In After Effects when I use the Color Finesse 3, A grid appears in the display window. How do I turn that off?

Question

When I click on Affects, then Synthetic Aperture, then SA Color Finesse 3 in the Creative Cloud a grid appears over the video in the display window, and I am un sure how to take that off?

Answer 1

Color Finesse 3 LE is included with After Effects and is installed automatically when After Effects is installed. The only reason to upgrade to the paid version is if you want to use Color Finesse in Premiere Pro as well as in After Effects.
Since it's a college computer, do you have the ability to install/uninstall software? Many colleges lock down the computers to limit such access. You'll need full access, including an admin password, to use the following steps. If you're not allowed the necessary access, you can pass the following along to whoever does computer administration.
To remove the trial version, delete the entire "Synthetic Aperture" folder found in:
/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Common/Plug-ins/7.0/MediaCore
(Note that this is the Library folder at the base of your boot drive, not the one in your home folder.)
Next, re-enable the bundled version of Color Finesse by going to the following folder:
/Applications/Adobe/Adobe After Effects CC/Support Files/Plug-ins/Effects/Synthetic Aperture
Now, within that "Synthetic Aperture" folder you'll find a plug-in with parentheses around the name:
(SA Color Finesse 3 AE64)
Remove the parentheses from the filename so AE will see it. Do NOT remove the parentheses from the "(CF3 Support)" folder or AE will launch very, very slowly, and Color Finesse won't work right.
Finally, within the "(CF3 Support)" folder, locate the "(SA Color Finesse 3 UI)" application and remove the parentheses.
Launch AE, apply Color Finesse to a layer, enter a name, and you should be good to go with no grid lines.
Bob Currier
Synthetic Aperture