I can't render in ProRes because I'm on using a PC and I can read ProRes videos but not output to them. I just remembered I have the "Go Pro Cineform" codec so I could output a .mov with that codec with trillians of colours so that might be best, if I output with that with high quality and trillians of colours+alpha, as an intermediate file before applyin the colour keys. Though if I could easily re-create the whole project so it didn't need that step and if it could work after doing that (and collect files didn't get me a working color range key effect for the new project) I'd do that as that should be better. I did try using keylight before using colour range (I normally would use it if I could for a green screen shot) but for some reason when I used if for this project it didn't give the result I wanted, but I've just tried it again now and it does seem to be giving quite a good key and I might use that multiple times (for the different coloured background) and that does have a colour picker that works (unlike color range for this project). Thanks. edit: I assume if I want to use keylight multiple times for the different coloured greens etc. it would be best to use a very low screen gain so it just gets the particular colour for each use of keylight - otherwise it changes the greenish to blackish on parts it doesn't key properly. edit: keylight placed directly on the original ProRes mov file layer worked quite well but placed on the layer that is another comp (eg. a pre-comp? - ie. the composition that is the result of that prores video+all the masks etc.) it doesn't work very well for some reason. ... View more

Basically the problem project has 1 composition with a lot of masks and mask keyframes (as well as lot of paints on of transparency) and that composition is part of another composition where I've got a lot of keying and a key cleaner (and similar) and refine mask effect. To resolve this problem with the color key no longer selecting in this project, if it can't be fixed would I be best rendering the first composition to a quicktime png file (100% quality+alpha)? and putting the color keys in a brand new project and doing another render for the client from that new project? Would I lose quality because of the "trillions of colours" in the ProRes source file (which would I assume then be millions of colours in the quicktime png - would that lead to a worse key)? ... View more

Thanks a lot. I collected the files (though not the media) and saved that. Though when I open that project (that was the collected files) I still get the same issue with the eye dropper icon changing to the normal mouse pointer when when I click on the color range key effect and move the mouse over the ProRes mov or a composition derived from it (ie. clicking on the eye dropper icon would change it to the eye dropper but then moving the eye dropper to the composition window to select a colour would change it back to an arrow pointer). Though when I select "new project" and put that mov into it (just that) and add the color range effect, the colour picker (eye dropper icon) works normally with it. ... View more

Is there something within the main project that's become corrupted? Would I have to copy everything out of the project into a new project (and is there a good way to do that)? Or would it be better to re-encode the pro-res file as an uncompressed video and replace the video in the project with the uncompressed one (even though that will create a big file (since it's a 4K video) and that will create a file I shouldn't need if the project still worked with pro-res? edit: I tried replacing the video in the project with a png compressed version of it and the colour picker still doesn' work in that project for that video. ... View more

You could try going to File->Scripts->Scale Composition in After Effects. ... View more

You could create a mask with the pen tool and animate that. Couldn't you have shot it with green on the monitor so you could have just keyed it out+done a corner pin? ... View more

Or, whenever you need to use a quicktime file with a Jpeg2000 codec (or similar codec no longer supported), you could use After Effects CC 2017. ie. you could have both After Effects CC 2017 and After Effects CC 2018 on the same machine and use CC 2017 when needed. That way the videos wouldn't need to be re-encoded (which would possibly reduce the quality or increase the file size). The downside is that there could potentially be security issues if the codec(s) are no longer supported. ... View more

You could use After Effects CC (eg. 2017 or 2018) and either render directly to quicktime, selecting the Animation codec or send it to Adobe Media Encoder CC with quicktime and animation codec. Though that's usually for videos not stills. But I suppose you could render a 1 frame animation if you only wanted 1 frame. ... View more

stefanf51186509  wrote Thanks for your answers, A.I.1 and Rick! First Purge everything Rick, I'm not sure what you mean by that? He likely means to select Edit->Purge->All Memory & Disc Cache. ... View more

Would it be easier if the layers were converted to 3d layers (and set at the correct x,y,z position and initial scale). ... View more

What codec are you rendering to? What bitrate? What resolution (pixel width & height)? ... View more

