I have a logo which is text that's a photoshop file with a transparent background which of course AE treats as a matte. perfect. now I want to take the fill in the letters (it's a bunch of color blocks) and have them grow inside the text. In an AVID I would just separate out the fill and do a move on it. How do I accomplish this in AE?
thanks
I've searched the forum and only found discussions of this from over a year ago, so either I'm a loner or this is rearing its ugly head again.
I've got a project that I've been working on between two machines, both running AE 11.0.2.11 with the same plug-ins. One is a macbook pro, one is a macpro. Both are running 10.6.8 (I believe that's snow leopard). I've been saving the project files and assets to the dropbox folder on my machines so that everything is always in sync between them. ***It's been working flawlessly for months.*** I haven't updated anything recently, other than installing Adobe Acrobat on the desktop machine a few days ago.
This morning on my desktop machine, I couldn't get the project to open without getting the "unexpected data type" error. Holding down shift did nothing. I instinctively started a new project and imported the .aep I was trying to open. No errors! Then I tried to change work spaces and the error came up again. I hit caps lock and tried again. No go. At one point the workspace drop-down had bullets next to *two* of the workspaces, as if they were both active simultaneously.
My workaround for the moment was to go to my dropbox on the website and revert to a previously saved version of the same project (thank *YOU* dropbox) from a few days ago. That opened fine, though it's missing a few hours' work.
My fear is that this will recur and I will have to keep going back in time to keep working (two steps forward, one step back) and I've got a deadline to meet. I will try to stay away from custom workspaces, as one poster to this forum says they are generating that error in CS6 (no helpful replies to that thread).
Anyone else experiencing this in 2013? Any ideas? All help is much appreciated.
AE CS6 11.0.2.11
Mac Pro OS v 10.6.8
Processor: 2x 2.66ghz dual core intel xeon
12Gb 667mhz DDR2 RAM
Hi Guys
I'm working with AE CC and all of a sudden everytime I click on the screen to zoom in or out, it defaults into audio preview, so I lose background and images (see screenshot). I'm sure I've inadvertantly switched something on or off but I do not know what or how.
Any guidence on restoring normal view as the default would be welcome.
Graham
Hey Everyone,
Instead of recreating a similar animation in Cinema 4D or the like, I was wondering if anyone had a fairly simple solution to adding textures/icons to an existing animation I found on vimeo...
What would you guys recommend the simplest solution would be to adding texture "tiles" to each face of these cubes? I looked into trying the 3D camera tracker in AE, but it simply doesn't track the motion well enough or returns "analysis solve failed." after analysis.
I'm fully aware that I could add a tile to each cube face manually and keyframe everything with a camera or null object, but I'm wondering if anyone is aware of something far less tedious. Even paying for a plugin is an option if you happen to know of something that exists. I currently have both AE CS6 and CC installed.
Thanks in advance,
Matt
I have been having this problem for a month or two now. Everytime I try to apply the effect, After Effects immediatly crashes and saves a secondary version of the project.
Here is the information provided by the crash report:
Process: After Effects [1146]
Path: /Applications/Adobe After Effects CC/Adobe After Effects CC.app/Contents/MacOS/After Effects
Identifier: com.adobe.AfterEffects
Version: 12.0 (12.0)
Code Type: X86-64 (Native)
Parent Process: launchd [177]
User ID: 501
Date/Time: 2013-09-18 12:46:07.777 -0700
OS Version: Mac OS X 10.8.4 (12E55)
Report Version: 10
Interval Since Last Report: 14217 sec
Crashes Since Last Report: 2
Per-App Interval Since Last Report: 221408 sec
Per-App Crashes Since Last Report: 2
Anonymous UUID: 387CA782-C5C5-43FA-3905-FBF2343641E8
Please let me know if anyone knows of an update, or a workaround to this. I do not like having to go back to CS6 just to apply the numbers effect.
Thanks
Hi there, I'm having an issue with custom Output Module Templates and my renderfarm:
After Effects CC 12.0.0.404 (showing as up to date in Creative Cloud)
Mac OS X 10.8.4 (Latest Mountain Lion version)
Mac Pro 2.93 GHz 8-Core, Radeon 5870, 32GB RAM and with Blackmagic Decklink Extreme 3D+
Remote Machines (there are four) are Mac Pros as well (Quad-core, running 10.7.2 with 16GB RAM), using the ae_render_only_node.txt file in their user Documents folder.
The exact error:
aerender ERROR: No output module template was found with the given name.
I am trying to get a renderfarm working with After Effects CC (see exact version above). Unfortunately, I need custom output modules and I can't seem to get the render slaves to recognize them. I found older threads on this exact issue, but no solution was found.
