[David Johnson]

I’d say where you buy is far less important than what you buy…I’m not familair with the two you mentioned, but can tell you that Brian Maffitt and Chris & Trish Meyer are widely considered to make some of the best training materials for AE. Just search the Cow for “training” and you’ll find plenty of detailed opinions on various AE training products.

[David Johnson]

Try searching the Adobe support site for that error code and also post in the Adobe AE forum (https://www.adobe.com/support/forums/main.html).

[David Johnson]

If he’s specified a QT movie, the only thing left is to decide the codec…most people consider animation and uncompressed the standards. It’s been a while since I compared, but if I recall correctly, animation renders faster and gives you a smaller file (still quite big since it’s a lossless codec). Personally, I use animation for graphics-only renders and uncompressed for those that include live video. I also recommend using AE’s embed project copy and link option to keep backups of .aep files within the rendered QT movie itself (you can later import such movies into AE as projects, if needed).

[David Johnson]

Try Flash Capture (https://www.flashcapture.com/index.html). Worth the $25. There are several similar apps out there too.

[David Johnson]

Same situation here…Macs at work and PC at home, but my experience has been the opposite of Aharon’s…I don’t have any trouble transferring AEPs in either direction. I regularly use every file format AE supports on my PC, but on the Macs I have to convert most MPEGs and AVIs to QuickTime movies to get the audio. Admittedly, that may be more of a codec issue since I can’t just install one of the every-codec-ever-invented packs on company computers as I have on my PC. Other than that, just force Mac files to have extensions and convert MP3s to AIFs for Mac and WAVs for PC (AE doesn’t play nicely with MP3s on either platform).

[David Johnson]

If I recall correctly, the sleep function is considered “incompatible” with AE…I’m sure someone else will chime in if I’m wrong. Personally, I’m in the habit of leaving my AE computers in “Always On” mode, turning off screen savers and turning off my monitor manually during overnight renders. I just use the Sleep button on my keyboard when I need it.

[David Johnson]

Also search the forum since plugins have been discussed extensively…you’ll even find detailed discussions of specific ones, which should help you decide which ones will suit your needs.

[David Johnson]

Although none of them are exhaustive lists and which are the “best” plugins depends on your specific needs, these are some good places to start:

Adobe Plug-Ins Center
https://store.adobe.com/store/products/plugins/main.jhtml

Free Photoshop
https://www.freephotoshop.com/

Photoshop Roadmap
https://www.photoshoproadmap.com/Photoshop-plugins

[David Johnson]

Thanks, I’ll try it.

[David Johnson]

Maybe precompose your flower animation, make several copies of the precomp, change each as you wish, then put them all into a master comp.