[Todd Kopriva]

To report bugs, send a detailed bug report (including information about the version number of your software, some details about your computer, et cetera) to aebugs@adobe.com.

You can also use the feature-request/bug-report form.

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Todd Kopriva, Adobe Systems Incorporated
putting the ‘T’ back in ‘RTFM’ : After Effects Help on the Web
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[Todd Kopriva]

If I had your system, I’d get some more RAM first.

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Todd Kopriva, Adobe Systems Incorporated
putting the ‘T’ back in ‘RTFM’ : After Effects Help on the Web
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[Todd Kopriva]

You can also use a drop shadow layer style, which is sometimes better than ye olde schoole way of using the Drop Shadow effect.

A glow or stroke can also help the text to stand out against a background that has a color similar to the text’s fill color.

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Todd Kopriva, Adobe Systems Incorporated
putting the ‘T’ back in ‘RTFM’ : After Effects Help on the Web
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[Todd Kopriva]

Regarding colors, here’s an excerpt from the “Color management workflow in After Effects CS4” document:

“For DCDM (Digital Cinema Distribution Master) format output: Choose the DCDM X’Y’Z’ (Gamma 2.6) 5900K (by Adobe) ICC profile in the Output Profile menu in the Color Management tab of the Output Module Settings dialog box. This format and color space have been specified by the DCI (Digital Cinema Initiative) for the distribution of digital content for digital projection. Use the Color Profile Converter effect to “bake in” film looks before outputting to the DCDM color space.”

Regarding JPEG 2000, here’s a link to a plug-in for working with JPEG 2000 files in After Effects.

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Todd Kopriva, Adobe Systems Incorporated
putting the ‘T’ back in ‘RTFM’ : After Effects Help on the Web
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[Todd Kopriva]

Sorry, but I have to ask: Why are you not using footage of a candle flame—either shot yourself or gotten from a stock footage library?

There’s a thread from a few days ago that is about flames:

https://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/2/957864

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Todd Kopriva, Adobe Systems Incorporated
putting the ‘T’ back in ‘RTFM’ : After Effects Help on the Web
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[Todd Kopriva]

Yes, as Darby says, layer styles are one of the 3D “bin breakers” that force groups of 3D layers to be rendered separately. (They’re #2 on the list of such things in the page that I pointed to in my previous post.)

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Todd Kopriva, Adobe Systems Incorporated
putting the ‘T’ back in ‘RTFM’ : After Effects Help on the Web
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[Todd Kopriva]

You can check to see what version of the software you have installed by choosing About After Effects from the After Effects menu (Mac OS) or the Help menu (Windows).

BTW, it really helps if you provide your operating system information when asking questions, too.

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Todd Kopriva, Adobe Systems Incorporated
putting the ‘T’ back in ‘RTFM’ : After Effects Help on the Web
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[Todd Kopriva]

Do you have the 8.0.2 update installed? It fixed some issues with QuickTime and gamma-related color shifts.

Here’s a Technical Support knowledgebase document that should help:

“QuickTime movies exported from After Effects CS3 are darker or lighter than expected”

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Todd Kopriva, Adobe Systems Incorporated
putting the ‘T’ back in ‘RTFM’ : After Effects Help on the Web
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[Todd Kopriva]

In addition to 2D layers, some other things can interfere with 3D layers interacting as you would like. There’s a list and explanation in the “How render order and collapsed transformations affect 3D layers” section of After Effects Help.

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Todd Kopriva, Adobe Systems Incorporated
putting the ‘T’ back in ‘RTFM’ : After Effects Help on the Web
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[Todd Kopriva]

We need a lot more information. Exactly how are you rendering and exporting? To what format? Using what codec? What version of After Effects are you using? Et cetera.

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Todd Kopriva, Adobe Systems Incorporated
putting the ‘T’ back in ‘RTFM’ : After Effects Help on the Web
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