[Roei Tzoref]

[Casey J Porter] “but when I applied the Linear Burn it didn’t seem to change anything.”

you are correct. I have checked this and with this blend mode you actually have to do some trick to make it work. on the shadow layer set the opacity of the drop shadow effect to 100%. now add a layer style to this layer to get access to the blending modes parameters of the layer. you can now delete the drop shadow layer style. reduce the fill opacity a touch.

Roei Tzoref
After Effects Artist & Instructor
♫ Ae Blues Tutorials

[Roei Tzoref]

shape layers are continuously rasterized by default (the sunbrust icon). if you are going to use puppet with continuously rasterized layers, make sure you don’t use any transformations after you set the puppet as this could lead to unwanted artifacts. if you need to scale,rotate,position the shapes with the transform properties, precomp the character and do it then.

this is from the help files:
https://helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/using/animating-puppet-tools.html

Note: Don’t animate the position or scale of a continuously rasterized layer with layer transformations if you are also animating the layer with the Puppet tools. The render order for continuously rasterized layers—such as shape layers and text layers—is different from the render order for raster layers. You can precompose the shape layer and use the Puppet tools on the precomposition layer, or you can use the Puppet tools to transform the shapes within the layer. (See Render order and collapsing transformations and Continuously rasterize a layer containing vector graphics.)

Roei Tzoref
After Effects Artist & Instructor
♫ Ae Blues Tutorials

[Roei Tzoref]

you probably got the guide layer checked for this layer. set it off by right clicking on the layer and tick it off

Roei Tzoref
After Effects Artist & Instructor
♫ Ae Blues Tutorials

[Roei Tzoref]

layer styles and keyframe animation sometimes don’t mix. the render order of layer styles is to come last and this could cause all sorts of unwanted artifacts. without seeing exactly what your are experiencing it’s hard to tell. if you could export a video file that illustrates the problem, this could help us help you.

either way it’s easy enough to replicate this effect by using 2 layers for your drop shadow effect. one is the layer, the other would be a duplicate of the layer set below with the drop shadow effect. in the effect controls select “shadow only” and set the layer’s blend mode to linear burn and parent it to the original layer above it and you are done.

Roei Tzoref
After Effects Artist & Instructor
♫ Ae Blues Tutorials

[Roei Tzoref]

I never heard of a way to disable it. as a workaround you could just save the project again over the original and now it will be CC2017 and not produce a warning when opening.

Roei Tzoref
After Effects Artist & Instructor
♫ Ae Blues Tutorials

[Roei Tzoref]

see if this is the case:
there is a bug in the current version that sends the resolution you set in the popup menu instead of the composition resolution. this happens through anything that using dynamic link (Adobe media encoder is where it usually bites you). as a workaround this means you should set your resolution in the composition resolution pop up to full – now you will see it in it’s full dimensions.

Roei Tzoref
After Effects Artist & Instructor
♫ Ae Blues Tutorials

[Roei Tzoref]

[John Holland] ” Queue in AME automatically applies a bunch of features that you set beforehand?”

this is actually a big deal. render settings can bite you in the a@@. rendering through Queue in AME makes sure it does not. the location is important as well. personally I don’t need an AME folder for every instance of my project everytime I send a composition to AME.

here I examine all the gotchas through Add to AME Queue – from 04:12:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWzRgxRqUUs

more about Queue in AME here:
https://blogs.adobe.com/creativecloud/after-effects-cc-2015-3-in-depth-queue-in-adobe-media-encoder/

about the default setting – Queue in AME will default to the last setting used. if you use a preset, you can simply drag the preset you want for the preset browser or use the preset toggle to select it. I have a custom preset so I select it through it.

Roei Tzoref
After Effects Artist & Instructor
♫ Ae Blues Tutorials

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[Roei Tzoref]

[John Holland] “However, when rendering at basically any H.264 format, AME seems to now read the preview quality I had AE set at and render it to those specifications”

this is a bug in the current 2017 version. stay tuned this should be fixed very soon.

in the mean time these are your options:
1. before you send your comp to AME, change the resolution pop up to FULL
2. use the much better feature “Queue in AME” option that was introduced in the last version and is right there in the render queue.

here’s a comparison between the “ADD to AME Queue / drag and drop” and “Queue in AME” to see why this should be your new best friend – watch from 02:54
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWCSVS0s7GU

Roei Tzoref
After Effects Artist & Instructor
♫ Ae Blues Tutorials

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[Roei Tzoref]

the echo effect is pretty straightforward. not too many controls

for the effect you are referring the key is to select a very contrasty background. then you can use minimum in the echo operator setting and set your echo time to make the instances with more distance from each other. set the number of echo as desired.

for information look here:
https://helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/using/time-effects.html

Roei Tzoref
After Effects Artist & Instructor
♫ Ae Blues Tutorials

[Roei Tzoref]

Manually delete the folder in the specified path you get in the error message

Roei Tzoref
After Effects Artist & Instructor
♫ Ae Blues Tutorials