...so in other words, get used to making precomps or start moving to a different compositing application.  There are several. ... View more

Based on the wealth of information above,  your machine probably doesn't meet reative Cloud system specs and so it won't let you even bother to download it... because it wouldn't work. Or maybe you made your machine angry at you, in which case I recommend a contrite attitude plus flowers and dinner at a nice restaurant. ... View more

...why wouldnt people want that level of accuracy when animating, especially when working to music at a specific duration? Because often people are animating to words or beats in the music.  Music is rarely performed with a computer-precise beat and tempo.  Musicians aren't robots: they swing the beat sometimes.  They use rubato.  They change tempo.  They change time signatures.  As a result, you have to FIND those words and beats.  It's not a situation where you can say, "There!  I've found the duration of one beat!  Now it's easy to find the rest of them!"  If you try it, you will be very disappointed. Try finding the precise end of a piece of music that fades or ends on a big chord with a ring-out.  You'll see that it's trial-and-error: what's the point where it becomes inaudible?  It depends on how high your speakers are turned up.  You might have them way up, you set an end point for the layer, and then you do a RAM Preview at a more reasonable volume.  You might say, "Hey!  The music ends before the layer ends!"...  but you KNOW you set the layer's out point when the audio file goes silent. AE has layer markers that can be used on an audio layer to mark beats, words, etc. They come in very handy. I guess it comes down to this: because AE can do so much different stuff, there are very few automated procedures.  Oh, Adobe tries with effects that convert audio levels to keyframes, but they're not 100% reliable... especially on something like a capella choral works.  For true accuracy, you need  find the timings yourself.  If you want something simpler, try a different application. But be prepared for lower level of accuracy. ... View more

It depends.  There is no one set solution. AE defaults to making the duration of STILL IMAGE LAYERS the same length as the composition, and video clips at the length of the clip. There are a few ways to change the in & out points of any layer.  The easiest may be this:  go to the point in the comp where you want to set such a point.  Highlight the layer.  Hit alt-[ for an in-point or alt-] for an out point.  On a Mac, the correspoinding keystroke combos are opt-[ and opt]. And if you're asking such a basic question, you really, Really, REALLY need to spend a lot of quality time here.  Otherwise you'll get hopelessly lost.  AE's very powerful, and as a result, it isn't very intuitive.  If you blow off the basics, you won't get anywhere. ... View more

That sounds plausible, and not all that far off the mark.  How's your internet connection speed? ... View more

Please define "forever".  At the moment it could be anything from "day after day" to "not instantaneous". ... View more

If your system doesn't meet minimum system specs, you CAN'T download them from Adobe.  But since you don't say anything about them, we can't say for sure if that's the problem. Care to enlighten us? ... View more

What other software do you have other than After Effects? ... View more

Sounds like you need a clean install: OS and application software. There too many differences between a laptop and a desktop machine to rely on cloning a drive. ... View more

Yeah, you're right there:  I wouldn't try to get a day job as a writer if I were you. I have NO CLUE whether there's a youtube video for this.  I've never had to look for one. ... View more

Read this thread: http://forums.adobe.com/message/5565603#5565603 ... View more

Has nobody ever requested this before? Oh, they might have, but feature requests are like voting in a Chicago election: do it early and often. ... View more

It isn't necessary in most cases -- Judder is a bigger issue in horizontal motion. It happens when a selected horizontal speed is just the wrong thing for the frame rate, and ot happens more often at lower frame rates like 23.976. Rick Gerard has an excellent good discussion on judder plus steps to solve the problem on this web site; unfortunately, I can't put my finger on it.  Perhaps he'll chime in with a link. ... View more

