Are you trying to use just two graphic layers, have them move up together, and limit the total number of graphic layers to three, as in your second screenshot where the layers are moving?   If so, by far, the easiest way to make that work would be to use four layers, two copies of each graphic, and create a comp where graphic one is at the bottom and stationary to start with. Then, it moves up to reveal layer 2. The copy of 1 moves off-screen, layer two moves to the top, and layer 1 moves up to the bottom of the frame.    You then set an in and out-point for the Work Area where Layer 1 has stopped moving to the bottom position with Layer 2 above. The first and last frames of the work area must be identical.   Next, set the in and out points of each layer to match the work area, grab all of the layers, and Pre-compose, moving all attributes to the new comp and trimming the new comp to the layer length.    The next step is to apply Time Remapping to the pre-comp, which is now a nested comp in your main comp. Now move to the last time remapping keyframe using the K key, then go back one frame using the Cgtrl/Cmnd + right arrow key and add a new time remapping keyframe. Then move to the original last keyframe again, where you should not see the animated layers, and delete the original last keyframe.    The last step is to add a simple loopOut() expression to the time-remapping keyframes and then extend the layer to the length needed to create your loop.   If that is not what you want to do, let us know. It's easy to use an expression to automatically animate layers like live texting conversations, and you don't even need any keyframes. ... View more

Try this kind of workflow: You'll use your initial track as the starting point.  My Quick Tips Playlist   ... View more

There are still many limitations when using the Advanced 3D rendering engine. The list is in the second tab of the Composition Settings panel (Ctrl/Cmnd + K).    There is a post in the After Effects Beta forum that goes over some of the litations that you can find here.   You need a specific Environment light image layer and an Environment Light that points to that layer. You only have the Environment Light layer and the background solid in your comp. You'll need to add another layer.   There are very few good tutorials on that workflow yet. Here's one: The basic workflow is explained, but there is very little detail given yet. I have been going to try and work on a tutorial series for this new rendering engine but my workload has not given me time yet.    The Adobe Help sections and using the Beta Versions will give you a little more access to the tools, but I don't think that lights that cast shadows are coming to the Advanced 3D rendering engine anytime soon.   My Quick Tips Playlist     ... View more

Start by adding Lumetry in After Effects or Premiere Pro. Then select the Color workspade and start fiddling with the Color Temperature, then exposure, saturation, and then maybe some of the advanced controls in the Curves section. There are some good color grading and Lumetry tutorials out there. This took me about 2 minutes:   ... View more

Your comp needs to be set to 16 bit. ... View more

Blurs, blend modes, 16-bit effects, color corrections, anti-aliasing, and everything else get a boost from 256 colors per channel (16.7 million possible colors) and only 256 different levels for an alpha channel to 281 trillion colors. That's a massive difference in the quality of everything from gradients to motion blur. Even if you start with 8-bit images or footage, the final render will be significantly better if you add any effect or animation.  I only create about one 8-bit comp for every hundred created at 16 or 32-bit. Almost all of my production master renders also have a higher bit depth. I only render 8-bit H.264 files as quick tests for client approval. All delivered production masters are at least 10-bit in color, and most are higher. ... View more

The selected file in the Project Panel is an MP4, but it looks like the video is missing. It didn't turn into an MP3. The compression codec used in the MP4 is incompatible with your OS or After Effects. The MP4 container can use multiple compression systems. You might try transcoding the problem files to another compression format using another software solution. ... View more

Step through that video one frame at a time, and you will see simple straight cuts and one or two frame overlaps with about 50% transparency on the top layer. Most footage looks distorted just before the cuts or during the transitions. Mesh Warp could easily accomplish simpler distortions, and Turbulent Displace could do others. The shots are two, three, or four frames long. It's just a lot of handwork and keyframes on still images with varying overlaps and quick transparency changes.   ... View more

Try Ctrl + [ to move down and Ctrl +] to move up. On a Mac it is Cmnd + [  and Cmnd + ]   You can find the shortcuts panel by selecting the Edit/Keyboard Shortcuts Menu ... View more

The white car has very little detail. You'll have to pick things like the air vent and track that in Mocha AE until some other object with significant detail comes into the shot. Then, you need to add a second track. Mocha is a planar tracker, so the objects you track need to be co-plainer (on the same plane). The tire would be a fairly good choice.    To give you a detailed answer, we need to know what you will do with the tracking information. If you want to put a logo or something similar on the Car Door, then you only need to track the part of the shot that shows the surface you want to modify. If that part of the car will not track, you need to find another part on the same plane that will.    That is going to be a very difficult shot to track because it was not shot with tracking in mind.     ... View more