Even if I hire the cheapest labour I can find from a country where wages are low, spending $50 on a template to save a few dozen hours of work is still cheap. If you look at the cheapest sites (eg. Fiverr) for most of the explainer videos, the budget (where specified) for the majority of projects is under around $50 (and the seller only gets about 80% of the project price). That being the case, for those projects with those budgets (which are the majority of requests on that site) it wouldn't make sense for the seller to purchase a template that cost $50 for use on just 1 project. Also if you spent the $50 approx on the template from that site, you wouldn't be able to give that template to the person you wanted to do the actual video because the license terms say it is for "yourself or for one client". You'd have to pay the seller an amount covering the cost of the template+the cost of their time etc. and hope they don't re-use (or aren't reusing) the template illegally. If there are better value templates/stock items that would be better. But the license terms of the videohive site just seem way overpriced (since you can't use the templates etc. on multiple projects for the specified prices). The prices might only make more sense if you work on a much more expensive site. ... View more

There are a ton of pre-built video components like these available for not much money I'm not sure they're very good value for money seeing as the prices are between $49 and $58 for each product you produce. You also wouldn't be allowed to use them where the end user was charged. So if you wanted to use a few elements from the $58 package your final video delivered to a client would need to be >$58 to make a profit (some client's wouldn't want to spend so much). It wouldn't get any cheaper by using them in more projects (ie. you couldn't buy the package then use them in multiple projects without paying the $58 fee for each project). If you wanted to use some elements from all 3 packages in 1 project you'd have to pay the price of all 3 packages for that project (again the cost couldn't  get reduced by using them in more projects - if you want to be paid for those projects -  due to the license prices). So though $49 or $58 may not sound like much, $49 or $58 (or more if using elements from >1 of the packages in 1 video) would be a lot when that's the price for their use in 1 end product. ... View more

To change the order of the layers, click on the layer you want to move, holding down the mouse, then move the mouse pointer to where you want it to go (eg. you can move the top layer to so there's an indicator pointing to just below the layer below), then release the mouse button. ... View more

The option to use more cores doesn't exist anymore, or does it? That's correct, not in After Effects (though something like RenderGarden could make use of them within After Effects for rendering - though I've never used RenderGarden). You could also check the GPU preferences to check it's using them for fast previews etc. Maybe also look at info about the CPU (activity monitor?) - things like how much of the CPU it's using (both are using). Look for where the bottlenecks are CPU? Disc? etc? Is the CPU actually running as fast as it should? Maybe also check non-AE apps. Are there any apps that could check the processor is actually faster than the other/running at the correct speed etc. ... View more

Try adding an effect like the "Change to Colour" one and selecting the existing eye colour and the eye colour you want to change it to (you'll probably have to experiment with the other parameters). It might also be an idea to create a mask around the eyes/eye area and use an effect like this on just that area (maybe on an adjustment layer). If "Change to Colour" doesn't work/work very well, creating masks around just the areas of the eyes you want to change and another effect in the "colour correction" section should do it (such as colour balance/tint or something else). ... View more

I assume they are both running different versions of After Effects. Maybe the old machine (with an older version of After Effects) is using "render multiple frames simultaneously" or multi-procesing and the new machine isn't because Adobe removed those options for the newer versions of After Effects. If so, that could be the reason for the slow down. If that's the reason for the slowdown, one thing that could be done (that other people use) is to use something like RenderGarden to speed up renders (not RAM previews though). But it's not an ideal solution. ... View more

Does the green line in the timeline take up about twice as many (or more) frames or seconds on the new machine compared to the old machine once it's had enough time to store it RAM? ie. is the green area of the timeline at least twice as many seconds (duration) on the new machine compared to the old machine after you've left it for enough time that it stops increasing the length of the green line? ie. does a lot more of the work area have a green line on the new machine (I'm assuming the work area is big enough on both machines - try setting it to the full length of the comp). You could also try setting the render quality on both to "full". ... View more

I assume you know the dimensions of the image of the phone screen that you want to overlay. If so, just enter those dimensions to crop that composition to (and if necessary reposition stuff so it fits in the new composition dimensions). Then you can corner pin that comp onto the main comp. ... View more

The preview render time with the 64GB iMac was about twice as long as with the 12GB iMac within exactly the same project. Is the 64 GB iMac previewing a lot more of the animation though - like >=twice as many frames? ... View more

Is the white area part of another composition? If it's a comp within a comp, don't you want to resize the composition containing the image you want on the phone so it fits just the area with the phone screen, then in your main composition, corner pin that onto the screen of the phone image? ... View more

