[Rocket Surgery]

I’ve asked that I be removed from membership to this site, so don’t know if this will post, but just wanted to thank those of you who took the time to post actual solutions to my original request. Clearly, this effect is anything but “impossible” and much, much simpler to explain than SOME PEOPLE might theorize.

As for returning to this site, I sent an email to the owners detailing my recent issues here, and received a reply that not only made me feel completely insignificant, but completely dismissed me and my concerns as unworthy because my copies of AE came preinstalled on computers I had purchased used, and that therefore made me no better than a common thief, and they refuse to support “hobbyists” who do not purchase software directly.

I’ll be sure to mention their attitude to some of the other “hobbyists” I know who have also purchased used computers with pre-installed programs which they use to edit network TV shows and major motion pictures with.

Sorry, I have no interest in supporting a site that is run by such self-important dorks. L8R….

[Rocket Surgery]

You’d have a good point there if it were true. However, the fact that you suggest it might be “impossible” demonstrates to me that you have even less knowledge of AE than myself, and that’s hard to do.

My original post that got zero responses had to do with playing audio files within AE. From my textbooks, it was clear that the program should play audio, but mine was not. I asked for help at Creative Cow. I received none. I tried other avenues and finally found the solution, which turned out to be a simple switch in a hard-to-locate dialog box. Problem solved, no thanks to this site. Simple to solve by anyone with a year or two experience on the software. Nobody here seemed to know nor care enough to reply.

My current post refers to an effect that has been around for quite some time. I’ve read some opinions that say light ray effects are as common in motion graphics as drop shadow is in Photoshop. I’ve googled and searched dozens of AE sites for a tutorial on how to do this effect prior to the “Shine” plug-in that so many endorse. I’ve found posts from other novices who also seek this knowledge, and while the majority of replies are lazy, “just get the plug-in” responses, some actually refer vaguely to the “old fashioned way” of doing the effect, yet none will explain it. There is the odd reference to “motion blur” or “radial blur” and adding a mask layer and animating a light, but so far not one simple tutorial explaining how it’s done sans plug-in; just references that it can be done.

So, your suggestion that the effect is “impossible” without a plug-in only displays your own ignorance of the software. I’ve already learned that it’s possible; now I’m simply trying to find out the steps. I don’t know the experience level of the so-called “experts” that hover around this novice site, but if they don’t know how to do this supposedly “standard” text effect, then I would suggest they aren’t all that experienced, and perhaps whoever bumped my post down here to AE kindergarten should have left it on the Cow forum where I posted it in the first place so that some real experts might have a chance to respond.

As for having a right to be upset, I’m not upset. I’m expressing a valid negative opinion of the usefulness of this site based upon my two experiences here. Perhaps you need a class in web commerce before suggesting I take my “business” elsewhere. The operators of this site did not create it solely out of their desire to share knowledge with others. They created it in the hopes that it would attract enough hits to give the site value as an advertising venue. That’s the bottom line reason for most every website in existence. Therefore it behooves the operators of this site to keep people coming back again and again. And since the main attraction of this site is supposed to be information and knowledge sharing amongst users of software such as AE, etc, then it’s NOT very good policy to allow visitors who come seeking knowledge to go away unsatisfied.

Because of my now two unsatisfactory yet very answerable questions I’ve posted here, it’s doubtful I will return a third time to this site seeking help on my AE issues. There should be AE experts monitoring all posts ensuring that posters receive the help they need if nobody else steps up just to that poster feels the site continues to have value to him. That keeps me coming back, makes me more expert at the software, and I’m more likely to help someone else down the line when they come seeking answers that I just happen to have. This results in increased site traffic, making the site more profitable because it can charge more to advertisers. Not to mention the bad word of mouth this site will now receive from me. Instead of me referring editors TO this site for help, I’ll steer them away, telling them their posts will be reposted at a novice site that nobody seems to look at much, and when they do, they don’t have very expert advice on the software.

This is really for the site operators to ponder on. I don’t really expect you to grasp anything this complex, Sandman. To date, I’ve received nothing of value from this site, and have zero inclination to give anything back in return, including my presence here, which, as I’ve now explained to you, is the whole reason the site exists in the first place.

[Rocket Surgery]

Well, not wishing to get into any flame war, but my original post did make it clear I was looking to learn the effect “the hard way” without using a plug-in, so the initial reply was not really as helpful as you claim, even if he didn’t know I don’t have the disks.

And regarding your claim that this site is very helpful, I have to say it has not been so in my experience. This is my second post requesting help from the “experts” regarding problems I’ve encountered with AE. My first post was deemed unworthy of the full Cow forum, and moved here to the Calf site, where it received a whopping ZERO responses. I did not say anything then, but did mention to the Cow rep at DV Expo that I was disappointed in the lack of responses at the Calf site, and wished he’d have left my post where I placed it. He assured me that was a fluke and I should try again.

So here I have tried again, and again my request for help is seemingly as unworthy as the first request, and bumped downstairs here to the Calf site. No experts in sight; just a suggestion about a different plug-in after I’d made it clear I wasn’t interested in plug-ins; and the universal “google it” advice one gives someone when they really don’t care to spend any actual thought or time “helping” another with actual knowlege and experience.

There was ZERO attitude in my two original posts requesting help, and I received ZERO help. Therefore I don’t see how adding attitude to a post complaining about the absence of the nice, experienced, and helpful people you claim to exist here is going to do me much harm.

As always, however, there is never any shortage of “attitude police” on these web forums, who are more than willing to donate their valuable time whenever the opportunity arises to wag their fingers at anyone who introduces any negativity whatsoever into a discussion — justified or not — rather than offer up an actual solution to the problem.

So, to sum up: I’ve posted 2 different AE help requests to Creative Cow. Both posts never appeared there and were bumped down to the Calf site. My first post received ZERO responses; my second just the one that was not much help at all, and then your much appreciated scolding after I expressed my dissatisfaction. I can only conclude that from my experience, this site is far from being very helpful at all.

The people who run this site can either act upon that fact or not. I doubt I will bother anymore with this site next time I seek help from the “experts.” So silly of me to try and actually improve my AE skills and knowledge rather than rely on a plug-in to do the work for me. In fact, I should just subcontract the entire job to an editor who has the plug-in as that would be the easiest way, then I won’t have to do any work at all. In fact, I should just toss the whole program out the window and become an agent for other editors. Learn the program myself? What a folly!

[Rocket Surgery]

After Effects came pre-installed on both of my Apple computers that I purchased slightly used, so I do not have the disks…

This forum was my last resort after spending hours trying to Google up a pre-existing tutorial…

And this is twice now that this site has moved one of my posts from the “Cow” to the “Calf.” I mentioned this to a Creative Cow rep at the DV Expo recently, and was told that was an error. Apparently not. I’m sorry my AE troubles don’t seem to rate a posting on the full Cow, but I figured I would get more experienced help there. Here on the Calf, the best one can apparently hope for is being told to buy a plug-in or Google for answers elsewhere.

If this is such a common effect, then I fail to understand why there aren’t dozens of tutorials covering it; or why nobody on this site seems to know how to do it without a plug-in.