I am using commandline aerender in OS X terminal to start a render with a basic test scene.
To simplify things, I have tried testing this on one render slave machine at a time... Same result everywhere.
Here's what I've tried:
I exported a .aom file from my main machine (where I have my desired custom Output Modules) and attempted to bring it in on the render slaves. However, because the render slaves are render only, (they have ae_render_only_node.txt in their Documents folder), the ability to import Output Modules is disabled in After Effects (it opens as the After Effects Render Engine, and the Edit>Templates menu is greyed out).
Next, I thought I'd try copying the main machine's /Users/(user)/Library/Preferences/Adobe/After Effects/12.0 folder over to the render slaves, thinking that would get whatever preference file to them that's needed to define the output modules. No luck. Launched After Effects (which loads as After Effects Render Engine) and reset my disk cache preferences (so they weren't still the main machine's). Tried aerender again... no luck. Same error:
aerender ERROR: No output module template was found with the given name.
After that, I thought it would be a good idea to sign out of Adobe Creative Cloud on the main machine, and try logging into the render slave machine with my full UserID and Password and temporarily remove the ae_render_only_node.txt file. Then, I'd import the .aom file in the full version of AE... I tried this and success! The renders work... they find the Output Modules no problem. Only issue is, as soon as I sign out, and switch to using the ae_render_only_node.txt file, the Output Modules are not found. Not sure what's going on-- if the Output Modules are being disabled by the ae_render_only_node.txt file? Or maybe signing out of my Adobe ID is removing the preferences that determine Output Modules? Don't know where the Output Module preferences are stored to be able to tell.
Next attempt: I thought I'd try syncing my preferences with Creative Cloud. I made sure to check After Effects Sync Preferences to ensure that Output Modules are set to sync. I did a sync where I uploaded my preferences from the main machine. Then, on the render slaves, I ran Sync Preferences, and chose to download preferences. Works when signed in, but not when used as a render only node. When it's a render only node, it still prompts me to Download the Sync Preferences and Quit the Application, which I do, but nothing seems to happen. I try aerender again, and still the same error:
aerender ERROR: No output module template was found with the given name.
I can't seem to find any info on where Output Modules are actually stored (apparently they're not anywhere in the User/Library/Preferences/Adobe/After Effects/ folder?). Are render only nodes not allowed to have custom Output Modules? Not even for something as simple as the Multi-Machine Sequence with a post-render action of Set Proxy enabled?
Any help is greatly appreciated!
Thank You.
Hi All,
Question, about painting on a shape layer...Can this be done? I know I can paint on a solid as I tried all diff combo's and found it will paint on a Solid but I cannot get my paint to paint on a shape.
Is there a way or work around to acheive this? I am using a Shape instead of a SOLID Layer to access the Extrude value BTW. i have tried to use the >ADD >Stroke in T.L to cheat that way. Yet I am not getting a second stroke to appear to draw one on. I can however get the stroke to appear around the Fill of the Shape, yet that is not the area I would like the stroke.
A Pic for clarity, as it always sounds so clear when typing it out, it is another thing to be on the recieving end and trying to Cipher
Thanks for help on this or a work around.
NC
I'm on an 8 core Mac Pro with a GTX 670, Adobe CC. Raytrace is so slow I hate to use it. interactions are nothing short of pathetic. Even bad at 1/4 resolution. I thought maybe it was b/c I have 2 27" cinema displays and it is just too many pixels --- but maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it just sucks?
I have latest Cuda drivers and all that. If you guys know of something I can do to improve the performance - please share!
So I am new altogether to After Effects. So I have 3 face's that I am tracking in a 2 minute video. There are various shots with a variety of new faces I will need to use. I understand how to motion track but what I'm having trouble with is the amount of tracks I'm allowed. Right now, it seems to tap out at 5 motion tracks. I thought of just exporting an uncompressed video but going back over and over again... I have to think there is a better way.
Any guidance would be great.
Total AE N00b here ...
I downloaded some .aep tutorial files and can't open them in AE CS6 (version 11.0.2.11). When I do, I get the error: 
I assume that AE version 12.0x353 is creative cloud?
Is there any way to open newer versions of .aep files in standard CS6 versions of AE?
hey everyone
I use the vector paint plugin in AECS3 to create hand-drawn style line art animations.