The new 2017 iMac 27": 64GB RAM, 3,5Ghz Intel Core i5, Radeon Pro 575 4GB GPU, 1TB Fusion Drive. 56GB RAM are reserved for Adobe CC applications, After Effects uses max. 3GB. Are you sure you've entered the right value in the field? The field that says "RAM Reserved for other Applications" - are you sure you haven't entered 56 GB in there by mistake? Do you have screenshots of the preferences->Memory screen of both? Have you checked what other programs are running on the new machine and what RAM they are using? ... View more

If it's on any HD screen you might want it at 1280x720p but that won't give the best quality on 1080p screens (nor UHD screens). I'm not sure whether every HD screen is compatible with 24 fps so you may want 1280x720p60 as that's a TV standard introduced when HD arrived in the US (as well as 1920x1080i30 - you could also try that). If 24 fps is compatible with most you might want to use that (though I don't think it is). US and other region TVs should be compatible with 1280x720p60 (even though European and Australian TV is normally 25 fps/50Hz). I'd probably do a version at 1920x1080 as well though as that's what most currently on sale HD screens probably are though (with the UHD ones being 3840x2160). Animate your artwork setting keyframes or whatever (you are best looking at After Effects beginners guides for things like importing files, moving things with keyframes). But for moving a layer you basically create a keyframe with the layer (eg. image) positioned at one position (x,y or for 3d, x,y,z) and at a different point in the timeline you can reposition it and create a new keyframe with the layer (eg. image) in a different position. After Effects will interpolate the positions inbetween (using whatever interpolation method you have in your preferences). A .mp4 will be better, with a codec like H264 for the final rendered video because it's likely to be most compatible with TVs/players I think. Basically, after you've finished any animation in After Effects, you can select "Add to Media Encoder Queue" if you want to render it to the H264 codec. In Media Encoder make sure the settings are what you want in terms of bitrate etc. render quality (eg. "Use maximum render quality" checked), audio etc. and click the green triangular button to "Start Queue". If the HDTV is old and it doesn't work with H264 you could try mpeg2 (but that will be either lower quality than h264 or need a higher bitrate to match the quality). I'm assuming your going to be playing from a memory stick and not writing to a disc for this (if you are writing to a Blu-ray disc it would still likely be best as H264 either 1280x720p60 or 1920x1080i30 - for USA at least for the best compatibility - written with Blu-ray authoring software. -- My recommendation though is to go through the After Effects beginner's tutorials first though so you know how After Effects works in terms of loading, keyframing, previewing, rendering etc. ... View more

Thanks, but that processor only supports up to 64 GB RAM (and surely depending on the project, it wouldn't be as fast in operation as one that could support 128 GB, for previewing (wouldn't be able to RAM preview as much - may only be able to RAM preview half as much - everything else being equal), caching - may only be able to cache about half as much in RAM (probably less than half) so big/high-res projects/projects that included high res footage may be slower on that processor to work on), rendering etc.). Yes the turbo mode is 5 Ghz but the base freq is 4 Ghz (it may only go up to 5 Ghz briefly under certain conditions like if the temp is okay, etc.). So yes I want a high processor speed, but also one that supports 128 GB RAM, and will be as fast as possible in AE (though I suppose if I rendered with RenderGarden/RenderFarm, they'd make use of multi-threading and so maybe having more cores/threads would be an advantage there). See first post. Which are the best processors that also support 128 GB RAM? Any better and faster than i9-7900X (including in "standard" AE operations (the pugetsystems site hardware recommendations said there were better ones from its 6 tested processors for Cinema 4D rendering but they were less good for "standard" Ae projects. That page also lists the 8700K which is the best of its 6 tested for standard but doesn't support 128 GB RAM)? And am I correct that the i9-7900X should be faster than the i7-6850K, including in AE (even though the base freq is a bit slower - the userbenchmark site seems to say so but that wasn't in an AE test)? ... View more

Maybe it's only RAM previewing a bit of the comp because the RAM is full? Maybe try previewing at a lower resolution such as half resolution, or a third or quarter, maybe it will preview more frames. You could also check in your preferences for RAM (preferences->Memory) to see how much RAM is reserved for other apps. ... View more

You said "I want to put a different image behind the paint". If the image is a .bmp, .png, or .jpg or something load it into After Effects (File->Import->File). Then drag that image so the mouse pointer is below the existing layer. That will place that image layer below the existing layer, so it will be the background to your paint effects. ... View more