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Looking for advice on After Effects CS4
Looking for advice on After Effect CS4 upgrade
My dilemma is this; I have been using After Effects 7.0 Standard (CS2) for several years in Windows XP with few problems. My system melted down, and had to have a new on built. I am currently running Windows 7, 32-bit i7 950 processor, 3GB RAM. AAE 7.0 crashes every time I try to import footage, render old projects, or do any kind of work really.
I spoke with Adobe at length, and was told that AAE 7.0 and Windows 7 are not compatible, and I need to upgrade After Effects to CS5. CS5 will not run on anything other than a 64-bit processor, so they throw in a version of CS4. By there admission, CS4 is not stable, and is prone to crashes, and most likely will not be able to read my older projects (4+ years of professional work). My 3rd party plug-ins (Plug-ins from Anarchy and Zakwerks being the most used) will most likely not work as well. But CS4 should run on Windows 7
My question is, how well will CS4 run on my system, and am I in for more headaches than trying to install Virtual PC and run XP in a shell? Going the Virtual XP route will lead to a complete reinstall of not only all the software and plug-ins, but fonts and support software as well. Ram is another issue, as it seems Virtual PC is only allowing AAE 500 MB RAM (3 available GB currently in system), which will not cut the mustard. I did see there is a method to allow files to be shared between Virtual PC and the main OS, but will take some work and patience to set up.
Does anyone practical advice or recommendations on the best path to take? I don’t want to buy and install CS4 only to find out it’s a lemon, but I seem to have minimal options.
I have been a long time fan of the site, and would value any feedback you might have.
Thanks
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4 Replies
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> By there admission, CS4 is not stable, and is prone to crashes, and most likely will not be able to read my older projects (4+ years of professional work)
You’re saying that someone from Adobe said this to you? Who?
Please send me details at kopriva -at- adobe -dot- com. If this was from a call with a support agent, please give me the case number.
I flatly contradict that. Yes, After Effects CS5 has a lot of improvements, and it’s especially better at handling large frame sizes (HD, digital cinema, and up) because of the 64-bit port. And the new features like Roto Brush are terrific. But it is not accurate to say that “CS4 is not stable, and is prone to crashes, and most likely will not be able to read my older projects”.
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Todd Kopriva, Adobe Systems Incorporated
Technical Support for professional video software
After Effects Help & Support
Premiere Pro Help & Support
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Hi Todd, Thanks for the quick response.
I am sending you an offline response regarding my phone conversation with Adobe support.
I am a bit frustrated, but really just looking for someone with practical experience that can give me a qualified answer about the upgrade.
I have heard that several great improvements have been made with CS5, and look forward to increased productivity with a 64-bit processor, but for now, I just want a stable, and reliable version that will get me up and running again while in a 32-bit OS.
Any pro or cons on CS4 would be helpful, or recommendations on what I can do to better optimize my system to get the most out of CS4 is appreciated.
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Here’s the After Effects product manager saying that Windows 7 works fine with After Effects CS4:
https://blogs.adobe.com/keyframes/2009/10/thinking_windows_7_all_signs_p.htmlI have After Effects CS4 running on Windows 7 right now.
After Effects CS4 can open After Effects 7 projects with no problems. If you do encounter a problem, we’d like to know about it. You can submit a bug report here.
> Any pro or cons on CS4 would be helpful, or recommendations on what I can do to better optimize my system to get the most out of CS4 is appreciated.
You don’t have very much RAM. I’d definitely get more if I were you.
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Todd Kopriva, Adobe Systems Incorporated
Technical Support for professional video software
After Effects Help & Support
Premiere Pro Help & Support
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For the record, I have found AE CS4 to be very stable and works very well with my plugins (Zaxwerks suite, Psunami, Trapcode Suite) and I have had no problems opening old projects on it. It has worked like a charm.
I like CS5 more though, as expected. 🙂
– The Great Szalam
(The ‘Great’ stands for ‘Not So Great, in fact, Extremely Humble’)No trees were harmed in the creation of this message, but several thousand electrons were mildly inconvenienced.
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