Thanks for the system info.  I see you use QTX, which can cause problems.  I've corresponded with many legacy  Final Cut Pro users who almost unanimously pan QTX, and remove it from their systems to replace it with QT7: a superior effort to QTX, with the same codecs. You might try the same: find the QTX Application file, note its original name, write it down, rename it and stick it in its own folder away from the other Apple utilities.  You still have it, but the OS can't see it.  You can then download & install QT7. So why didn't these problems crop up immediately since you've been using QTX for a while with AE?  I can't think of any of the former QTX users who experienced immediate problems: it took them a while to surface. ... View more

Enough of the stabs in the dark: here's a boatload of diagnostic information to supply: FAQ: What information should I provide when asking a question on this forum? Overlook nothing. ... View more

I am running CS6 on a MacBook Pro with 4GB of Ram... Yipes.  That's not much memory: just about enough to run the OS along with AE, and no other applications... and not anything very complicated in AE at that.  140 layers can get kinda complicated.  Furthermore, mp4's aren't good because of the decoding AE has to do BEFORE it gets down to business.  Mp3's aren't good because... well, because they've never worked well in AE. Turn off multiprocessing and LEAVE IT OFF. Don't use open GL. Don't even think about using ray tracing on 3D layers. Since you already have a good audio track, just render the video and turn off the audio tracks. AE used to let you purge memory every X number frames.  You used to get to it by holding down the shift key, then selecting Composition>Make movie.  I don't see it any more.  Maybe someone else can help with that. Use the Render Queue to make a lossless file.  I like Quicktime's PNG codec. Use something else to do the compression. ... View more

This is easy to do:  duplicate the nested composition in the project window and give it a new name.  Use the Replace Footage command to put the renamed comp into your main comp.  You can now make changes to the renamed duplicate nested comp, and they will affect only those comps where it has been placed. ... View more

Oh, you mean the little play button on the viewer that shows you a few seconds before and after the  cursor's current position?  THAT Play button? Why do you think it moves so slowly until it plays through the that duration one time?  It's building its own RAM Preview. ... View more

... I believe the message we are all in agreement on is that Keylight has some unpredictable issues, regardless of Dynamic Linking. Is it Keylight, or is it the footage itself?  What is the media container and the codec of the footage that's causing these problems? ... View more

AE needs a separate audio track, and your clip probably has multiplexed audio: it's embedded in the video.  You can transcode the clip to a lossless codec with audio, and you're set. ... View more

... there is one advantage- in that you are not consuming extra hard drive space with segments of the final product. You have to render eventually.  I don't see how this saves a great deal of storage. ... View more

I don't know why people feel compelled to use Dynamic link.  Rendering out of AE into the codec used for the Premiere timeline works just fine, the rendering is OVER, you don't have to second-guess if there could be AE-Dynamic Link weirdness and you can get on with life. ... View more

Make a quicktime movie in the PNG codec.  Use the AE Render Queue. Do NOT export.  Open the Output Module and be sure to select RGB +Alpha, Millions Of Colors+.  Or Trillions, perhaps. ... View more

I also have the same problem when i import a clip into adobe after effects the program doesnt read any audio what so ever. Someone please help.! Are you saying that that although you went through all the steps suggested in the thread so far, you STILL can't hear audio? Or did you come upon this thread, see a similarity to your situation, and send up a cry for help without trying any of the suggested remedies? There's a big difference. ... View more

The old Lens Blur handled depth maps correctly, but it was slow as hell.  If Adobe had just made that plugin multiprocessing-aware we'd be golden. Yup.  I suspect the application's legacy code prohibited it, but I have NO insider information on the topic.  AE seems to be heading for a crossroads: will it keep up with times, or will it be consigned to other applications that worked well for a while, then disappeared? I love working with AE.  I hope it's the first option. ... View more

it said Analysis solve failed... and my camera was on a stand, it dont move. Then why do you need to stabalize the the shot?  What is wrong with it?  Please describe. ... View more

Randomize two colors?  Just two?  it would probably be easier to ALTERNATE the colors.  If you randomize only two colors, it will look like two colors changing at variable durations. ... View more

http://helpx.adobe.com/creative-suite/kb/troubleshoot-download-assistant.html ... View more