[Kevin Camp]

if you do need to go between mac and pc, a quicktime work flow would be simplest and you should also be able to render directly from after effects to avid’s dnxhd codec in a quicktime (.mov) container.

you can create a new output module template in ae by choosing edit>templates>output module then click ‘new’. from there choose ‘quicktime’ from the format menu and click ‘format options’. select avid dnxhd from the video codec options and in the codec settings, you can choose the various formats, frame rates and bit depths.

i don’t have a pc to double check that it’s the same, but i’m pretty sure that it is. if the avid codecs don’t show up under the quicktime format, you can download the avid quicktime codecs directly from avid.

Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

if you are looking for a multi-platform alternative, avid’s dnxhd is very similar to prores in quality and bit rate. it should have been installed with after effects or premiere, so you probably have it on both machines. if not, you can download them free from avid (just search avid’s site for dnxhd codec).

Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

here’s link to the manual for cycore fx:

https://cycoreeffects.com/downloads/cfx_hd_std/CycoreFX%201.6%20Manual.pdf

it’s not a tutorial, but the ripple pulse page explains the parameters.

Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

assuming your not on the last from of the comp, and preview isn’t set to ‘from current time’ you may want to file a bug report:

https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=wishform

when it happens again, you might try edit>purge>all and see if that helps before restarting ae.

Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

there is a default duration preference for still image import in after effects.

the default usually uses the last created comp duration, but you can also set it to be a fixed duration. if you want to make sure the psd file imports in as a full minute, you can go to preferences>import and set the still footage value to 1:00:00.

Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

i think he’s talking about when creating vertex points with the pen tool, and you need to create a new vertex that is very close to the last vertex (or any vertex on the same path) the tool changes from the pen tool to the convert vertex tool or the remove vertex tool.

i don’t know of any fix for that, though you can create the vertex close to where you need it, then use the arrow keys to nudge it to where you want it.

Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

[Brian Charles] “Is there a reason you prefer not to render directly from After Effects and need to use Media Encoder?”

same question… typically ae renders a comp faster than ame.

also, you should be able to render dnxhd in a quicktime container rather than mxf. you can do that in ae or ame. i’m assuming that the preset in ame is set to use the mxf containtaner, but i’m sure you can change that to quicktime in ame — i know you can set it in ae.

another codec that i don’t think wasn’t mentioned is quicktime png. like lossless animation, it is also lossless and supports alpha, but often creates smaller files than lossless animation.

Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

you may be able to do this with expressions.

expressions can’t add effects, but they can modify properties. so you may be able to have various properties look at a color and set themselves accordingly.

i’m not sure this will work for your situation, but say you can add the effects to an adjustment layer. you can have the opacity of the adjustment layer look at the color of a pixel on a layer and set it to 100 if the pixel is red and 0 if it is not, effectively turning the effects on or off based on the pixel’s color.

to sample a pixel using expressions you’d use the sampleImage() function. a basic expression to get the color value of a pixel would be like this:

sourceLayer = thisComp.layer("My Source Layer"); // layer you want to sample
p = [0,0]; // position of the pixel you want to sample
r = [.5,.5]; // radius of the sample point
sourceLayer.sampleImage(p,r)

the expression will return a RGBA array in decimal form, so red would be [1,0,0,1].

an advantage of expressions would be you don’t need to run it after a change, it will update as a change occurs. a disadvantage is that it will evaluate at every frame in the animation, so rendering will take longer – how much longer depends on how heavy the expressions are.

Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

this is a bit easier to do with a mask path and the stroke effect, purely because you need to get the square layer to follow the path, and you can easily copy/paste a mask path into the position property and then go from there…

but you can still use trim paths, you’ll need to create a mask path that is the same as the shape layer’s path that has trim paths on it.

then you’ll copy/paste the mask path into the position property of the black square.

then you can use an expression like this to link the position of the black square to the trim paths property of the other shape layer:

completion = thisComp.layer("Shape Layer 1").content("Rectangle 1").content("Trim Paths 1").end;
valueAtTime(linear(completion,0,100,0,key(numKeys).time))

the shape should follow the trim paths end property.

since your square is offset from the stroke, you may want to apply the expression to a null and parent the square to the null, to make it easier to position it correctly.

also, you’ll want to set the null to auto orient along path.

Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW

[Kevin Camp]

you can use the fill effect, but instead of controlling the opacity, control the color.

i’d set 2 key frames for the color property, one for each color you need to toggle between. then you can use an expression like this to link those values to a checkbox control:

chk = effect("Checkbox Control")("Checkbox");
if (numKeys > 1){
clr1 = key(1).value;
clr2 = key(2).value;
if (chk==true) clr1 else clr2;
}else{
value;
}

just point the chk value to your checkbox control.

Kevin Camp
Art Director
KCPQ, KZJO & KRCW