Think about the camera on a tripod. X is horizontal, and Y is vertical. Rotating the vertical axis pans the camera left and right, and changing the horizontal angle tilts the camera up and down. Rotating on the Z axis would then rotate the camera on the lens axis. It's all normal.   It's the same with a 3D layer. There is no difference in the move. You are just thinking about the camera in the wrong way.   It's the same in Cinema 4D (and most other 3D apps). Blender flips the axis around, but there is an easy way to migrate camera settings from Blender to After Effects so the cameras match. ... View more

What have you done about the anchor points? Do you want to maintain the layers' size while changing the position? If you need to keep size but have the scale of the parent affect the position, then you need calculations on both scale and position/anchor point. The other option is to avoid parenting and use the scale value of a null to offset the anchor point of the objects you want to move or set up a slider to control position offset from the center.   It would help us help you if we saw a screenshot of your timeline showing the modified properties of the problem layers. Just press the 'u' key twice and share a screenshot. ... View more

You will need Particular for that. It is part of the Trapcode/Red Giant Suite from Maxon. You can't do that kind of particle work with AE's built-in particle effects.    The only other basic solution to that problem would be to use a lot of 3D layers animated along a motion path. If you end up with more than about 50 layers, you will need a very powerful machine to do that.  ... View more

Your pixel aspect ratio is set to PAL. When you select the footage in the Project Panel and choose the File/Interpret Footage menu, what Pixel Aspect ratio is showing for the footage? Neither of your screenshots shows an undistorted image, so both interpolations are incorrect. ... View more

You'll also have to match the geometry by isolating the floor. It looks like the room, including the floor, is just a single flat layer. You'll need a 3D layer for the floor that is 90º to the character layers. Put the anchor point of the characters at their feet, and then make sure that the character layers touch the floor.     If the floor is a separate 3D layer or the room is a 3D model, you'll still have to properly line up the character layers with the floor. Your geometry is wrong.    If the room is a single flat 3D layer, you might be able to use Photoshop to create a 3D floor. I don't have time to find a tutorial on that workflow, but there are a few pretty good ones out there.  ... View more

No. That would require scripting.  ... View more

If your Comp and Preview resolution is set to 1/2 or 1/4, and you don't have recursive expressions or effects added that are notoriously slow to render, you should get a decent RAM preview.   Without seeing what is happening in the layers, it is impossible to determine what might be causing the slowdown. Try turning off your heavy effects layers or disabling some of the effects you have added.    Eight thousand frames is a very long comp. Can you break it up into smaller sections? I usually have only one shot in my comps because AE is not designed to edit scenes or movies. You might try breaking the comp up into smaller sections. Mine are usually less than seven seconds long because I almost never have a single shot in a movie that is longer than seven seconds.  ... View more

Element 3D is a much more capable plugin, and it is very affordable. One animation for a client at the industry standard rates would pay for the plugin unless you can complete the project in less than 2 hours of billable time. Advanced 3D has a minimal set of controls and options. It is suitable only for very simple 3D object placement in a Comp and gives you very little control over lighting. ... View more

What am I missing?   I made this Quick Tip tutorial for you: You can also use expressions to offset the position of the stroke so that it lines up with the edge of the rectangle by subtracting the stroke width from the height and width of the rectangle. I have a couple dozen animation presets for lower third and title graphics that I have created for clients using duplicated shapes or paths with fancy stroke and fill animations. You just need more than one item in the Contents section of a shape layer and a few simple expressions. I've uploaded an AE 25 and AE24 Project file for you to play with. ... View more

To center the Production Point on a mask using Radio Waves, you should start by enabling the Rulers and then establishing a center point for the Mask with Guides. When you establish that center point, double-click on the mask path with the selection tool (v) and move the Mask to the layer's center, which is also the default center for the Production Point. When the Mask is centered on the Production Point, change the Producer to the Mask. The last step is to then move the Production Point to the original position of the Mask using the Guides you established. You'll need this to be a separate layer. You will need to duplicate the footage, Place the Actor Rotoscoped (masked) copy on top, put the Radio Waves layer next, and then the original footage on the bottom so you can have the lines appear behind the Actor as they are in your other images. If your Mask moves around the screen, you can also animate the position of the Mask in the Radio Waves layer to keep it centered around the producer point, but this will require setting up some complex expressions to tie the movement of the Mask to a null layer's position so it matches the movement of the Mask. Using Radio Waves will be difficult if the Actor moves around the frame a lot.   Another option is to create the outlines on a shape layer and then use the shape layer tools to repeat and scale up the path.    If the Actor is moving, you could tie the expanding shape layer path to an animated mask around the moving Actor with a simple Pickwhip expression and then tie motion tracking data to the original shape layer path/transform path controls with a simple expression.    I don't have time to post a screenshot for that workflow, but it would start by doing the rotoscoping of your Actor using Mocha AE. This will give you an animated path and a track matte for the Actor that you could use to create the effect. Mocha AE can both track and create a mask for you. Rotobrush would only generate a matte for your Actor to separate them from the background. The effect will require three layers. ... View more

