After Effects errors that are not Prism bugs
These are After Effects' own messages, passed through as runtime with the prefix "After Effects error:". Prism adds nothing to them. Match your message to the English text here; each entry says what it means so a translated message can be matched too. Every error here shows in your AI client.
Translated messages
A Spanish or French After Effects returns the same errors in its own language: "null no es un objeto" and "After Effects (erreur) : Rendu de couleur impossible : aucun contour pour le texte." have both been seen. Match on what survives translation: the method name in quotes, the parameter number, the match name, the element count.
Keyframes and easing
Property has keyframes
You see: "Can not call setValue() on a property with keyframes. Use setValueAtTime() or setValueAtKey() instead."
Meaning. After Effects error: Can not call setValue() on a property with keyframes. Use setValueAtTime() or setValueAtKey() instead.
Fix. Set the value at a time or at a key, or remove the keyframes first.
Ease array size wrong
You see: "Unable to call "setTemporalEaseAtKey" because of parameter 2. Value array does not have 3 elements." (or "1 elements"
Meaning. After Effects error: Unable to call "setTemporalEaseAtKey" because of parameter 2. Value array does not have 3 elements.
Fix. Pass one ease per dimension, or use prism.easeKeys.
| Property | Values | Ease array length |
|---|---|---|
| Opacity | 1 | 1 |
| Position (spatial) | 2 or 3 | 1 |
| Scale | 2 or 3 | 3 |
| Camera Point of Interest | 3 | 1 |
Value out of range
You see: "Unable to call "setValue" because of parameter 1. Value 0 out of range 1 to 2." (or "Value 10 out of range 0 to 1.", "Value is not an array."
Meaning. After Effects error: Unable to call "setValue" because of parameter 1. Value 0 out of range 1 to 2.
Fix. Use a value inside the range the message gives, in the right shape.
No maximum value
You see: "This property has no maximum value."
Meaning. After Effects error: This property has no maximum value.
Fix. Do not read the maximum; set the value directly.
Properties
Property hidden
You see: "Can not "set value at time" with this property, because the property or a parent property is hidden." (or "Can not "set value"…hidden."
Meaning. After Effects error: Can not "set value at time" with this property, because the property or a parent property is hidden.
Fix. Enable the parent option first, for example switch the layer to 3D.
Property has no value
You see: "Can not get or set a value from this property (matchname is "ADBE Ramp-0008"). This property's propertyValueType is PropertyValueType.NO_VALUE."
Meaning. After Effects error: Can not get or set a value from this property (matchname is "ADBE Ramp-0008"). This property's propertyValueType is PropertyValueType.NO_VALUE.
Fix. Skip that property; it is a group or a button, not a value.
Match names are not the names you see
What it means. The internal identifier often differs from the label in the timeline, and some have changed across versions.
| What you want | Match name |
|---|---|
| Text properties | ADBE Text Properties, not ADBE Text |
| Shape layer contents | ADBE Vector Items Group |
| Effects on a layer | ADBE Effect Parade |
| Camera Point of Interest | under the camera's own transform group, not the layer's |
ADBE Fast Blur Group cannot be added on modern After Effects versions; use Gaussian Blur. ADBE Point of Interest returns null when looked up under a plain ADBE Transform Group.
Text
Box text only
You see: "Text document not of Box document type."
Meaning. After Effects error: Text document not of Box document type.
Fix. Convert the layer to paragraph text, or skip the box settings.
Text stroke
What it means. Two separate behaviours of After Effects. Reading strokeColor throws when applyStroke is false, which a French install reports as "Rendu de couleur impossible : aucun contour pour le texte." And After Effects 2026 applies a default stroke to new text, which eats into the glyphs and leaves letters thin or hollow on dark comps.
Do this. Check applyStroke before reading any stroke property. On After Effects 2026 ask for text with no stroke; Prism's text tools already turn it off.
Fonts are PostScript names
What it means. After Effects matches fonts by PostScript name, which has no spaces. A display name resolves to the wrong weight or silently falls back.
| Font menu | Use |
|---|---|
| Helvetica Neue Bold | HelveticaNeue-Bold |
| Arial Black | Arial-Black |
Layers
Layer locked
You see: "Can not set attribute "comment" on Layer "…" because the Layer is locked."
