seanm987654 you can see that this thread went way way beyond your question but our top specialist here wrote that your expression does not work. you can try this timer by the master genius Dan Ebberts that is claimed to be perfect: Dan Ebberts's Expressioneering Design Guide ... View more

thank you Rick. you are an encyclopedia for this software and as always - appreciate you are taking the time. I admit the technicalities of drop frame vs non drop is beyond me. part of it's is because my poor math skills, and the other is because almost all of my work is on whole frame rates. I work in a PAL country so it's either that for broadcast or HD square. I am not experienced by practice with this issue. I realize the CTI is not a "clock on the wall" and that's what's so confusing.   you wrote valuable information here but I am sorry to say that I can get maybe only half of it. maybe after a while and with more practice I will wrap my head around it and fully get it. There was no need for you to add a video to your test. got it. thank you ... View more

Thank you Rick for laying it down. trying to be picky here so after runnings some more tests it seems that both expressions (Op's and the one I copied) cannot represent the actual time code. I have downloaded a music with a video playing at 29.97 - this is the video: The Cars - Magic (HQ).mp4 - Google Drive when I drag it to a composition it seems the only way to make the timecode work at all frames is to use like you said - the ntsc expression: timeToNTSCTimecode(t = time + thisComp.displayStartTime, ntscDropFrame = false, isDuration = false) would you agree? nothing else sticks. not Op's expression (with 59.94 or not), not Dan's expresiion, and not the one I contributed here. drop frame or no. notice the difference between what's on screen and the Timeline actual timecode: Op's expression set to 59.94 ND Frame Op's expression set to 59.94 D Frame Dan's Expression ND Frame Dan's Expression D Frame I also tried another video at 23.97 and still the timecode won't stick, but only with the ntsc expression. Dan's expression what do you make of this? ... View more

I find that the expression you provided not working as it should, no matter what number you put in there. after some research, I found the following expression that does the same thing and is much simpler: sec = Math.floor(time%60); min = Math.floor(time/60); if(sec<10) {"0" + min +":0" + sec;} else {"0" + min +":" + sec;} got it from here: After Effects: Tutorial | How to display time & create a countdown - YouTube ... View more

thank you Dave. this got me going back and forth for a second, but I double checked and Op wrote in the header: "Move all comp objects" so he probably means move many layers with animation keyframes together. if you want to move one layer at a time, one value at a time then the offsetting technique like Dave suggested makes sense. for instance if you got this type of setup: or even this: then yes, you can offset the layer or layers as long as these conditions apply: 1. one layer - one keyframe is under your CTI, all keyframes are selected 2. many layers - all the keyframes are parallel under your CTI - i.e, at the exact frame in time, all keyframes are selected (I wouldn't risk doing this technique with many layers though. only with one layer) but if you have this setup - use a null ... View more

Glad to help buddy. this workflow should have be written somewhere here: Adjust layer properties in After Effects under parent and layers, since it's a very important and useful implementation of parenting. even more that rigging a character in my opinion. ... View more

Got it thanks. about Hours rates - that actually was a joke but if we are talking about this - when I freelance at home I do work hour rates many times. I got a few places (producers, directors, artists, production houses etc.) that supply me work from time to time. I work at my own time and when it's done I give the sum hours of my work. some will need an evaluation on how many shifts it could take and we accommodate the work to that number. if it's a big project say for instance a graphic package - then I will set a price for the whole thing in advance. if it's a client I haven't work with yet I will probably charge by shifts which is 10 hours. or maybe half a shift 5 hours and we will set the budget in advance. ... View more

