[Scott Keck]

Check NewEgg for RAM. You can get 8GB for $299 (4 x 2GB). If you’re concerned about rendering speed, you should get Nucleo Pro and all the RAM you can manage. Since Nucleo will run 1 instance of AE per core in the background, you’ll essentially have a 7-CPU render farm. And you’ll want each CPU to have access to as much RAM as you can squeeze into the machine (and out of your budget). Those are my thoughts. Get the make/model of the motherboard and then shop for RAM elsewhere, buy only the minimum you need to boot the thing up, from the place where you’re buying the machine. And a right- on commend about the HD, you can get a SATA WD 750GB drive online right now for under $160 (internal). No reason to pay double that or more from your hardware vendor.

Improviz in SF

[Scott Keck]

https://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=307301

Discusses the “security flaws” in QuickTime that 7.4 patches. Probably gives good insight into why you get the error messages; I’m on programmer but this was interesting. Glad there’s a fix floating around out there to “downgrade” to a workable config.

Improviz in SF

[Scott Keck]

Isn’t there an un-installer for Quicktime? I’m not an Apple guy anymore, but can’t you remove the installer, uninstall the program, then try installing the older version?

Improviz in SF

[Scott Keck]

And since this is a hardware discussion, I’ll recommend if you buy Macs, buy minimal hard drive and RAM, then buy additional capacity from some place like NewEgg or mWave. I quote NewEgg because prices, service/shipping are very good. 1 TB Hitachi 32MB cache internal drive is under $300 there. What will your Apple reseller charge you? Likewise, memory has almost never been cheaper, so buy your Mac with the bare minimum and then plug in the new sticks yourself and save a bundle. Kingston 2x2GB (4gb total) is about $289 right now. Mac folks have often been perceived as unwilling to “get under the hood” like us poor PC people, which is part of the reason you pay a premium for parts with a Mac. It’s pretty easy to make upgrades like these yourself.

Improviz in SF

[Scott Keck]

Wow, some of you guys/gals are made out of $$ ! LOL.

32-Bit Windows can NOT use over 4 gb. I’d be surprised if you get 32Bit XP to boot stable with 4 gb installed, regardless of the “switch”. If anyone is running XP 32 bit stable at 4 gb of Ram, please post your setup/BIOS/tweaking routine, I can’t get my machine to boot with 4 gb installed.

For an XP 64 machine, you’ll need a $300 MOBO that can support 8GB of RAM, or you’ll have to wander into the server architecture field. And, you’ll need the new 2GB Ram sticks, which are pricey. With the Q6600 quad-core Intel, a current steal at $279, and Nucleo Pro, you’ll have 4 cores at 2GB per core. I parted out a Q6600 8GB XP 64 machine, on NewEgg, at about $1,400 with modest drive space. Add about another $400 for a 750GB Raid 0 array. Very reasonable assuming you build it yourself. *Note: this is without a vid card, as I have an 8800 card I plan to use. So, maybe $2200 all up.

I will say that I spoke on the phone with Adobe Tech Support, and 2 different people did say Adobe does NOT recommend XP-64. However, much of the posting in this forum seems to indicate it’s not a big deal.

Improviz in SF

[Scott Keck]

https://library.creativecow.net/articles/stern_eran/The_Smoke.php

This tutorial will probably get you in the ballpark, using your campfire for a displacement map instead of the smoke as in the tutorial….

Improviz in SF

[Scott Keck]

Would this Cow tutorial be what you’re looking for? Not sure as I’ve not used this myself, just watched the tutorial but awhile ago..

https://library.creativecow.net/articles/drozda_jerzy/CEPixelSampler.php

Pixel Sampler?

Improviz in SF

[Scott Keck]

LOL, bogiesan is right, can you say “cloud tank”? See “Raiders of the Lost Ark” for details…..

Improviz in SF

[Scott Keck]

Don’t bother doubling your ram. Add 1GB if you want, but unless you are running XP-64 bit (not likely), your machine probably won’t even boot to Windows with 4 gb installed. XP 32 bit, which 99% of us have, will see 3GB but that’s it.

Rather, I would suggest going to NewEgg or similar, and just upgrading your processor. $279 will get you the q6600 QUAD core; it’s Socket 775 just like your e6600(check to make sure your Motherboard is compatible with Quad Core cpu’s) Video rendering benefits from extra cores more than anything. Extra 1 GB of memory? Sure, but if it were me, I’d drop in a Q6600. See Tom’s Hardware CPU chart(https://tinyurl.com/2nzqrt) The Q6600 beats the E6600 on a Cinema 4D render by OVER 2 MINUTES. If your motherboard supports it and you’re comfortable “getting under the hood”, you can easily clock the Q6600 up to 3.0ghz, making it a total screamer. I’m actually looking at building a 2nd machine based on the Q6600 and only using it for After Effects and audio/video editing.

Improviz in SF

[Scott Keck]

First, let me say I bow down before Aharon and his tutorials. ALL HAIL ! !

Then, let me say that AE is the last place on earth that I would attempt to edit video to the music. AE is NOT an editing program. Frankly something like this would be MUCH easier in a program like Premiere Elements, or Pinnacle 10. OK, Premiere Pro, but really a simple montage to music goes a lot faster in one of the simpler editing packages, once you figure out that you have X beats/minute, you can specify the default duration for pictures/stills in your project timeline and there you go.

Did I mention ALL HAIL AHARON! ??

Improviz in SF