[Todd Kopriva]

Kevin is right, but he understates the amount of RAM that each background instance of After Effects can use.

After Effects can start separate background processes of the After Effects application to render multiple frames at the same time. This can really speed up renders, both for final output and for RAM previews. Each of these instances of the After Effects application on Mac OS can use up to 3.5 GB of RAM, although only about 3 GB is actually available to the foreground application, because Mac OS X uses approximately 500 MB to load the user interface libraries. (See “Memory usage and storage”.)

There’s a complete list of effects that disable multiprocessing with Render Multiple Frames Simultaneously in the “Memory & Multiprocessing preferences” section of After Effects Help.

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

[Todd Kopriva]

Do the images that you’re trying to import use the RGB color model? If the images use another color model—e.g., CMYK—then the images will be imported as flattened.

For more information, see the “Preparing and importing Photoshop files” section of After Effects Help.

I found this by searching After Effects Help for ‘Photoshop flattened’.

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

[Todd Kopriva]

Shape paths have two varieties: parametric shape paths and Bezier shape paths. Parametric shape paths are defined numerically, by properties that you can modify and animate after drawing, in the Timeline panel. Bezier shape paths are defined by a collection of vertices (path points) and segments that you can modify in the Composition panel. You work with Bezier shape paths in the same way that you work with mask paths. All mask paths are Bezier paths.

The command to open or close a path is for Bezier paths.

When you create a shape by dragging with a shape tool in the Composition panel, you create a parametric shape path. To instead create a Bezier shape path, press the Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) key before you click to begin dragging. You can release the key before you complete the drag operation.

For more information, see these sections of After Effects Help:

“Create a shape or mask by dragging with shape tools”

“About shapes and shape layers”

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

[Todd Kopriva]

There’s a link to the documentation on the Cycore website from the “About effects” page of After Effects Help.

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

[Todd Kopriva]

The “Planning your work” section of After Effects Help provides some tips, and it points to an excellent article by Aharon Rabinowitz here on the Creative COW website about planning your work.

If, as you suggest, the non-real-time nature of rendering and playback is causing you problems, you might want to check out the “Improve performance” section, especially the part about improving performance by simplifying your project.

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

[Todd Kopriva]

To lock the current viewer, split the current frame, and create a new viewer of the same type in the new frame, press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+N (Windows) or Command+Option+Shift+N (Mac OS).

(from “Viewers”)

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

[Todd Kopriva]

do you happen to have any insights on this…? 🙂

I’m sure that you won’t be surprised by my stock answer:

I can’t comment on future Adobe product plans.

I can, however, point you to the blog of Michael Coleman, product manager for After Effects. He has two posts in the middle of February about 64-bit operating systems and the possible futures for After Effects with regard to 64-bitness.

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

[Todd Kopriva]

See the “Interpolation methods” section of After Effects Help. It describes several non-linear interpolation methods (mostly eases) and—far more interesting—links to Ian Haigh’s awesome script for adding all sorts of fancy interpolation expressions, including bounces.

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

[Todd Kopriva]

Yes, there is a separate serial number for Color Finesse.

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

[Todd Kopriva]

also, from what i’ve heard, the next version of ae is not planned to be 64-bit either, so you may need to wait a while before getting 64-bit effects…

I’d be curious to know where you heard that.

And we’d also be curious to know what you want and what you think. (See this post:
https://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/2/952114 )

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