[John Cuevas]

Adobe files are not backwards compatible.

If you want to open it in CS5, you would need to use the “Save a copy as CS5.5” Then you would need a copy of CS5.5, open the project and “Save a copy as CS5”

Any effects that aren’t in the CS5 version would be listed as missing, but when you go forward again, they would be return with the original parmaters used, ie..warp stabilizer wouldn’t show up in CS5(missing), but if saved the CS5 project and opened it up later in CS6 it would return it would return with the original settings you used in the initial project.

Johnny Cuevas, Editor
Thinkck.com

“I have not failed 700 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”
—THOMAS EDISON on inventing the light bulb.

[John Cuevas]

Thanks for the article, Tom. I’ve been running into my own problems with creating a new system for CS6 and appreciate the recommendation of Puget Systems, looks like I might be able to get the computer I want rather than the one HP has been trying to sell me.

Johnny Cuevas, Editor
Thinkck.com

“I have not failed 700 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”
—THOMAS EDISON on inventing the light bulb.

[John Cuevas]

I created a project with the camera lens blur that I think comes pretty close to what you are trying to do. You could download the CS6 trial version and open the project, if you are interested. 4282_blur.aep.zip

Johnny Cuevas, Editor
Thinkck.com

“I have not failed 700 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”
—THOMAS EDISON on inventing the light bulb.

[John Cuevas]

Sorry, it looks like you are working in a previous version of AE that doesn’t have the “Camera Lens Blur” effect, that was released in CS5.5

I don’t have access to “lens blur” anymore. Camera Lens Blur is a bit smoother than the older Lens Blur. There seemed to be a little blooming, that’s why I suggested adjusting the “highlights” but you don’t have access to that. Though I believe if you lower the specular threshold and increase specular brightness you will achieve the same effect.

As for the distortion, I’m not sure how to address this in lens blur other than try a different shape Iris.

Johnny Cuevas, Editor
Thinkck.com

“I have not failed 700 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”
—THOMAS EDISON on inventing the light bulb.

[John Cuevas]

It looks like the Camera Lens Blur(Hexagon) in 32bpc with the highlights turned on.

Johnny Cuevas, Editor
Thinkck.com

“I have not failed 700 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”
—THOMAS EDISON on inventing the light bulb.

[John Cuevas]

When ever-ever I load projects to the COW(and I do quite often) I save them as a CS5 project. If you didn’t use any features that are CS6 specific there won’t be a problem and if you did use CS6 specific effects he will just get a message stating that. The best part is if he upgrades, those effects will still be there and when upgrade he will have access to them.

My opinion is you shouldn’t have any problems.

Johnny Cuevas, Editor
Thinkck.com

“I have not failed 700 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”
—THOMAS EDISON on inventing the light bulb.

[John Cuevas]

Okay, I’ve been using AE for 11 years and didn’t know that one Roland. I’ve been cntl+z to get back to my last point for 11 years…probably 10,000 extra button pushes.

Big Thanks!

Johnny Cuevas, Editor
Thinkck.com

“I have not failed 700 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”
—THOMAS EDISON on inventing the light bulb.

[John Cuevas]

You could replicate this in AE using 2 text animators. Create your paragraph of text, twirl open the text and under the animate pulldown select “Offset” Where it says “Character Offset” change the number till you get a look you like. I would change the “Character Alignment” pulldown to adjust kerning. Open the range selector and enable a “Start” keyframe of 0%, move the Time Indicator and change “Start” to 100%

For making the text ‘explode’ at the end, I would just apply the text preset 3d Scramble in Position z and reverse the keyframes. In your example the explosion happens all at once, so if you change the first keyframe to hold keyframes, it would look like the video.

I made quick example project to illustrate what I did. 4275_simpletextexample.aep.zip

Johnny Cuevas, Editor
Thinkck.com

“I have not failed 700 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”
—THOMAS EDISON on inventing the light bulb.

[John Cuevas]

Place your image/video into a new composition and apply the shatter effect. Leave the view on “Wireframe + Forces” for now and move the Current Time Indicator(CTI) to 4 seconds.

Twirl down “Force 1” and change the depth parameter to 1, this moves the force behind the layer. This is the force(object) that explodes the layer. Press the stop watch to set a keyframe. Now move the CTI 10 frames forward and change the depth to -1. This causes the force to break through your layer and explode it.

Notice in the settings, you can change the size of the force(Radius) and it’s strength(How fast things will explode when impacted by the force).

As far as the tutorials I linked, they are all still relevant to AE and what you are trying to do. I understand that sometimes you need to accomplish something/project/deadline and might need to skip some learning steps, but you will absolutely grow to hate this program if you don’t learn the basics. Try and take some time to look over the material and tutorials found here(Part 4 has links to Tutorials at the Cow and VideoCopilot and they are both great.. The one at VideoCopilot will have you up and with a basic understanding in a day or so.

Johnny Cuevas, Editor
Thinkck.com

“I have not failed 700 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”
—THOMAS EDISON on inventing the light bulb.

[John Cuevas]

After you create a mask when you select it, all the vertices will be selected. So if you move one, they all move. Press shift and click a vertices, that should deselect, click it again and you should have just one selected.

If that doesn’t work, upload a picture with your mask layer open and the comp window so we can take a look and see if we can figure out the issue.

Also, here’s a link to Andrew Davis tutorial on the Basics of Masking, perhaps it’s something simple and he addresses it.

Johnny Cuevas, Editor
Thinkck.com

“I have not failed 700 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”
—THOMAS EDISON on inventing the light bulb.