[Todd Kopriva]

[Don Jaksa] “The new AE8 seems to be missing a function that I was very happy to use in AE7. The ability to import an AAF file and its associated file links is no longer possible in AE8 (afaik).
…
Anyone know why this was removed from CS3? Or has the import procedure changed?”

I just imported an AAF file and its associated (linked) footage into After Effects CS3. I just dragged and dropped it into the Project panel.

[Don Jaksa] “On a related note, the OMF export is gone in AE8 also.”

I also just rendered and exported an OMF file. OMF is one of the options in the Format menu in the Output Module Settings dialog box.

I’m curious to know why these features weren’t working for you, Don. They are both Windows-only features. Are you using a Mac?

Details of importing AAF and OMF and about rendering and exporting OMF are in these sections of After Effects CS3 Help:

“Importing AAF and OMF files (Windows only)”
“Render a composition to OMF (Windows only)”

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

As Darby says, there are hard limits to how much memory a single 32-bit application process can access, but you can make use of all of your RAM with multiprocessing (using the Render Multiple Frames Simultaneously option) in After Effects CS3.

Here is an excerpt from the “Memory usage and storage” section of After Effects CS3 Help on the Web:

“After Effects on the Mac OS X operating system can use up to 3.5 GB of RAM. After Effects on 32-bit Windows operating systems can use up to 3 GB of RAM; however, to use more than 2 GB in After Effects, you must configure Windows appropriately. After Effects on 64-bit Windows operating systems can use up to 4 GB of RAM with no special configuration.

Note: These numbers are for each After Effects process. The background processes used to render multiple frames simultaneously can each use the amount of RAM mentioned above.”

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

Rick Gerard and Dan Ebberts have posted some good expressions for this purpose on the Adobe After Effects User-to-User Forum.

Here’s a link.

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

Sorry to respond to this so late, but maybe one of these sections of After Effects CS3 Help will help:

“Render order and collapsing transformations”
“How render order and collapsed transformations affect 3D layers”

Without seeing your project, I can only guess, but it sounds like the application of the effect is triggering a change in the render order of your 3D layers and precompositions.

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Todd Kopriva, technical editor, Adobe Systems Incorporated
putting the ‘T’ back in ‘RTFM’ : After Effects Help on the Web
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How about taking a survey about After Effects documentation? Please?
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[Todd Kopriva]

[Kurt] “There’s a survey on the Adobe site, where you can rank your preference of upcoming features.”

The survey that (I think) you’re referring to is now closed. We got a lot of good responses.

[Kurt] “DOES anyone from Adobe ever pay attention to these forums???”

Ummm…. Helloooo.

Yes, we do. And we talk among ourselves about what we see on these forums, forward threads around, and otherwise consider what is said here. That said, the feature-request form and email to aebugs@adobe.com are the best, most direct, and most reliable ways of telling us what you want in After Effects (and what you think is wrong with it).

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Todd Kopriva, technical editor, Adobe Systems Incorporated
putting the ‘T’ back in ‘RTFM’ : After Effects Help on the Web
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How about taking a survey about After Effects documentation? Please?
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[Todd Kopriva]

[Darby Edelen] “What I’d really like to hear is that Adobe is working on a fix, because it is truly annoying.”

This bug will be fixed in an update that will be released in December.

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Todd Kopriva, technical editor, Adobe Systems Incorporated
putting the ‘T’ back in ‘RTFM’ : After Effects Help on the Web
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How about taking a survey about After Effects documentation? Please?
————————————————————————————————–

[Todd Kopriva]

[caffeineandpixels] “I’m not sure if Adobe reads this stuff or not…”

If I count as Adobe, then… yes, Adobe reads this stuff.

[caffeineandpixels] “(squeaky wheel gets the grease remember)”

Actually, the wheel that fills out feature-request forms and surveys gets the grease.

Use the feature-request form to ask for new features or modified behavior.

Send email to aebugs@adobe.com to report bugs.

I posted a survey link a few months ago, too. That survey is now closed, but be sure to participate in the next one to make your voice heard.

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Todd Kopriva, technical editor, Adobe Systems Incorporated
putting the ‘T’ back in ‘RTFM’ : After Effects Help on the Web
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How about taking a survey about After Effects documentation? Please?
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[Todd Kopriva]

You could start with the “Improve performance” section of After Effects CS3 Help. If the Help document doesn’t contain the information that you need, or if you’d like to add a tip of your own, leave a comment using the link at the bottom of any Help page.

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Todd Kopriva, technical editor, Adobe Systems Incorporated
putting the ‘T’ back in ‘RTFM’ : After Effects Help on the Web
————————————————————————————————–
How about taking a survey about After Effects documentation? Please?
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[Todd Kopriva]

Which version of After Effects are you using? In After Effects CS3, Adobe Flash Video is the second entry in the Format menu in the Output Module Settings dialog box.

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Todd Kopriva, technical editor, Adobe Systems Incorporated
putting the ‘T’ back in ‘RTFM’ : After Effects Help on the Web
————————————————————————————————–
How about taking a survey about After Effects documentation? Please?
————————————————————————————————–

[Todd Kopriva]

from the “Copy, cut, paste, or duplicate a mask” section of After Effects Help:

“* To copy or cut selected masks to the clipboard, choose Edit > Copy or Edit > Cut.
* To paste a mask onto a layer, select the layer and then choose Edit > Paste. If a mask is selected, this replaces the selected mask.”

————————————————————————————————–
Todd Kopriva, technical editor, Adobe Systems Incorporated
putting the ‘T’ back in ‘RTFM’ : After Effects Help on the Web
————————————————————————————————–
How about taking a survey about After Effects documentation? Please?
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