Your composition magnification ratio is set to 800 or 1600%. You're just seeing pixel-based artifacts in the vector curve because there are large blocks of pixels, and After Effects is not a vector-based app.    You will see similar artifacts in Illustrator if you zoom in more than 100% and turn on Pixel Preview in the View Menu. When laying out graphics for video in Illustrator, it is critical that you look at the Pixel Preview (Ctrl/Cmnd + Alt/Option) at 200 to 400% and have Snap To Pixel turned on if your design relies on thin horizontal and vertical lines. You must ensure they line up with the pixel grid to keep the thin lines from changing color because they are anti-aliased between multiple pixels. You cannot do much to single-pixel-width curved or diagonal lines. Your black or white lines become greys when thin details are not aligned with the pixel grid.     ... View more

Have you tried running the Updater from Maxon? Tao is working just fine for me. So is Mir. There was a recent update. ... View more

The expression divides time into frames, so you are calculating frame numbers: s = time/thisComp.frameDuration   You could also use: s = timeToFrames()   The next part of the expression just multiplies the s (short for speed) value by 4.    The last line of the expression could also be written this way. [value[0], s * value[1];   value[0] is the first value in the position array or X. value[1] is the Y value. The brackets make the line an array.   Hope this helps.   ... View more

This could be a memory and cache problem. Try purging everything using the Edit Menu.   If that does not work, delete the keyframe after the glitch and create a new one. ... View more

You have created a composition with a 2:1 pixel aspect ratio. You can see that in the Preview icon with the selected file: Check and make sure that the original footage also has a 2:1 Pixel aspect ratio. If it does, then open the View Options using the three bars to the right of the Composition name in the Comp Panel. If the footage is not Anamorphic, check in the Project Panel or by using the File/Interpret Footage menu, then open the Composition Settings (Ctrl/Cmnd + k) and reset the Pixel Aspect Ratio to 1:1. ... View more

Start by picking another workspace. If that helps, and you have not saved over the Default or your standard workspace, try resetting the workspace using the window/workspace menu.   You should also try double-clicking on some footage in the Project Panel to see if the Footage Panel opens and shows you some video.   If that does not work, you probably have system update problems or another program (anti-virus is a common problem creator) fouling up the video display. ... View more

I think you are just experiencing judder because of the interraction between frame rate and movement. To get smooth slow moves you need to move along the axis precisely a whole number of pixels per frame.    Try removing the keyframes for position and then use this expression to generate the movement.  s = timeToFrames(4);// 4 pixels per frame. x = time*s; [value[0] + x, value[1]] ... View more

You will have to open the file in 24.6, then do a "save as" and choose a previous version of After Effects.  ... View more

Try using the Edit menu to Purge all memory and disk cache. ... View more

This is not a bug—stack effects are rendered in order. If you want the second copy of Drop Shadow to add to the shadow created from the first effect try this. Before applying Drop Shadow, duplicate the layer. On the bottom copy apply Drop Shadow and set it to render Shadow Only. Now apply a second copy of drop shadow. The distances are going to add up, but you won't get three shadows from two applications of the effect. ... View more

I'm not sure where you are going with this question. If you delete vertices, the whole transition between keyframes will be fouled up. If you have the wrong keyframe interpolation set up, you can get weird bounces between keyframes. This applies to vector paths, motion paths, and even color or opacity keyframes.    I haven't fiddled with an expression to look for vertices that don't change position between keyframes, but any expression that looks back at a position value for every vertex in a complex shape or mask path and then compares that with the position of every other vertex or point in the path is going to be very slow. Expressions don't remember what happened before the current frame; they have to look back one frame, then one more, then back again until they get to the start of the timeline. They become recursive and will slow down your render. I'm not as much of an expression expert as Dan Ebberts, but It would not surprise me that an expression that looks at a path with hundreds of points and tries to figure out which ones did not change position would slow down to a complete crawl in just a few frames. As far as I know, the only way to get the position of a path point is to implement the language generated by the Create Nulls from Paths script in the window menu. A path with 100 points would generate 100 null layers or require at least 100 look back lines of code for every vertex. Dan would know for sure, but I am pretty sure that this would be an insanely difficult and inefficient way to approach your workflow problem.   I have done hundreds of complex animated maps and chart illustrations with complex animated shapes and mask paths. I usually use Rotobezier paths instead of standard vertex paths because there are fewer handles to fiddle with. When I do that moving line animation, I almost always apply "Create Nulls from Paths/Points Follow Nulls" from the path at its most complicated shape. Then, I manually add position keyframes to the nulls. It usually does not take very many keyframes, and it's pretty easy to move the nulls around and even use parenting to simplify the animation workflow. I set up the keyframe interpolation methods to be linear. If I need to finess the timing, I pre-compose and apply time remapping instead of messing with easing or the Graph Editor on all those keyframed properties.   I hope this long-winded explanation helps you figure out an easier way to animate your battle lines. ... View more

If you want the new paint strokes to appear on top of the layer with the mask, just open the layer in the Layer Panel (The Paint workspace makes this easy) and change the Paint/Channels setting from RGB to RGBA. If you want to maintain the clean edges of the mask and paint behind it follow this workflow: Duplicate the layer you want to paint on; name it Paint On Me or something like that Move the duplicate below the original layer Open the Paint workspace and then select the Paint On Me layer, and paint away using the RGBA Channel Setting in the Paint Panel   That's all there is to it.   ... View more

