[Don Sciore]

You need to check out the 3d Assistants from Digital Anarchy. They will do just that. There used to be a “Lite” version that was included in older versions of AE. They show up under “Window”. No longer included but worth the investment.
https://www.digitalanarchy.com/

Good Luck
Don

[Don Sciore]

If you enable “Per Character 3D” the add a text Animator to the layer, you can adjust the X rotation in that animator and have your text stand up just like you want.

Good Luck
Don

[Don Sciore]

Have you tried rendering using the “Secret” settings (Holding down Shift as you open Preferences) and setting a purge after a number of frames during render?

Worth a try.
Good Luck.
Don

[Don Sciore]

If you are just using masks (as opposed to using mattes and stencils) why not just make one mask 1 pixel wider or split the difference? Select the mask and use the arrow key to move it.

You might be thinking of setting the top layer to “alpha Add” when using mattes/stencils because that fixes the 1 pixel gap.
Just a thought.
Good Luck,
Don

Just a thought

[Don Sciore]

Really easy, but you can take this to many places(from Ae help):
AfterEffectsAnimation / Assorted animation tools
Convert audio to keyframes
The Convert Audio To Keyframes keyframe assistant analyzes audio amplitude within the work area and creates keyframes for audio amplitude. This keyframe assistant creates a new Audio Amplitude layer representing all audio sources in the composition, with three Expression Controls effects with Slider properties that contain the keyframes: Left Channel, Right Channel, and Both Channels.

To make use of the keyframes created by this keyframe assistant, you must link the changes in audio amplitude to other layer properties. For example, use an expression to link the audio keyframes to the Scale property of a layer to make the layer grow and shrink as the amplitude increases and decreases.

Select the Timeline panel, and then choose Animation > Keyframe Assistant > Convert Audio To Keyframes.

An alternative is Trapcode’s Sound Keys. Check it out:https://redgiantsoftware.com/trapcodesoundkeys.html
Good Luck
Don

[Don Sciore]

By the way, an image of what I did:

[Don Sciore]

Shine would work the best but without it, use Generate>CC Light Burst.

Good Luck.
Don

[Don Sciore]

Can’t you pre-compose a layer>add another instance of Particular and new lights in the precomp and get the result you want in the main Comp?

Worth a try.

Good Luck.
Don

[Don Sciore]

Two ways on your Timeline.

Good Luck-Don
Happy New Year!

[Don Sciore]

I am having the same problem. Seems to be CS3 because I have never had this problem prior. My guess was open GL but even with it off this happens. Bit depth didn’t seem to matter either. But definitely happens with Fractal Noise. I now suspect video card and refresh but am having no luck fixing it.

I am on Vista 64; Dual dual Opteron 285s with 8 G Ram.

Are you on Vista?