I use vector paint applied to a solid together with my wacom cintiq to draw lines freehand. sometimes I use the 'animate strokes' setting within vector paint to make it look like the strokes are being drawn on.
there are some downsides to this plugin over the standard AE paint engine (principally that I cannot edit individual strokes, easily retime my strokes, or apply masks to my paint layer without precomping), but vector paint wins for me for 2 critical reasons:
1. I can paint directly in the comp window, meaning I can easily trace directly over another layer in my comp; and
2. Vector Paint has a built in wiggle engine which enables me to wiggle my paint strokes - this makes the images I draw feel dynamic and alive. it suits the simple hand drawn style of the animation.
as anyone who reads this forum will be aware, vector paint has been removed from CS5. I am needing to upgrade my creative suite but I need to be able to continue making this look for my clients.
my question to you all is how can I continue creating animations in this style with CS5?
Any feedback would be *most* appreciated!
cheers
dan
here are some examples of the kind of animation I am refferring to -some of these are WIPs so appear quite rough!
Hi Everyone,
I am experiencing a strange issue on a comp I am working with, and due to the way its set up, and the pre-comps etc, I am not even sure how to go about asking the questions!
So, please excuse the next, long winded, attempt at an explanation:
1) To start:
I have a comp with 3 Footage layers. One 4K Moving background image from Video blocks, interpreted at 25FPS. One R3D clip of one of our ships, camera on a tripod and ship "Waggling" slightly up and down - kept in RAW mode for clean keying. A duplicate of this layer, used as the colour corrected layer.
I have a Comp that contains the RAW footage, Keyed, and the colour corrected footage below it and set to Alpha matte.
Above is the settings and the output of the ships wing.
This is then precomped, and engine glows, contrails and thrusters etc are added with Null objects, lights, optical flares and particular:
at this point, everything looks great, this is then further precomped into a new comp, where it is placed above the background layer - and here is where the issue happens. It is almost as if the trackmatte is a frame or two behind the colour layer:
<-- notice the blue edging from the blue screen.
I track these layers backwards and forwards through the precomps, and I cant figure out why this happens? I am assuming I have made a really silly mistake, and will gladly apoligize publicly when I find it! 
I am not sure what else I can send to help figure this out (there are keyframes on the trackers above, and the contrail precomps for position, and a scale change over time on the ship layer in the final comp.) If I pull the ships precomp into the final comp as a new layer - the issue remains. If I double click to open the ship layer, the issue is not visible.
well, there it is. Thank you to all.
Pierre
Sorry guys, this isn't exactly AE but I though you might know what's going on.
This is a recent thing after we changed the user on the PC that we're running CS5 on.
Often when I click on say, a PreComp layer in a Comp it will bring that PreComp's timeline up rather than simply select it.
Also there are other cases like when I'm selecting characters in text it seems overly eager to select the whole word rather than a group of characters.
It's very frustrating, I can't put my finger on it but it doesn't feel right, I have to keep corrected my selections.
I thought it was just over sensitive, then I thought it was that the double click was too sensitive.
This is with a Wacom tablet. There are many parameters to tweak like:
Tilt sensitivity
Tip feel
Double click distance
Sensitivity
Click threashold
Obviously I have tried messing around with these, but when you're being deliberate about testing the pen all is well. It's just when I relax and start to work faster it starts happening.
Has anyone had this and found suitable settings?
Cheers
i cannot get my videos with audio. i know about the lossless settings module, i checked that the audio option is on. the result is still no sound. i remember when i used the trial version of after effects i could get my videos with sound. my footage is captured on bandicam. footage video codec is mpeg-1, sound codec is mpeg-1 L2.
i make my output video as a quicktime video, H.264 vid codec, AAC sound codec. i am not getting sound why?
When I drag the "Radio Waves" effect to my solid on After Effects, the "waves" won't show. What am I doing wrong?
Hi guys,
the effects played in this digital corridor clip. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBxNq2FWmLg
are they done using affect effect? if yes, can anyone recommend me a similar tutorial?
thanks
Hi all,
I'm getting the following error message:
After Effects error: crash occurred while invoking effect plug-in "Numbers".
whenever I use the effect text > Numbers (i'm just applying to a solid for now). Which is followed by a crash.
I've used this effect a lot before, but not yet in the CC version of Ae. Anyone else have this problem? Or can anyone think of a solution?
Here is the Apple generated crash report: http://pastebin.com/Y660sjCX
27" iMac 3.4 GHz Intel Core i7, 16GB 1333 MHz DDR3, OS X 10.7.5 //
After Effects CC Version 12.0.0.404
I downloaded After Effect last night from the creative cloud and am lost to how to acces it?
hey guys
i can't seem to be able to apply the numbers effect without it crashing after effects, has anyone else has this problem?
thanks
julian
After Effects will not let me go in and start new, everything in the panels is light grey I cant access anything?
