Hey guys, I am new to all this "professional" editing software. I know the extreme basics on premier 6, and I recently got a copy of Adobe After Effects 6.5 for my PC. I run windows Vista on a 2.0GHz and 512mb RAM PC (Just in case any of that mattered lol)

I have no idea what I am doing when I start this up, I click on new composition and thats about all I can do right now. So, first question, does anyone know of a tutorial for newbs to Adobe After Effects?

Also, when I go to import some footage from my comp, I cannot see any of my files in the browser because "they are not acceptable files." When I change the browser filters to "All Files" I can find my footage, however I cannot open it as I get an error message. Is there any way to fix this?

Last but not least, I finally imported a clip, and when I go to view it the clip is in slowmotion (Or just extremely laggy, however there is a blinking message on the side saying that this is not real time.) Is there any way to fix this?

Any information greatly appreciated...Guides especially.

Thanks for reading,

Simon

After Effects requires training. It is too much to be figured out with trial and error.

Spend $25 and take a month's worth of classes on Lynda.com or VTC.com

There are some free tutorials, but they really expect you to know something first. They don't generally cover the basics.

Check out my After Effects page for some links.

http://www.stevengotz.com/ae.htm

Thank you, I will look at all of those links!

Do you have any info on why I'm getting those errors though? Has this happened to anyone else before?

Thanks,

Simon

Well, "professional" software requires reasonably professional video clips. There are a lot of consumer quality clips that require additional codecs to be purchased (like the MJPEG from a digital still camera).

Where did you get the video?

Oh, and After Effects does not support Vista until the version that comes out this summer.

Hmm... I figured that this probobaly couldnt run too well on it, however this does not seem too bad.

I figured out how to import the video, now my only problem is the slow motion.

I tried setting the frame rate for 29fps, and it still said that its not real time.

(That and I cant find the razorblade tool :D <anyone know where to find it?)

Thanks for all the help Steven

Simon

EDIT: Video is all NTSC shot by a GL-1

Steve's advice is spot on.

Chris and Trish Meyer have put out a number of excellent books on After Effects, called "Creating Motion Graphics with After Effects". These are arguably the best texts ever written for the program, and for 6.5 come in two volumes and are a great way to learn the full depth of After Effects. They also have just released a text called "After Effects Apprentice" which is more a text book for teaching beginners, designed to be used by instructors.

The "not playing in real-time" just means that your computer isn't previewing the clip in real time. Press "0" on your number pad to do a RAM preview of your clip.

Not sure about the razor tool (I don't have the program open in front of me right now) but you can press the ctrl, shift, and D keys all at the same time to divide a selected clip at the current time indicator, then just delete the unwanted portion.

Hi all,

Can I also suggest "total traing" video tutorials..I have them and they are extremely detailed and start right at the beggining right up to the more advanced.

http://www.totaltraining.com/prod/adobe/aftereffects.asp

Hope it helps.

IF you get really desperate, I might be able to make some quick video tutes for you.

Hey guys, I am new to all this "professional" editing software. I know the extreme basics on premier 6, and I recently got a copy of Adobe After Effects 6.5 for my PC. I run windows Vista on a 2.0GHz and 512mb RAM PC (Just in case any of that mattered lol) Yeah, Simon, sorry to pile on but I agree with the others that you're in a square corner. These apps are not Vista-compatible and likely to have issues under Vista. Also, I would think that AE would positively wallow in the mud with those system specs, especially under Vista, for which even the Home Basic version has a minimum requirement of 512MB just to run.

You might get by if you are compositing nothing more demanding than DV and go back to XP and upgrading to 2GB of RAM.

By the way, the only way to get a decent editing experience from After Effects is to give it all the RAM it can use. Without at least 2GB of fast RAM on your system, you will need to get used to waiting horribly for anything good to happen.

Simone,

You can also try the Adobe Classroom in a book series. They are very good for beginners and take you through building a complete project from beginning to end and they contain a CD of all the files you will need. You can usually find these in most large book retail stores.

It might be hard to find one for 6.5 since 7.0 is out. I would not get the 7.0 one since the interface in 7.0 is fairly different from 6.5.

Sounds good guys!

Thanks for all the help...

I guess I'll just deal with s*** quality for a while as Im buying a new PC next year.

I'll look into the classroom in a book series, I have heard good info about this series elsewhere as well.