unbalanced unlock ( 7 :: 40 )

[R.Silva]

Hi:

I just got an error that displays and doesn't want to go away even after I click the only OK button in the dialog box.

The error as cryptic as this is, is:

"After Effects error : unbalanced unlock. ( 7 :: 40 )

Does anybody know how to get rid of this and why did it show up in the first place?

Using Mac OSX El Capitan with the latest AECC2015 update (13.6.1.6)

Thanks.

[Mylenium]

What exactly did you do before the error came up? Looks like it's related to the caching system similar to the "unbalanced layer checkout" errors...

Mylenium

[R.Silva]

I was playing with an effect applied on the layer I had in the timeline (I believe it was "Set Matte"), I turned off the viewing icon in the layer in the timeline and continued adjusting the effect to see the results of the tracking Matte being set on the bottom layer. That's when the warning sign came up and never went away until I forced quit the application.

The main problem is why this warning comes up when I tweaked the effect on the layer with the viewing icon turned off, but most important why the cryptic warning text?

Is there a human understandable version of the meaning of this warning?

Thanks.

[Mylenium]

Those errors are mostly meaningless without the context of the scenario to reproduce them, hence my asking for more information. The Set Matte effect was busted in one of the recent CC versions, so maybe it's still not fully fixed. Try the Set Channels or Channel Combiner effects instead.

Mylenium

[R.Silva]

Thanks for the answer Mylenium.

I agree with you that those errors are meaningless, and they are very annoying since they do nothing for the user to avoid the cause of the problem.

I did restart the application and the plugin seems to be working as expected, however I am afraid to turn the layer off and tweak its parameters, but if I need to do that, I'd probably do a save of the project, just in case.

Thanks again.

[fionnaw]

I got the same thing.  I was fading out a title and this popped up. When I clicked OK I lost my fade out. Does any know why?

Thanks!

[Szalam]

What is the exact version number of AE you're using?

What OS number are you using?

[Motiongrapher-KMRkQT]

I'm getting the same error. I was drawing a few masks using the STROKE native effect in after effects (latest version 13.7.0.124).

A handful number of AE bugs are around and the updates are far behind fixing them (if not adding more bugs to the list). I never had this much frustration since 2009!

Dear adobe developers, things should get faster, smoother and better not buggy and worse!  

[juanj74768158]

Im Having the same problem, I was creating a new solid layer, after creating i hid the layer so that i can do some masking on the original..and as soon as i started masking my first line the error popped up! Any new leads???

Thans

[shiznit1994]

Just had this happen to me, Started a new project. 3 frames in to the work... Was making a Mask.

You have all my computer data from other posts lol. CC15, up to date, windows 10. had just cleaned the cache since I was starting a new project. I have to force quit the program..

[kriscave · Accepted solution]

Hey Everyone,

Just ran into the same thing. I ended up getting rid of it by purging my memory and cache (Edit > Purge > All Memory & Disk Cache...).

Heads up, I had to be crafty and hit Enter to clear the error then immediately click Edit before the error popped up again.

Hope this helps!

[jimlefevre]

Eeek! Same here - I'd actually rendered a few things (so therefore it wasn't initiated by doing something active within a project) and had been off in Photoshop for a bit and came back to this error. Clicking OK it just popped up again and that was an unending loop until, like Kris, I managed to get a crafty momentary window of a second or two to save and quit.

Hmmm...

Interestingly, as part of trying to find a solution (or even definition) to this error I stumbled upon this which is really interesting in a massively geeky way (couldn't find 7 :: 40 there just yet!)

http://myleniumerrors.com/

[Link removed - site has now become spam - it used to be a user-created AE error repository - moderator]

[mcidesign]

THAT LINK IS SPAM

DONT CLICK ON IT

[Szalam]

Looks like a moderator has taken care of the issue.

[Guest]

Yes thank you! Your trick spared me force quitting the app and losing my work.. pheew

[jamesd29825633]

This happened to me today as well. I will try the Cache thing now - however I discovered if you just press esc the dialogue box goes away and you can save.

[SurajitS]

Thanks! It is working!

[ZillianGrey]

This error popped up for me when I accidentally hit caps lock while in Premiere but After Effects was open in the background. So when I went back into After Effects, this error was now prevalent and refusing to go away. krismortensen's trick worked for me. Thank you! I think R. Silva should try this trick or the one from jamesd29825633 so this question can be marked as ANSWERED.

[madhurih67100928]

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you sooooo much!

[jibletgreyv]

Thanks!! I was doing some masking and ran into this error.. I tried your crafty workaround and it fixed my issue.

[GiulioMoura]

Thanks mate! Saved my ass like a hero!

[robertl95356010]

Thanks man! You saved me about half an hour of rotoscoping

[timc40657118]

saved my life

[lollozip]

thanks a lot!

[zorros16533955]

Dear genius, you saved my life. love you!!!