Meaning. After Effects error: Can not set attribute "comment" on the Layer because the Layer is locked.
Fix. Unlock the layer, then run it again.
Layer copy blocked
You see: "Can't copy a layer with a parent or with a linked expression, while an Undo Group is open."
Meaning. After Effects error: Can't copy a layer with a parent or with a linked expression, while an Undo Group is open.
Fix. Unparent the layer or remove the expression, copy it, then restore them.
Layer moved onto itself
You see: "Can not move a layer before or after itself."
Meaning. After Effects error: Can not move a layer before or after itself.
Fix. Choose a different layer to move it before or after.
Parenting moves the child
What it means. Assigning layer.parent compensates for the parent's transform at the current comp time. If the parent already has keyframes, the child can jump; the same applies to null objects created away from the origin. prism.parent refuses an animated parent with "parent: "…" is ANIMATED — … Parenting preserves the transform only at the instant you attach".
Do this. Set parent while the parent transform is at its default, zero or bake the parent's transform first, pass {allowAnimated:true} when the jump is intended, or use prism.parentRaw, which skips the compensation.
Matte source disappears
What it means. After Effects turns off the matte layer's video when it becomes a track matte, so the source seems to vanish. Prism's curated tools re-enable it; a hand-written script must.
Do this. Re-enable the matte layer after setTrackMatte.
Footage and renders
Time Remap keys disappear on fresh footage
What it means. Adding a footage layer and immediately enabling time remapping can silently lose the keys. Do this.
layer.property("ADBE Time Remap")is always null: enable and key throughlayer.timeRemap.- Do not probe a freshly imported item's
widthordurationin the same call. Import, then re-find the item by id in a new call.
An overwritten mp4 stays 0×0
What it means. Overwriting an imported mp4 on disk can leave After Effects' footage item at 0×0 with hasVideo:false, even after mainSource.reload() or replace() with the same file.
Do this. Write the new render to a new filename and replace() the item with that file.
Motion blur unsupported
You see: "Motion blur is not supported by the current composition renderer."
Meaning. After Effects error: Motion blur is not supported by the current composition renderer.
Fix. Change the composition's 3D renderer, then enable motion blur.
Long renders time out
What it means. Each rendered frame takes about a second, and After Effects 2026 writes the PNG in the background, so a long loop overruns the call window.
Do this. Chunk renders to about 20 frames per call, pass timeout (up to 120000), and collect late results with after_effects({events:true}). prism.renderFrames waits for the background write and verifies each frame.
Do not re-run a timed-out render.
Thumbnail comes back transparent
What it means. render-comp-thumbnail with opaqueBackground returns a transparent image plus a warning. This is a tool limitation.
Do this. Accept the transparent result, or place a solid at the bottom of the comp.
While a script runs
After Effects can quit while a script runs
What it means. Scrubbing the timeline while a scripted operation is in flight can crash After Effects outright. Prism cannot prevent it. Do this. Let a request finish before scrubbing or editing manually.
Undo group in script
You see: "Undo group mismatch, will attempt to fix"
Meaning. The script opens its own undo group. Prism already wraps every run in one. Nothing ran.
Fix. Remove app.beginUndoGroup and app.endUndoGroup; name the group with the undoGroup argument.
Some operations are intermittent
What it means. A few operations do not apply cleanly on the first attempt, independently of Prism. Layer styles are the known case and return intermittent:true.
Do this. Re-run the same request, up to three times. If it succeeds on a retry, that is the known behaviour rather than a configuration problem.
Common questions
If a message here does not match, email support@oneprism.io with the panel version (footer, "After Effects MCP v…") and the Copy diagnostic from the panel's Support section. On panel 1.5.1 the Support section may be empty; the version plus the error text is enough.
Related
Tools
Fixes for After Effects MCP tool errors: comp-not-found, "does not accept the argument(s)", "needs an active composition", scene-validation, svg-parse and fetch.
Prism AI
Prism AI refusals in After Effects: ai-balance-exhausted, ai-tool-disabled, Open or create a composition first, keywords over 50 characters, and what is charged.