[Chad Perkins]

Kevin’s responses were amazing (and very generous); I just wanted to chime in on the AE/Encore workflow. If you’re using CS3 or CS4, you can use Dynamic Link to connect AE to Encore without rendering, and this usually works (fairly) well.

I don’t have the app open, but I believe that you can go to the File menu in Encore and choose Adobe Dynamic Link>Import After Effects Composition, and then navigate to the AE project on the left hand side of the dialog box, and then choose from the comps in the project on the right hand side.

This way you don’t have to take extra time to render from After Effects before getting started with the DVD authoring process. Also, you don’t need to introduce any unnecessary compression into your workflow. (by the way, if you’re using Premiere Pro CS4, you can also import PrPro sequences via Dynamic Link, and send clips from Premiere Pro to AE and back again via Dynamic Link, so you really don’t have to use compression much at all in the entire workflow).

Dynamically linked AE comps can be used in Encore as motion menu backgrounds, timelines, etc. Hopefully this helps!

[Chad Perkins]

Oh, OK. That makes sense. But this questions is probably better for the Adobe Illustrator forum (also here on the Creative Cow website). But my recommendation would be to use a screen capture utility (like the Grab application that comes with a Mac), and then import that into Illustrator, then make it a template. This will lower the opacity of the interface screen capture and lock it to prevent changes. Then you can use Illustrator tools to trace the interface that you’re trying to emulate. For more information on importing or making layers templates in Illustrator, check out the online Help (Adobe help is actually a tremendously helpful resource).

[Chad Perkins]

The only way to zoom in that close to text and have it remain sharp is to “fake it” by making it yourself in Illustrator or another application. I hate to pee on your fire, but I don’t think you’ll find a way to zoom in and pan around a screen capture like that, while still keeping things looking sharp and clear.

[Chad Perkins]

I understand that you are referring to layer styles. In Photoshop, each component of a layer style (e.g. drop shadow, bevel and emboss, etc.) is referred to as an effect.

One of the things that I think might work for you is on import (assuming you are using After Effects CS3 or CS4), you can import the footage as a composition and choose the option to Merge Layer Styles into Footage (something like that – you want to NOT choose the option to keep the layer styles editable).

I misunderstood that you weren’t trying to add new layer styles in After Effects, only animate text. This should solve your problem. All the best.

[Chad Perkins]

If I understand your problem correctly (and I might be totally misunderstanding here, so take this with a grain of salt), but the problem seems to lie in the render order. The stroke is being applied AFTER the blur, so the blur is being stroked. You need to apply the stroke BEFORE the blur is being applied.

I haven’t seen your project, but would it be possible to apply the stroke (or other effects) on the layer in one composition, then pre-compose that layer, and then apply the blur on the pre-composed layer?

If you’re trying to apply blur using the text animation engine, that method might not work. You may need to go back to Photoshop and apply the effects there. Also, in the After Effects render order, layer styles are one of the last (maybe THE last?) things to get rendered. You might try simulating the layer styles (like stroke) with an effect (like the Stroke effect).

I think this is the official worst forum response ever (I should probably open the application if I’m giving advice in it), but hopefully something in here helped out a little!

[Chad Perkins]

Playing back footage by hitting the spacebar will not play back audio. To preview video and audio, press the 0 key on the numeric keypad (on the right side of your keyboard).

To preview ONLY audio (not video), press the period (.) key.

[Chad Perkins]

I don’t have much experience with Motion, but I’ve taught a lot of After Effects classes to people that know Motion well. They always tell me that Motion is “fun to play around in”, but if you’re going for a specific effect, it’s near impossible to achieve.

Personally, my brain can’t fathom a software application more “fun to play around in” than After Effects, and you have the added bonus of knowing that you can (usually) get it to do exactly what you want it to. I don’t think anyone would argue the fact that After Effects is by far the more professional app between the two.

Just my $0.02