Open the Preview Panel and check the settings.   ... View more

I used the ease expression to take the luminance values from the sample radius and multiply them so that a change from 0 to 1, the maximum luminance values would change the exposure from - 1 stop to + 4 stops. The effect was to reduce the light by half (- 1 stop) when the sampled value was zero (no light) or raise it by 4 stops when the luminance peaked. That gave me some falues that worked with the tracked torch luminance values. If I wanted the resulting exposure to increase more I would have increased the last multiplier.    The Add blend mode for the blurred shape layer also helps bring a pseudo spotlight effect to the text layer as it moves over the text layer to add to the illusion that the torch is lighting the text layer.   Hope that helps.   I hope that helps.   ... View more

You cannot get predictable results when you apply Trim Paths to a path that has a fill. Duplicate the objects (the shapes) you want to Trim, then delete the fill from one copy and the stroke from the other. Group the stroked objects and apply trim paths to that group only. ... View more

You could use Mocha AE (a much more powerful and accurate tracking tool than AE's object tracking) to motion track the bright object (the candle), then attach a Null to the center of that track. I can then link the track to the position of the null to move the center of the Presets/Image-Utilities/Sample Image Expression to get the color values near the candle's center.    Once you have sampled that color, you can convert the Sample Imate/Sampled Color output to generate the luminance value of the tracked light. This code will give you a value between 0 and 1 for the luminance value of the sampled layer. ("Candle Video"): cv = thisComp.layer("Candle Video").effect("Sample Image")("Sampled Color Output"); hls = rgbToHsl(cv); lum = hls[2]; You can then use the Lum value to adjust the exposure value of Lumetri/Exposure or any other color correction effect by using some simple math or even an ease or linear interpolation method to control anything but the curve effect to automate the color adjustments to your layers.   If I saw your timeline with the modified properties of the layers you want to color grade, I could give you some specifics.   Another much simpler approach would be to create a black-and-white radial gradient shape layer with the center of the gradient on the anchor point, set the blend mode to overlay, adjust the size and opacity, and adjust the size, then attach the position of the tracked candle to the radial gradient. Experiment with blend modes and opacity to get the look you want.  I use blend modes, blurs, glows, and other simple effects to clean up my composites in almost all of that kind of project. ... View more

I figured out the problem. If there is no camera in the scene, when you change the comp size without a camera in the comp, the new default camera is created closer to the comp center than it should be. You can fix the framing by adding a default camera, selecting the camera position, right-clicking, and choosing reset.   I discovered this by changing the comp size and resetting the default camera.   I have never encountered this problem because I always add a camera to a 3D comp as part of my standard workflow. Perspective is controlled by camera position, and framing is by focal length. I only want to include 3D layers to gain control over the perspective changes when layers animate, so I need control over the camera.   Repositioning of the default camera should be a fairly easy mathematical fix.  ... View more

To simplify the glow, try using a shape layer instead of a mask with Stroke applied to a solid and switching the rendering engine to Classic 3D.   The C4D rendering engine does not support many things, including Effects and Blend modes on some types of 3D layers. If you don't need to extrude a layer, you don't need the C4D rendering engine. ... View more

If you need to install Rosetta and your Mac is new and using the latest OS, you have downloaded the wrong After Effects version. Use the Creative Cloud app to install AE. Everything should work out fine. ... View more

What is your specific workflow? A screenshot of your timeline with the modified properties of the problem layers would help us help you. Select the timeline, press the 'u' key twice, take a screenshot, and drag or copy and paste to the reply field in the forum (don't use Drag and drop here, please). We can probably figure out what is causing the problem if we see the timeline.   If you are not already using it, try Pixel Motion Blur. It renders a little slower but gives more realistic when other methods fail. ... View more

I am not seeing this behavior, 25 and 25 beta on a Mac. ... View more

You can use your moving object (layer) as a track matte for the text layer. Track mattes are enabled in the timeline. They are an essential basic tool. If you cannot figure it out, type "Track Matte" in the Search Help field in the top right corner of the After Effects UI. ... View more

Open the Creative Cloud app, view apps, look for the Ellipsis (... ) at the bottom of the app frame, and click on it. You'll see Other Versions there. You can replace the current version from here or install a second copy of After Effects. The options for previous versions only go back one major build.   ... View more