As it turns out, there are several different causes that might cause this particular error in After Effects. Here’s a shortlist of potential culprits:
Method 1: Running the After Effects as an administrator
If you’re using an older Windows version (than Windows 10), you might simply be dealing with a permission issue. Several affected users that were seeing the ‘Unspecified Drawing Error‘ on Windows 7 and Windows 8 have reported that they managed to fix this problem by forcing the main After Effects executable to run with administrative privileges. If you’re not sure on how to do this, follow the instructions below to open After Effects with administrative privileges and force the executable to open with admin access every time: In case the same Unspecified Drawing Error is still appearing, move down to the next potential fix below.
Method 2: Renaming the After Effects folder
As it turns out, this error code can also occur in instances where you’re actually dealing with some kind of corruption inside your after Effects folder (located in Documents). If this scenario is applicable, you should be able to fix the problem by renaming the After Effects folder located inside This PC > Documents > Adobe. By renaming the After Effects folder with the ‘.old‘ extension, you’re essentially forcing your OS to disregard that folder and create a new one from scratch the next time you launch the program. This will end up clearing the majority of Unspecified Drawing Error instances originating from a corrupted file located inside the After Effects folder. Here’s a quick guide on renaming the After Effects folder: In case the same problem is still occurring, move down to the next potential fix below.
Method 3: Switching to a standard workspace
A lot of affected users have confirmed that they manage to fix this problem by reverting back to the default workspace. As it turns out, oftentimes, this will only occur in instances where the user is using a custom workspace. This is less than ideal if you got used to a particular workspace that you customized yourself, but it serves as a quick fix if you don’t have the time to troubleshoot properly. If you think this scenario is applicable, follow the instructions below to return back to the standard workspace: In case you’re still encountering the Unspecified drawing error even after reverting back to the default workspace, move down to the next potential fix below.
Method 4: Closing the Audio Panel in After Effects
Some affected users that were also encountering this problem have reported that the ‘Unspecified Drawing Error‘ went away for them after they closed up the Audio Panel while working in After Effects. Of course, this is not ideal since you won’t be able to edit your audio in After Effects, but it might prevent frequent crashes caused by this error. If your willing to try out this quick fix, simply close the Audio panel and continue with your video editing to see if the problem is resolved.
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