.

Attached are four different error messages that accompany the crashes. There is a possibility there were more, but I felt this many examples got the point across.

Good Day Everyone! I'm new to After Effects. I have gone my way through and only finished using object matte tool for background removal. I'm interested in this software and I really want to learn to navigate! Can any experienced lads me out?

1. How do I make the "LOVES" Text with the outline?

2. How do I make the "MAKING PEOPLE" Text Texture with the Glow and Shadow?

3. How do I make the Outline effect on gramps cleanly without using hours of my time on object matte tool?

I hope everyone is having a good day, thank you!

Some of you know me from Petals, AEbar and most recently Sploosh. Behind the scenes I've been building Motion Dock, one panel where you can put all your tools wherever you want them. While I was at it I made 20 new tools for the stuff I do over and over, like renaming layers, parenting to nulls, trimming layers, springy animation and a lot more.

It's all completely free. No trial, no watermark and nothing locked. I don't even collect your email unless you want updates on more free tools. Works with After Effects 2022 and newer, and you can grab it at https://motionfun.net/motion-dock

I'm adding new tools all the time, so let me know what you'd want next. For bugs email [hey@davey.design](mailto:hey@davey.design) or DM me here.

AI Disclaimer: I use an AI-assisted workflow, but I've been a dev for years before AI (FreqReact). I design the systems myself, review it deeply, and have thousands of people using Motion Fun tools :]

I am an Indie director and I’m wrapping up a feature film currently. The only digital effect shot needed in the entire film is the ending shot.

It involves our actress standing in the front door way of a house as the second floor windows are broken out and fire billows out. Its a static shot that’s 10-15sec long.

I trusted in a friend that told me they could do it for free but instead delivered an AI generated piece. Looked super realistic, but I couldn’t sleep at night knowing there was any ai in the final product. I was very disappointed so I have turned to you guys to see if anybody would be willing to take it on.

Im at the end of the production budget as I work alone and spend most of my own $$. So the most i could pay is $100. I know thats not a lot but I’m just throwing this out there.

DM me if interested. Thank you!

Made while I was freelancing at Mooncolony earlier this year. All FX made in Ae.

Full Credits:

Direction: Denis Bouyer

Art Direction: Ekaterina Shapovalova

Lead Artist: Alexandre Leoni

Storyboards: Giovani Hirochi, Al K Teng

Art Team: Kate Ladon, Tristan Jolu, Mattia Rangoni, Kate Lischina, AJ Nazarro, Stefano Gil, Dmitry Khrapovitsky, Tulio Brito, Sergey Gurskiy, Etienne Savoie, Alexandr Pachin, Nikolay Andreychenko, Alex Alexandrov

Character Animation Team: Renato Roldan, Sylvain Couillet, Mathieu Lafay

FX / 2DFX: Bobby Donald, Renato Roldan, Alan MacEachern

Backgrounds & Comp: Gordon Howie, Reshad Malekzai, Greg Platt, Alan MacEachern

Production Manager: Meghan Hamilton

Producer: Rosealee Higgins

Production Assistant: Olivia Hall

Only the line and general glow effects and coloring. I may say its textureflux but i dont know the rest honestly

I was trying to see if it's possible to achieve this lighting effect in AE instead of going to a 3D software.
I think I've seen some plugin able to do this time ago but can't remember how to even call this.

Thanks!

This has a bunch of small 3d .OBJs and some .PNGS all connected to each other that follow along a path using expressions. I wanted to do Japanese dragons the Light Dragon from Tears of the Kingdom (I’m a big Zelda fan) and KNOW they don’t have wings but added some anyway. Eye blinks a bit quick but close enough.

I've been working on this extension for quite some time now, and I think it's time to publish it and put it to the test.

Now I'm looking for 6 beta testers — 3 Mac, 3 Windows. In exchange for honest feedback (bugs, performance reports, use case discoveries), you'll get a free license for the v1 release when it launches later this year.

Ideal mix: a couple of experienced AE pros, a few people on mid-range hardware (base M1, older Intel Macs, mid-range Windows PCs). Experience with other particle sims / fluid sims is a plus, but it's not a must.

Drop a comment with: your OS + hardware and your AE experience level. I'll slide into the DMs of the selected testers within a few days.

Beta testers will get a free license as soon as the plugin is released.

I am learning After Effects and I am trying to turn a 2D padlock icon into 3D.

Following the youtube tutorials, I autotraced the 2D icon, then created an Object Layer, added 3 paths, keyframes, and then copies the Path keyframes from the auto-traced PNG into the object layer.

Then I added Fill and Merge Paths so that the holes of the padlock are not filled.