If you are using 3D models, I suggest using Blender (free, open-source, powerful, HTTP://blender.org) and doing everything there. It will be a lot less work than using After Effects.   If you must use After Effects, consider purchasing Element 3D from Video Copilot. That will give you the most streamlined workflow.   If you cannot purchase Element 3D, use the Advanced 3D rendering engine to put each component on a separate layer. You may need to create some track mattes to hide edges.   From your project design description, I would guess that after you get a handle on Blender, the time to create a 10 second animation would be under an hour. Using Element 3D, maybe an hour and a half, or using After Effects without 3rd party effects, two to three hours after you have spent the time reequired to learn the basics of the AE workflows. ... View more

I forgot that CC Particle World does not use the comp camera, and I cannot figure out how to change the emitter position, which is based on a percentage of the width with the comp center being zero, and the camera position and orientation, which constantly change, when you use the Camera Tracker.   The math may be possible if you could convert the One-node camera to the Two-node camera, but that doesn't work because the point of interest never changes.    You'll have to use a particle system that uses the comp camera and then normalize the camera track. ... View more

The easiest way to make the % a thinner font would be to use a second text layer and tie it to the position of the first layer with sourceRectAtTime(). My first reply gives you the solution to that problem.   To make the underline fit the text, it is more efficient to use the Create Nulls From Paths/points follow nulls script from the Window Menu and tie the position of the end of the line null to the width of the combined text layers using sourceRectAtTime(). I don't have time to write that expression for you right now.   The problem with using Trim Paths is that you would have to calculate the length of the original line and then come up with a percentage of that length based on the total width of the text. The math and the expression would be a lot more complicated.    ... View more

Give us a time queue for the video. There are hundreds of shots in that video using several dozen different workflows. ... View more

Have you applied Normalize Track to the camera tracker before applying CC Particle World? CC Particle World will expect the camera's origin to point to the comp center instead of 0, 0, 0, as it does when you run Camera Tracker. Normalize Track - Workbench ... View more

You have to license the product. It requires a purchase. The installer should have given you a license dialogue. ... View more

Just use two text layers.  ... View more

If you have a file created in 24, you have to open it in 24, then choose File/Save As/Save a Copy as 22x... Then, you have to open the file in 23x or 22.x and repeat the process to save it as a 21.x file.    It is also important to realize that features available in the latest version will be lost when you save the file as a previous version.          ... View more

You have a couple of options. The first option is to drop your footage in a 30-minute comp and go to the Layer/Time/Enable Time Remapping menu or use the keyboard shortcut Alt/Option + Ctrl/Cmnd + t. This will add Time Remapping to the timeline and set a keyframe at the first frame of the footage and another one after the last frame, and it should extend the footage layer to the end of the 30-minute composition. All you have to do is drag the second keyframe to the end of the composition + 1 frame.    The second option is to do some math and figure out a new interpolated frame rate for your composition. One hundred frames over thirty seconds is 0.3 frames per second. Select the footage in the Project panel and then use the File/Interpret Footage/Main menu or select the footage and use the keyboard shortcut Alt/Option + Ctrl/Cmnd + g. All you have to do then is set the frame rate to 0.3 fps, and the footage will now last thirty seconds. ... View more

If you rename properties in the Timeline or Effects Control Panel, you must move up the stack to include those name changes in an animation preset. For example, if you change the name of an Effects Control Slider to "Speed" and select Slider in the timeline, the changed name will not be included in the preset. Instead, spin up the Slider so only the Effect/New Name property is visible and select the new name.   Unfortunately, there is no way to save a Layer Name when creating an animation preset. You can only save properties that show up under the layer name in the timeline.   Once again, spin up all the properties below a renamed property and select only the renamed property to get the name change to be remembered in the Animation Preset. If you need layer names to be saved, you will have to learn how to create scripts for After Effects.  ... View more

You have multiple 3D planes with different elements (objects, trees, water) that are all moving in slightly different ways, and each layer has slightly different distortion effects applied. You can't do something like that using a single layer.   You can come close with simple 3D layers in After Effects, but I believe that your example was created in a 3D app. ... View more

With the latest builds, you can render as fast or faster using the Adobe Media Encoder.    There is little hope for an update on Render Garden.  ... View more

I use the Composition/Composition Flowchart menu all the time to drill down through complex compositions. Expanding the flowchart will reveal all layers, all effects, and all source files in a master comp. Double-clicking on any of the little squares in the comp will open up the nested comp and select the layer. It's a great time saver.   ... View more

Render Garden was made in 2017. It was great for several years, but if you try to download it or click on the links, it has been discontinued.   A few years ago, when it was still working with one of the later versions of After Effects, I ran some tests, and there was little or no improvement because of the GPU acceleration that AE now has. Unless the developer rebuilds the product, I don't think it will work with the latest versions of After Effects. ... View more

Take a look at this thread Re: Continuously looping a dashed stroke.    All it takes to create the continuously moving dashed line is a loopOut() expression on the Offset property of Dashes with the first keyframe at zero and the next at the sum of the dashes and gaps settings. Then, drag the second keyframe up or down the timeline to control the speed of the moving dashed line. ... View more