While EI_Layers work correctly (double-clicking it opens a parameter window, rendering produces the expected PSD), I can’t either open RPF_Saver’s window by double-clicking it or render a RPF file. Could you please check that your EI v7 setup works OK?
(Mac version of EIAS)
Ok. I know what’s happening: I’ve got a misnaming in the involved files. What I have is:
RPF_Saver.shl
RPF Saver.rsc (notice the lack of the underline separator)
Changing “RPF Saver.rsc” to “RPF_Saver.rsc” solves the issue.
I don’t remember having touched that file at all before, so it is possible it already was misnamed in the installation DVD. I’ll check that and warn EITG if it is so.
After Effects doesn’t seem to like the files this Layer Shader generates. I am testing some RPF files from a CreativeMac tutorial too, to see if this is an AE issue.
http://creativemac.digitalmedianet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=22939-0
The tutorial’s files: http://images.digitalmedianet.com/2004/01_jan/tutorials/lw2ae2/purple_pill_folder.sit
AE accepts these OK. EIAS’ ones produce an “After Effects error: RLA: Cannot read file - Invalid RLE data”
I’ve posted this in EITG’s forums too, so that they take a look at it.
This is something we are looking at. The problem is that AE doesnt control the RPF file format, Autodesk does. The Autodesk products read our RPF files. We havent figured out yet why AE does not. We might need some help from Adobe on this one.
Sorry about the naming glitch on the shader and its resource. I’ll make sure the 7.0.1 install has it corrected.
The RPF files work in AE 6.5, I do not have the newer versions unfortunately. It seems that Adobe has obviously changed something that has broken the import.
Ian
While that’s being solved, would it make sense for an animation to put several instances of EI_Layers.shl, each covering a single pass attribute?
Oh, OK. I’ll try experimenting with the idea first, and if I get results then I’ll open a new thread 
I saw your posts at the EITG forum. I tried to upload some RPF file sample, but the forum won’t allow that type of file. This one accepts ZIPs, so, If you don’t mind, here there is one: it is a RPF frame from a 320x240 test animation. The only active RPF_Saver channel is “Color” (non-single channel ones fail, too). After Effects is CS3 (8.0.1) running natively on an Intel Macintosh (Mac Pro).
AE CS3 8.0.1 on OS X 10.4.10, Mac Pro 2.6GHz, 5 GB RAM.
The animation is a single UberShape cube moving from left to right. The layer shader is applied to the default selection set in the Render Window.
(Today or next Friday I’ll be able to try these files on AE 7.something on an old PowerMac G5 with OS X 10.4.4)
Wow,
That RPF is crashing AE6.5 here too.
Something must have been changed near the end of beta testing because I had been using RPF files with AE 6.5 for several months…
Ian
As surely EITG has done some successful RPF tests with AE, could some working OK project be posted here? Something simple, such as an UberShape or a poly-light group moving around and the Render parameters set up for producing RPFs, so that we can test our computer and apps setups.
Also, I’d ask for anyone who has AE to do some test themselves and report the results. After all, it could be just mine not working well.
(I tried that EI_Layers trick I was suggesting, but it isn’t practical. I’ll open a new thread about that.
CORRECTION: using EI_Layers works quite decently as a temporary substitute. I wasn’t aware of AE letting me import single layers in the case of multilayer PSD sequences, too, silly me :))
Testing testing
Looks like the problem was UB-specific. We have a 7.0.1beta fix for this and will be testing it today.
Juan, please send an e-mail to support@eitechnologygroup.com. I want to get you a new copy of the shader to test.
This is just to tell everyone that the beta Matt graciously let me test produces RPF files that work OK with AE CS3 running natively on Intel Macs. There are some issues regarding AE not ordering the sequence of frames quite the right way that I am sure will be solved soon.
Great news for AE CS3 users ! :bounce:
Thanks for letting us know how it’s going on “behind the scene”. 
Cheers,
Laurent aka Tartiflette
Yesterday I was generating a .RPF test file for a friend to show him what it is all about, and I found that my EIAS 7.0.1 setup is still generating .RPFs that After Effects complains about. Given that Matt Hoffman let me test a functioning version of this Layer Shader around the end of 2007 (AE accepted the files OK, but the files’ name/numbering convention was wrong), I thought this had been solved for the 7.0,1 release.
Could anyone check this, please?
This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.