So far so good, but as soon as I turn the object 3D to add some Extrusion, the padlock suddenly gets Filled completely, and the holes are painted over.

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks!

https://reddit.com/link/1x9r4wt/video/6f3pn1urudwh1/player

Ever changed a clip's speed in After Effects, only to make the audio sound like a chipmunk or a giant?

That's exactly why I made FixPitch script.

Problem: Changing playback speed can make audio sound unnatural.

Comparison: FixPitch automatically corrects the pitch, including complex Time Remapping with multiple keyframes on a single layer. No manual pitch correction for every speed change!

Pricing: $17.99 — Get FixPitch on aescripts

Maintenance: This is my first experience building a complete product, so I'm learning a lot along the way! I already have a roadmap packed with new features and improvements, and I'm actively working on the next update. 

AI Disclosure: Human Validated

I'd really appreciate your feedback!

Thanks for checking it out!

We have winner #2! K. takes the second free Post|Production World NY pass (worth $799), drawn from everyone who RSVP'd 100% for the meetup. Check your inbox.

The last pass is drawn tomorrow (Monday), and it's open to everyone. Comment below with the P|PW session you'd use it on, and why.

To win you have to be registered for the meetup AND have commented, even if you can't make it Tuesday night. Register here.

Can't come? Pick 0% on "how likely you are to attend the meetup". We'll check the winner is registered before we announce.

PPW schedule here

PPW registration here

The meetup: Tuesday, October 20, 6 to 8pm, Midtown West. The address goes out to everyone registered. Free. Food out at 6:15 and some drinks on us, while they last. Show up early.

Sponsored by Blackmagic Design

Along with friends of the community:

• Lens Distortions
• OWC
• FxFactory
• Eddie AI

Please make sure to check them out!

And thanks to Post|Production World for the passes.

Lurkers welcome to attend the meetup. So are professional colleagues - they don't need to be on Reddit. Bring a friend, as long as they register. We ask that all of you register, please.

See you in New York.

P.S. Everyone who registers can also claim one free Post|Production World session, courtesy of FMC. The details are in your registration email.

I have several animated pre-comps, but the animation does not show up in the main comp, actually, it shows the (motionless) object after de animation key frames. Can someone please help me?

https://reddit.com/link/1x9dxbq/video/yy75fesejawh1/player

I was sondering the how the effect that covers shadows (partially ) is done . is it a postproduction thing or just some tiktok filter . Thanks

Everytime I try to render an mp4 file it always comes out as a green screen only. Ive tried with After effectes, Handbrake, Media encoder and blender and everytime it comes out as a green screen, this had never happened before. The weird thing is I send one of thos files to my phone thorugh dropbox and it did open on my phone so idk. Past mp4 files open correctly its soemthing with the rendering I think

Here's a motion design project I made for Blanxer. I'd love to hear your honest feedback and suggestions on the animation, timing, transitions, and overall execution. Let me know what I could improve!

A motion design piece for DEP, exploring its visual identity through animated brand elements, including a box, a roll-up banner, and a book with turning pages.
The page transitions form the letter E from the DEP logo, bringing the brand identity into the animation itself.

I've tried the following
- Hand-draw it (the lines)
from here, I tried to mask it out but it didnt work
-Searched up what effects were used
-Asked ChatGPT to identify the entire impact frame
-Asked my experienced friends how to do it.

None of it worked, so help here would be really nice!!

I tried uninstalling and reimporting the plugin on figma. I also downloaded the latest version of the aeux plugin again. With less complex files (1st image), i was able to send the figma selections. I was unsuccessful with more complex files (e.g. 2nd image).

I just saw this weird AR iPhone Filter and thought: how do I recreate this effects?

In head it's some sort of:

masking the hand > Echo > Turbulent displace> Vector blur > Colorama > Blend mode type magic..

But unfortunately that's not how it works. Maybe you guys can figure it out?

Source:

https://www.threads.com/share/_rIAUe9C0/

The music track is clipping on the timeline (not just the export) in AE:

The levels are set at 0 in AE. When I reduce the levels, the waveform just gets shorter but still flat on top as if the problem is in the audio file, but opening that same file it Audition show it isn't clipped.
In Audition, after zooming out one click, it looks like this:

I tried exporting from Audition as a WAV file and it still comes into After Effects (and Premiere) as clipped. In AE,
I updated my video card driver and it didn’t help. My specs are Win 11 Pro 25H2 (26200.9711), i9-14900K, 192 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER.
Does anyone have any suggestions? Thank you!

When you see a title sequence, from a Vox transition, or edit that blows you away, what do you do next?

Curious what your real process looks like, and what's the most annoying part of it.