[Aled Rhys jones]

Now – to anyone else (ahem… Adobe – you listening?!) here’s what I’m able to replicate which I’m pretty sure that Charles is having problems with:

and:

Am I right in suggesting these are the same problems Charles?

Aled Rhys Jones
VFX & GFX Senior Designer
wipgfx.com
Dublin, Ireland

After Effects Consultancy | Motion Graphics | Compositing | Video Effects

[Aled Rhys jones]

Hi Charles, I too have tried to push AE as far as it can go re 3D and had similar problems.

I think it’s something that Adobe haven’t seemed to fix for a long time. Here’s some considerations/fixes though:

If your layers contain alpha channels – make sure they don’t lie on the same plane as any other layer.

e.g. In photoshop you have your buildings bricks texture as one layer, windows on another layer above it; when this is brought in to AE – put the tiniest bit of space between them (perhaps 1-5 pixels in Z).

Switch off Motion Blur – I think this is the biggest culprit. Render out the movie and add a Motion Blur effect instead (I know it might not look quite how you’d like it; perhaps you can get away with switching off the MB for the bugged layers only?)

There are some other fixes I might know of – I’ll try to update this thread as and when they come to me.

Hope it helps.

Regards,
Aled

Aled Rhys Jones
VFX & GFX Senior Designer
wipgfx.com
Dublin, Ireland

After Effects Consultancy | Motion Graphics | Compositing | Video Effects

[Aled Rhys jones]

Thank you Dan – you’ve come up trumps yet again.

Hope I’ll be able to return the favour one day!

Aled

[Aled Rhys jones]

Had a similar problem with this (hundreds of layers bunched together casting shadows on each other – the shadows seemed to split into ugly stripes & not looking like what I expected)

Although changing the Project Settings to 16bit smoothed out the problem, changing the “Shadow Map Resolution” seemed to resolve it enough to get away with it!

To do this, go to Comp Settings, select the Advanced tab. Where it has Advanced 3D selection you should see Options next to it. Here you’ll be able to change the Shadow Resolution Map from a range of 250 to 4000, the default is Comp Size.

A higher resolution will slow down the render depending on your comp, so time for a cup of tea I reckon!

Good Luck.

Aled Rhys Jones
Director
wipgfx.co.uk
Cardiff, Wales

After Effects Consultancy | Motion Graphics | Compositing | Video Effects

[Aled Rhys jones]

Hey Derby,

Many thanks for that… works brilliantly, simple too!

Nice One.

Al

[Aled Rhys jones]

Mice one, Thanks Dan.

[Aled Rhys jones]

I realise that this is a simple workaround from photoshop’s point of view. However, many of my workflows (I work in Broadcast), demand precise placing and scaling (to the pixel!). Illustrator is fantastic for this purpose and I work with many templates to-and-fro Illustrator-Photoshop. I need to be certain that the graphics work within these templates. I’d rather work in one application safe in the knowledge that I needn’t change it again when it’s migrated to a different applications.
Also… what if I didn’t have Photoshop and were to send a graphic to a production company who need to have a Targa with Alpha direct into their operating system.

(I live in hope!)

Aled

[Aled Rhys jones]

Well, after days of trying to sort out the same problem (“Unknown BIB Error…”), I finally decided to do some serious cleaning.
I used Tech Tool Pro and ran the whole extensive tests and de-fragmenting tool.

It worked perfectly.

I recommend this software to anyone. It’s saved my a**e so many times.

I figured the problem lies with permissions, especially with the new security updates of OS 10.4.8

Not sure of the details but well worth splashing out a few quid on Tech Tool Pro.

All the best

Al

[Aled Rhys jones]

Fantastic, Thank you guys… I think Dan wins this battle!!

Aled

[Aled Rhys jones]

Fantastic, Thank you guys… I think Dan wins this battle!!

Aled