delete the warp stabilized comp from the project. it is a good idea to delete the Camera Tracking effect as soon as you have  set the origin and ground plane and added your 3D placeholders, text layers and nulls. if it's long duration or heavy pixel count, I usually use D.I too. but I never delete the effects or pre-comps, I will usually create D.I proxies and keep the information in my project and not delete anything because I want my options open if I need to. when I render my final composition I have a template to render with proxies. We opened up the project toughener, duplicated the footage layer , set the in point of the duplicate one frame before the CGI element needed to show up, set the out point one frame after the 3D element left the frame, pre-composed the shot trimming the pre-comp to the length of the layer, why didn't you just trim the footage and use 3D Camera Tracker? (why duplicate and pre-compose?) I was out of there in less than an hour hope you got paid by a day's work and not per hour ... View more

thank you Rick once again for sharing your techniques with such detailed posts and project files. the project file looks great. your technique of corner pin -> power pin stretch -> pre-comp -> corner pin is a beautiful reversible stabilization technique for stabilizing corner pin data. once again the "stabilized-first-for-match moving" workflow is worth it. I am afraid it does require a setup that I believe most beginners or even medium skill users will fail to pull through. there's also expressions involved and unless they have the full Rick Gerard Presets Tracking Package v3.0 (when is it out??), they may find themselves in over their heads thanks for pointing that out it's also a good practice to use warp stabilizer at the end of the workflow chain, because this could mess with the data for the tracker. though I found that in some cases it helped me save a very shaky shot where I had to WS it, create a D.I, and send that to mocha for Corner Pinning. so this will be probably be left for the user's discretion to see what works best. as for expressions: I am far from expert but I prefer to use an expressions that allows me fine adjustments and not locked to the corner pin data such as: value+effect("Corner Pin")("Upper Left"). for inverse scaling I use a simpler form of expression  (for me) such as : [10000/thisComp.layer("stabilized").transform.scale[0], 10000/thisComp.layer("stabilized").transform.scale[1]] ... View more

You're welcome! ask for it here: Feature Request/Bug Report Form ... View more

yes. there's something wrong wait what? warp stabilizer? when did you mention you were using that? if you stabilized the footage first - of course there is going to be offset. the WS footage is not what you tracked but the un-stabilized footage. so when you attach points on the stabilized version there is an offset. you can pre-comp the footage with the WS effect and track this again instead. this way you are tracking the stabilized footage and placing the data accordingly. other then that, I am not exactly sure what you did wrong. this is how you do it: 1. Track the footage 2. apply to a null 3. attach the text and line to it 4. get paid BTW looking at your scene and noticing that the track will get off screen means you can deal with it in two ways: 1.keeping the attach point to and move the search region  (difficulty of technique: intermediate) read here: Tracking and stabilization motion workflows in After Effects 2. use the 3D Tracker for this whole scene instead of the point tracker now place everything anywhere you want! but this too requires practice and knowledge and you could actually mess things even more. read the link for more knowledge. Tracking and stabilization motion workflows in After Effects ... View more

everything looks fine from here. the null is the same as the attach point so if the attach point looked like it sticking in the layer panel as you tracked your footage - the null should do the same. we still did not see what is the problem because there is no video file showing a drift. maybe there is something in your workflow that messes this up. could you render a file to show where this shift occurs? you are not using 3D on your layers right? if there is a way for you to upload the footage - I could have a go at it and show you how to do this. ... View more

and there's also this: Layer Groups 2 - aescripts + aeplugins - aescripts.com ... View more

thank you S for making this more clear. it seems that indeed Adobe changed the default behavior based on feedback: Creative Cloud Delivering More Choice for Installations | Adobe Customer Care Team so I guess the lesson here is - don't listen to us? I think it's a flaw in the design and clarity of this application. I mean most of us are designers and with fair amount of knowledge in technical stuff and interface and many still missed it! to play for a second Adobe's advocate - the do write it in the main APP Update window what will happen. here: I mean everybody can see that right? I am guessing this advanced option - if only it was OPEN by default like this: many lives would be saved. I mean do we really need the advanced toggle here? just two options and there is room here. just a U.I designer/programmer at Adobe's offices thought - "hey, this is more elegant!" failing to realize that unprecedented number of users will be devastated, costing them millions of dollars probably (maybe I am exaggerating). If I was the U.I designer I would make it like this: and the update is grayed out until you choose an option. this way the user is committed to a change. ... View more