I am not sure what you are trying to achieve. Trim Paths does not work predictably on a path with a fill. You should only apply it to a shape that has only a stroke. You can stack up the Contents/Shapes in a Shape layer, duplicate them, and then put the fill on one and the stroke on another to make the outline appear.   If you want Trim Paths to reveal a shape, you have to either use a mask or Group some of the contents and use a path to reveal a filled shape by intersecting or subtracting the layers using a Merge Objects workflow.   Let us know exactly what your design is supposed to do, and we can probably help. ... View more

The (part 1) layer you use as a track matte is still visible. Turn off layer visibility if you don't want to see that layer. ... View more

What AE version are you using? Are the drivers all up to date?    Your comp is square, and the footage layer is an MP4. Is the footage you are tracking also square?    I suggest you pre-compose the footage layer, move all attributes to the new comp, and trim the comp to the layer length. Then, run the Camera Track again. You cannot move, scale, or rotate a layer that will be camera-tracked, and no effects may be applied. Pre-composing solves that problem.   What kind of camera movement is in the shot? If you would share a few seconds of the shot, I can try running the camera tracker and see what happens.  ... View more

You can open a nested comp (a pre-comp) layer or any other layer except a Shape layer in the Layer Panel using the Layer/Open Layer menu or by right-clicking and then editing the Anchor Point path with the Pen tool (g) or the selection tool (v). I wish that the Adobe team would include that functionality in Shape layers.     ... View more

Try setting the Composition Panel resolution to Auto, setting the magnification to 50% or less, and making sure that the work area is set to the length of the composition. ... View more

Ensure you have not turned off View Layer Controls from the Layer Menu or hit the shortcut key Shift + Ctrl/Cmnd + h. If that does not fix the display problem when a layer is selected, try starting AE in safe mode or resetting your preferences.  ... View more

If the first and last keyframes are identical, you can add a simple loopOut() expression to any position, rotation, or scale animation.   You can also animate one cycle of anything, trim the layer so that the first and last frame are identical, and then pre-compose that layer or group of layers by making sure to trim the new comp to the length of the layer(s). Then you apply Time Remapping to the nested comp, go to the end of the layer, which is one frame before the last Time Remapping keyframe so the layer is visible, set a new TR keyframe, then move to the last TR keyframe and delete it. Then, you add a simple loopOut() expression, and you can extend the layer as long as you want, ending up with a perfect looping action. Time remapping to create a perfect loop gives you an easy way to Pre-compose that layer again, add Time Remapping again, and then control the speed of the repeating action without ever ending up with blended or duplicated frames.    I've made these suggestions so many times I should do a quick tutorial that shows how it is done. ... View more

I've done a few of those kinds of projects. The first step is to figure out how the animation will be played back. Check with the folks who created the hardware that will be used. ... View more

Here's a link to the Text Expressions section of the Help File: https://helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/using/expressions-text-properties.html?x-product=Helpx%2F1.0.0&x-product-location=Search%3AForums%3Alink%2F3.6.4   I don't think you can force a paragraph style with an expression or set the Paragraph Box size. You can force first-line indents and a bunch of other things, but you are out of luck. There are no properties in the Expression Language Menu in the timeline that look like they would work.  ... View more

The maximum width and height is 30,000 pixels. You cannot make either dimension larger than that.   30,000 pixels, printed at 150 PPI (the standard for most publications), will give you a 16-inch-wide print. 30,000 pixels will fill eight and a half 4K monitors.    Most digital signage is less than 30,000 pixels wide, and if you need more, playback equipment for signage at events like the Superbowl or concerts can sync multiple sources. What kind of display are you trying to create a graphic for? ... View more

Start by opening the Flowchart. Select the composition timeline, then use the Composition Menu or the Keyboard Shortcut Shift + Ctrl/Cmnd + F11.   Next, expand the flow chart and look for the composition that contains the layers you want to modify.   You can also right-click on any source file in the Project Panel and select Reveal in Composition.  That will take you to the comp, where the original layer is so you can make the edits you need to make. ... View more