After Effects preview issues (no sound)

[beenyweenies]

First of all Vista Ultimate is probably eating up 1GB of that RAM, but that's another post...

Chances are good that you aren't doing a true RAM preview. Press the zero (0) key on your number pad or, on the time controls toolbar, click the forward arrow furthest to the right.

As a side note, don't use MP3s. After Effects does not like them, and a search on this forum would probably reveal about 5,000 people having major headaches with it. Better to avoid the issue altogether. Better to use wav or aiff.

[mackdadd]

also make sure the audio button is turned on in the time controls panel. i've seen alot of people not know that has to be turned on. :)

[Agresvig]

Thanks guys.

Youre right, I wasnt doing a true RAM preview, pressing 0 instead of period on the numpad gave me sound and video. However it takes a while to load, which is very inconvenient when Im trying to synchronize animations with audio, and need to do tiny adjustments constantly.

Isnt there a way to have AE play audio as well when I hit spacebar (play)? Even at lower quality/resolution?

Thanks

[beenyweenies]

Thanks guys.

Youre right, I wasnt doing a true RAM preview, pressing 0 instead of period on the numpad gave me sound and video. However it takes a while to load, which is very inconvenient when Im trying to synchronize animations with audio, and need to do tiny adjustments constantly.

Isnt there a way to have AE play audio as well when I hit spacebar (play)? Even at lower quality/resolution?

Thanks

When you RAM preview footage, AE processes one frame at a time. If you get tired of waiting you can hit spacebar/ram preview button/0 num pad and it will play whetever was spooled.

With audio, AE spools all of the audio within your work area in one go before processing the frames of your animation. It does NOT spool the audio a frame at a time. If your work area covers more than 10 seconds or so, it will appear to hang while it processes all that audio. The best workaround is to set your work area to smaller chunks when doing tight sync work, usually around 10 seconds or less.

Another option is to hold down Command/Control key while you scrub the timeline, which will play the audio as you scrub but it's very rough and not very suitable for what you are doing.

[Agresvig]

Thanks beenyweenies, thats great info.

When you say resize the work area, you mean "zoom in", correct?
If I zoom in so that I have about 10 seconds on the timeline and hit 0, it takes around 8 seconds before it previews.
I can live with that, but if I want to se it again immediately after, it has to load again. Why is this necessary? Im sure theres a way to have it play the exact same preview again..

Thanks!

[beenyweenies]

Thanks beenyweenies, thats great info.

When you say resize the work area, you mean "zoom in", correct?
If I zoom in so that I have about 10 seconds on the timeline and hit 0, it takes around 8 seconds before it previews.
I can live with that, but if I want to se it again immediately after, it has to load again. Why is this necessary? Im sure theres a way to have it play the exact same preview again..

Thanks!

Zooming in to the timeline isn't the same as setting the work area. Above the timeline there is a horizontal bar with handles on either end (actually there are two, you want the one closest to the timeline). Grab the handles and pull them toward each other. This defines what segment of your timeline you want After Effects to preview. In this way you could have a 10 minute timeline but a 10 second work area that you move around for your previews as needed, without having to render the entire mess.

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