Great! ... View more

this "remove previous versions" as default is such a big mistake. I can't imagine why would they do that - this has caused so many problems to so many users and this feature has been there since 2013 and still nothing has changed. somebody at Adobe's marketing probably thinks this is still a good idea. wish we got some sort of explanation as to why is this still there by default when the forums are filled with complaints about this. if someone has a thread that has some sort of response from Adobe - please share. ... View more

My composition is 30fps. I conformed the frame rate of the video using the interpret footage function and set the video to 30fps. I am not sure about the term "conform" - you only interpreted the footage as 30fps so what will happen in your case is that Ae sets that many frames per second and adjusts the duration accordingly - 00:10:00 duration of 29.372 is 294 frames. at 30fps it's 00:09:24 duration. pretty close. anyways rendering the footage at 30fps will give you the same result in this case so no need to do that. not sure if your footage and composition were not the same until now (or that this was the problem) if they are - try to track and tell us the results and let's see. if that doesn't work, show us clear screenshots and make it up to us maybe with a video capture showing your workflow if you can. one last thing. see here see how your tracker is squashed like that? I believe this means that the aspect ratio is not square - make sure that the aspect ratio of your composition matches your original footage. and WELCOME TO THE AE FORUM! where the Ae geeks get to show how amazingly ingenious they are, on the expense of disoriented Ae newbies. ... View more

it is never a good Idea to crop your screenshots. full screenshots with full view of project, composition and timeline window please and press UU while your at it I would check a couple of things: 1. that your footage is at the same frame rate, resolution and aspect ratio as your composition. 2. check for yourself if the data is exact. null position = attach point. ... View more

now that's it's a shape layer, just add a stroke ADD->Stroke you don't need the mask just delete it. and you don't need the Stroke Effect. read here: Create and customize shapes and masks in After Effects ... View more

what Ae version EXACTLY. also, please provide a screenshots with the timeline and composition in plain sight and we will get to the bottom of this. ... View more

the stroke effects only applies to masks. not shapes. there are 2 ways that I suggest to deal with this: 1. convert the vector layer to shape by right clicking and choosing "Create Shapes from Vector Layer" and this will give you hopefully and exact instance of your layer, as Ae shape layer. there you can add a stroke by toggling the contents parameter in the timeline and Add Stroke 2. copy the path from illustrator to Ae by just clicking copy (Ctrl+C) on the Ai layer and Paste (Ctrl+v) on the Ae layer and now you have a mask path that you can add a stroke effect to I support the 1st option. ... View more

I am not exactly sure what do mean. do you have a reference? - photo or video at certain time code so we could give you exact suggestions? if you are talking dust particles there are plugins that can achieve a pretty convincing effect (particular for example) and there's always live footage that is shot on black and superimposed on the video with some blending mode - for example here: Lens Flares / Abstract | FX Elements and here https://lensdistortions.com/video/shimmer/?v=88588bacf0da ... View more

if you are seeing something like this: then it is, as Rick suggested, a trial based Plugin. i.e an effect that does not come with your After Effects install, and is installed on your machine, BUT it is set to a Trial mode and not full. when it's on "Trial" mode - you usually can use most of the features but you get an X. some Plugins don't have X for the trial modes, but eliminate important features instead. more often then not, this X usually belongs to a Redgiant Trapcode Effect: Shine, Particular and a few more. a better shortcut key instead of U or UU to look for used effects in your timeline, is to type E. U will show you properties with keyframes and UU will show you only modified properties but there could be many, and also some that don't include effects, or maybe you didn't even modify the effect so you won't see it at all. on the other hand E will show only Effects property group and it's much easier. you also have this switch of layers with effects to give you an indication that the layer has an effect. Happy searching ... View more