What to do when Motion Sketch freezes, crashes, or won't open

Motion Sketch is a feature in Adobe After Effects that lets you draw and animate shapes frame by frame. When it stops responding, won't open, or crashes during use, the fix usually involves restarting the application, clearing the cache, or resetting Motion Sketch settings. Most problems resolve within a few minutes using one of the standard troubleshooting steps below.

The steps differ slightly depending on whether you are on Windows or Mac, and whether Motion Sketch is frozen mid-project or failing to launch at all. Start with the simplest fix — closing and reopening After Effects — before moving to more involved solutions.

Key Takeaways

  • Restart After Effects first; most Motion Sketch freezes clear when you close and reopen the application.
  • Clear the After Effects cache folder if Motion Sketch still does not respond after restarting.
  • Reset Motion Sketch preferences by holding Shift while launching After Effects on Mac, or by deleting the preferences file on Windows.
  • Update After Effects to the latest version, because Motion Sketch bugs are often fixed in newer releases.
  • Disable hardware acceleration in After Effects settings if Motion Sketch crashes immediately after you start drawing.

Restart After Effects and your computer

Close After Effects completely — not just the project window, but the entire application. On Windows, use Alt+F4 or click the X button in the top right corner. On Mac, use Command+Q or go to After Effects > Quit After Effects in the menu bar.

Wait 10 seconds, then reopen After Effects and load your project again. Try Motion Sketch once more. If it works, the problem was a temporary glitch and you are done. If it still does not respond, restart your entire computer before moving to the next step. A full restart clears memory and temporary files that may be interfering with the feature.

Clear the After Effects cache

After Effects stores temporary files in a cache folder. If these files become corrupted, Motion Sketch may freeze or behave unpredictably. Clearing the cache is safe — After Effects will rebuild it automatically the next time you use the application.

On Windows, navigate to C:\Users\[Your Username]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Common\Media Cache Files. Delete all files in this folder. On Mac, go to ~/Library/Caches/Adobe/Common/Media Cache Files and delete the contents. You may need to show hidden folders first — on Mac, press Command+Shift+Period while in Finder to reveal hidden files.

After clearing the cache, restart After Effects. Motion Sketch should now work without the corrupted temporary files slowing it down.

Reset Motion Sketch preferences

Motion Sketch settings are stored in the After Effects preferences file. If these settings become corrupted, the feature may crash or refuse to open. Resetting preferences forces After Effects to create a fresh settings file.

On Mac, hold Shift while launching After Effects. A dialog will appear asking if you want to delete preferences. Click Yes. On Windows, locate the preferences file at C:\Users\[Your Username]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\After Effects\[Version Number]\Adobe After Effects Prefs.txt, right-click it, and delete it. Restart After Effects and it will generate a new preferences file with default settings.

Note that resetting preferences will return Motion Sketch settings to their defaults, but your projects and other After Effects settings will remain unchanged.

Update After Effects to the latest version

Adobe regularly releases updates that fix bugs in Motion Sketch and other features. If you are running an older version of After Effects, Motion Sketch problems may have already been solved in a newer release.

Open After Effects and go to Help > Updates (Windows) or After Effects > Check for Updates (Mac). If an update is available, download and install it. Restart After Effects when the installation finishes. Check the Adobe After Effects release notes online to see if your specific Motion Sketch issue was mentioned as fixed in the new version.

Disable hardware acceleration

Hardware acceleration uses your graphics card to speed up After Effects, but it can sometimes cause Motion Sketch to crash immediately when you start drawing. Turning it off forces After Effects to use your CPU instead, which is slower but more stable.

Go to Edit > Preferences (Windows) or After Effects > Preferences (Mac), then select Display from the left menu. Uncheck the box next to Enable Hardware Accelerated Compositing. Click OK and restart After Effects. Try Motion Sketch again — if it no longer crashes, hardware acceleration was the cause. You can leave it off, or try re-enabling it after updating your graphics drivers.

Check your graphics drivers

Motion Sketch relies on your graphics card to render the drawing interface smoothly. Outdated or corrupted graphics drivers can cause crashes, freezing, or lag when you use the feature. Updating your drivers often fixes these problems.

On Windows, right-click the Start button and select Device Manager. Expand Display adapters, right-click your graphics card (usually NVIDIA, AMD, or Intel), and select Update driver. Choose Search automatically for updated driver software. On Mac, graphics drivers update automatically through System Preferences > Software Update, so check there first. After updating, restart your computer and try Motion Sketch again.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does Motion Sketch freeze when I try to draw?

Motion Sketch freezes most often because of corrupted cache files, outdated graphics drivers, or a temporary glitch in After Effects. Start by restarting the application, then clear the cache folder. If freezing continues, update your graphics drivers and check for After Effects updates.

Can I recover my work if Motion Sketch crashes?

After Effects auto-saves your project at regular intervals, so most of your work should be recoverable. When you reopen After Effects, it will offer to recover the last saved version. If Motion Sketch crashes repeatedly on a specific project, try opening an older version of that project file to see if the problem is tied to something in the file itself.

Does resetting preferences delete my projects?

No. Resetting preferences only removes your After Effects settings and returns them to defaults. Your project files, footage, and compositions remain untouched. You may need to reconfigure some preferences like keyboard shortcuts or panel layouts after resetting.

What if Motion Sketch still does not work after trying all these steps?

Uninstall and reinstall After Effects completely. On Windows, go to Control Panel > Programs > Uninstall a Program, find Adobe After Effects, and remove it. On Mac, drag the After Effects application to the Trash. Then download and install the latest version from Adobe's website. A clean installation often resolves persistent problems that other fixes cannot.