1. What are Cycore (CC) effects?
Cycore (CC) Effects are a set of excellent effects that come bundled as standard with After Effects CS3 and above. The installation of these FX is however, optional. Most people install them at the time of installing the main application. If you don’t have them installed, you need to go back to your original install disk (or download) and install them to be able to use certain projects. (All my projects that use Cycore FX, state this in the item description.)

To check whether you have Cycore installed, open your copy of After Effects, create a new composition (Composition -> New composition… ) , then create a solid layer (Layer -> New -> Solid… ) , then go to Effect -> Blur & Sharpen. If you see any items in the submenu that begin with CC, such as CC Radial Blur, then you have Cycore installed.

If you are using a demo version of After Effects, you may find that the Cycore Effects are not included.

2. Can you customise the template for me?
Although I try to make my project files so easy that even a beginner can use them, I can undertake customisation work. I charge a standard hourly freelance rate. If you’re interested in me customising a template for you, then get in touch with me via my contact page.

3. What’s the advantage of a prerender / non-prerender version?
A non-prerendered version of a file is entirely created within After Effects.

Advantages:
* Small to download and to store * More possibilities for customisation. * Converts perfectly to different frame rates and sizes. Drawbacks:

* Generally, longer render times
* Third party plug-ins can’t be used. (unless the end user has them too!)

A prerendered version of a file links to various pre-rendered elements that are included in the download. These may have been originated in After Effects or any other program, such as a 3D program.

Advantages:

* Generally, shorter render times
* Pre-rendered elements generated by third party plug-ins can be included.
* Pre-rendered elements generated by other software, such as 3D programs can be included.
* Pre-rendered Cycore FX elements can be included (so that users with only a demo version of AE can also use it.)

Drawbacks:

* Less possibilities for customisation.
* Bigger files.
* Converts less well to different frame rates and sizes

4. I get missing footage graphics in my project (multicolored TV screen / testcard pattern)
After Effects projects usually link to some external assets, whether these be still images, video, audio and so on. When you download one of my projects (or any After Effects project for that matter) it’s very important to keep the project itself and any associated folders together in the same place. Unless you really know what you’re doing, you shouldn’t move any of the folders or files from the original folder which they unzip to. Of course, many projects will quite deliberately have “placeholders”. These are the places where photos or video material were in the preview, but which I am not allowed to redistribute with the file. These placeholders are designed to be replaced with your own material. You can identify the difference in that missing footage will have missing in the name.

However, if you have managed to lose links to external media that you think should be present, here’s how to sort it out:

• (CS3) Highlight the project window. Select File-> Find. In the window that comes up, check the missing footage checkbox and click OK

• (CS4 and above) Navigate to the Project Window (Cmd-0 (Mac) or Ctrl -0 (PC)) and type missing into the search field (by the little magnifying glass near the top)

• This will highlight missing footage items. Once you have one, you can right-click (ctrl-click on Mac) and select Replace Footage -> File.

• This will bring up a standard dialogue box where you can navigate to the footage and reconnect it.

• Usually, once you reconnect one piece of missing footage, After Effects will find the other ones.

Keep repeating this process until there is no more missing footage

What can I change in these templates?
Everything! You can change: colors, fonts, texts, images, video, Everything can be changed. You can even change the size of the composition.