Problems whenever I try to move something

Why is it that whenever I try to move a layer of a photoshop file picture that I am trying to animate in After effects cs3 the whole picture goes completely pixilated? Ive tried everything from adjusting the picture size and resolution to the file type. Does anyone have any Idea what the problem is???

Do you mean temporarily? When you have previews switched to adaptive resolution (in the list-box in the comp preview window) , that's exactly what AE does - it renders previews at whatever resolution it is capable, until you stop scrubbing and it will render a still at the currently-selected resolution.

Yepp, the behavior is perfectly normal. To completely avoid it, you'd have to work with

a) use OpenGL all the time
b1) only use hardware accelerated effects or
b2) use simple 3D comps
c) have a decent graphics card (at least in terms of onbord memory)
d) have disks that can provide the footage with enough speed

Neither of the above is feasible for every project every time, so there you go... In your case I'd say you're underpowered. Unless the layer is extremely large, AE should not switch into adaptive res on a halfway modern computer just when moving a layer. Even on my now 3.5 year old P4 here at home that really is no issue...

Mylenium

Thank You Andrew Yoole! when I switched it to adaptive resolution it cleared the problem right up! I can finally animate again!!