After Effects Expression Errors

[Tim Millaway]

Hello -  I am using After Effects version CS6

I am getting an error "After Effects warning: Unterminated string constant Expression disabled" each time I pick-whip one property to another. Like in the case of these two nulls created for "tracking" project when I pick-whip null's rotation on one null to another null's rotation. See image below:

The expression is

thisComp.layer("

Target").transform.rotation

Any help is much appreciated!!

Tim

[Szalam]

Remove that extra line break.

[Tim Millaway]

Szalam,

Thank you for response. I removed the line break. Now there is a different error saying "Bad argument: couldn't find layer named 'Target' Expression disabled. Clearly you can see there is a layer named 'Target' which is the layer I pick-whipped the Z rotation to. I've attached a screen capture.  I appreciate any insight you might have!! Thank you!!!

[Szalam · Accepted solution]

Are you running MacOS Sierra? There is a bug on Sierra that affects all versions of AE except for CC 2017.

If so, you likely have a hidden line break in your layer name. Rename that layer to Target WITHOUT the line break and see if that works.

Details on how to deal with the layer break issue introduced by Sierra are mentioned here.

[Tim Millaway]

Szalam,

Yes I am running MacOS Sierra.  I did rename the Target layer and the expression did work. Thank you!!!

I was wondering if there was a bug because this is not the first expression error.  I would have never guessed it was the naming of the layer that caused the issue. I hope Adobe addresses this issue. I am grateful to you, thanks again!!!

Tim

[Szalam]

Tim Millaway wrote:

Yes I am running MacOS Sierra. I did rename the Target layer and the expression did work. Thank you!!!

Hooray!

Now you know what to look out for. Don't forget to mark the post with the "correct" answer so that future forum-goers can find the answer more quickly.

Tim Millaway wrote:

I was wondering if there was a bug because this is not the first expression error. I would have never guessed it was the naming of the layer that caused the issue. I hope Adobe addresses this issue. I am grateful to you, thanks again!!!

Adobe has addressed the issue. It is fixed in the CC 2017 release of After Effects.

They are not likely to go back to old versions to make them compatible with new operating systems. I would highly recommend that you not update to any newer operating systems if you plan to keep using CS6 (until you've heard from others that AE would work on it and are willing to risk it - although, I would still recommend backing things up so you can go back to an older OS in case you run into problems on your particular setup).

With each new Mac OS, there are new little bugs in old versions of AE. If you want to use old software, you are probably better off to also use old hardware and old operating systems.

[gregl99036888]

I am having the exact same issue and updating to AE 2017 has not resolved it for me unfortunately. First the unterminated string error, then it tells me that the layer can't be found. I have tried renaming the layer, checking that the names all match but no luck. I then tried updating to AE 2017. No luck. The error appears on several compositions I am working on and I have tried to fix it on more than one. The funny thing is that it has worked for me before! It just decided to stop working all of a sudden. If I can't fix it, I will need to learn a new way of using tracking data with the clone stamp and source. Running macOS Sierra 10.12.1 and AE 2017 on a 2013 MBP 15 2.3GHZ i7.

Details in this post:

Using expression to apply and offset tracking data to clone stamp gives error?

[Roei Tzoref]

If I can't fix it, I will need to learn a new way of using tracking data with the clone stamp and source.

try this and tell me if it works for you:

Re: Tracking Clone Stamp RELATIVE to Motion Tracking Position

[Szalam]

And I responded to your other thread.