After Effects project opens twice in Windows 10

[jeff-7117]

Every time I open a project in After Effects (14.2.1.34) it will open the project, then the project seems to "disappear" as the Project Panel goes blank, and then  it loads the same project file again.  This process will happen with an empty project or a very large project file.  It doesn't matter if the file is local or on a remote drive.  Does anyone at Adobe have any idea as to why this is happening and how to fix it?  It's very frustrating to watch a large project load only to have it load again.

This is on a Windows 10 system with Windows version 1607, OS build 14393.1358

[Szalam]

I was in a conversation with one of the After Effects team members and someone who was having the same kind of issue. The AE team was not able to replicate the issue on their end. If you know anything about software development, it's very hard to fix a bug you can't see!

So, please, provide every last shred of information you can think of to share about your system, when this started happening, if there's any way you have seen it not happen, etc. in a bug report which you can file here: Feature Request/Bug Report Form

[Breakout4u]

Exactly the same problem here. Projects open up, than all of a sudden everything in the workspace dissapears and project opens again. After that everything works fine. I'm on windows 10, plenty of ram, fast i7, everything on ssd's, nvidia gtx 1070.

[P.M.B]

Maybe you have set to open with single click? Here's how you can check

http://www.thewindowsclub.com/how-to-change-double-click-to-single-click-to-open-files-folders-in-wi...

[Breakout4u]

This has nothing to do with single or double clicking files, it happens when you open a project through a dialog.

Mark

[AdamElder]

jeff-7117  Breakout4u

I am very familiar with this issue. Its been haunting me since Winter of 2015 / 2016 across many versions of AE.  It happened to me on auto-saves, regular saves and opening a project.

All of our hardware in the office is identical (PC), yet my machine was the only one that had this issue. Because of this, and the fact that its working now on a fresh install (more on that later), I suspect its related to third party software. Whether its due to an old script, plugin, or perhaps even a driver / application that has nothing to do with Adobe is an unknown.

For me, this seemed to only happen if and when the project file and associated media (I think only the project file matters) were stored on our NAS. Because all other machines work fine in this scenario and I've already gone down that rabbit hole with support, its safe to say make, model, OS, etc of the NAS has nothing to do with it - so no point in starting that theory up again. That said, do declare if your project is on a NAS or not for the Adobe devs to make note of any clues that could come from your answer.

Recently, I did a Windows reset - to start fresh, without re-installing all of my software and plugins en-masse and the issue has thus far seemed to no longer appear. I will be installing scripts, plugins, and even software unrelated to adobe on an as-needed basis to help determine what may be causing it, but doing a fresh reset of your OS may help if its driving you absolutely mad. Periodically resetting your OS install periodically is a good practice to get into anyway.

[Breakout4u]

Hi Adam,

as far as I know all assets I use are on local drives (ssd's)...

Mark

[mcebrian71]

This also happens to me. A solid issue with every single project since the upgrade to 14.2. I am on a Dell PC with Windows 10.

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi jeff-7117,

Are you still facing this problem? If not, let us know how you solved it. If so, please let us know so we can assist you further. You can also file a bug here to let the team know.

Thanks,

Kevin

[mcebrian71]

Yes, the problem is a solid issue. Every project opens twice.

Thank you,

M. Cebrian

[AdamElder]

Curious - Do you by chance have Extensis Suitcase Fusion installed? Someone reported that uninstalling it made the problem go away.

[mcebrian71]

Yes, I am compelled by our IT department to have Extensis Suitcase installed. I also get a re-occurring error about duplicate fonts in the database. Sadly, the information on the AE forum about how to reset a font database has not been updated. It’s is a Windows 8 instruction. At least, I cannot find it when referring to Windows 10 folder structures.

Thank you,

M. Cebrian

[AdamElder]

I had extensis installed prior to my update. Removing the AE plugin alone did not remedy this problem for me (but solved others), but since wiping my computer and not re-installing extensis, the issue has not returned.

It seems to me extensis is causing a major conflict with AE. I'd ask IT to uninstall it, or get in touch with Extensis support. Extensis support weren't too helpful when I tried explaining the issue and only got copy+paste template responses, but more voices on the matter can't hurt.

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi MCebrian,

We have an issue (that sounds like yours) scheduled for a fix in the upcoming release. Sorry for the current problem.

Thanks,
Kevin

[mcebrian71]

Kevin, than you for the update. I look forward to the future fix. -- Should the top status now be "answered" at the top of the thread?

M. Cebrian

[Kevin-Monahan · Accepted solution]

Hi AdamElder,

We do have an issue filed that is slated for a fix in the upcoming version. Hopefully, you won't have to suffer from this issue much longer. Sorry for this.

Thanks,

Kevin

[AdamElder]

Thanks for the news. Because I have been trying to test so many things to get to the root of this and reproduce the cause with no success, can you please elaborate on what the issue was?

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi AdamElder,

can you please elaborate on what the issue was?

Basically, there were some internal requests from the software developer that we plan to fulfill. This should provide fewer unexpected behaviors like the one mentioned in this thread.

Make sure to file bugs from your perspective so we can test the specific issue mentioned in the thread.

Thanks,
Kevin

[ericlassen]

Just chiming in I am on Mac OS and Window 10. I am have the same problem on both of my macs and my windows machine.

I have a late 2013 iMac and a late 2013 MacBook Pro.

When I work from my laptop where all of the media is on the same boot drive, I have this annoying behavior where my project loads twice. I once reinstalled my OS on my iMac and that fixed it for a while but it has come back and is annoying.

Latest Mac OS

[jeff-7117]

Still dealing with this issue, AE version 14.2.1.34, Windows 10 V 1607, 14393.1593

[Szalam]

Do you have Suitcase Fusion?

[jeff-7117]

Yes.

[Szalam]

Use its plugin manager to remove the After Effects plugin and things should start working fine. If not, check this: Project closes and reopens itself in After Effects CC

[matthew_dotco]

so - if i went back to work on CC 2015.3 (13.8.1) would i still get the same issues with extensis?

I've had all the hassles with cc 2017.2 mentioned above and have to use Extensis universal type client at work.

[AdamElder]

I would believe the issues would remain. It seems its something that Extensis needs to fix.

If its of any help, you should be able to just disable the After Effects controller from within the extensis settings. Which means you wont have the auto-loading magic, but can still manually enable fonts from the primary suitcase application.