Puppet Tool RT Preview Issue

Since CC 2014, I'm having odd issues with the puppet tool. It works as expected until I get to RAM preview it. The preview happens, but playback only happens at around 37fps (is a 60fps comp) and the distort effect does nothing, YET if I scrub the timeline it is smooth and the warp happens. It smacks of a render issue in the Mercury engine, but I just wondered if anyone else had seen this before? In CC, things were fine (though I would have to admit that I can only recall using the puppet tool in a 30fps comp there, not 60) and now it seems broken.
Thanks in advance,
Ian

After Effects does not use the Mercury Playback Engine. That is a set of technologies that Premiere uses to playback a video stream.
The Mercury Transmit in AE is a technology for sending video to an external monitor, but I would not expect that to interfere with how AE renders anything.
You say you can scrub the timeline and it's smooth. What if you step through frame-by-frame? If that works, note that it will have cached the frames into RAM. Try invoking a RAM preview again and see if the problem persists.
What happens if you render your comp?

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Computer Specs:
Mac Pro 1,1
Mac OS 10.7.5
2 x 2.66 GHz Dual Core Intel Xeon
7 GB 667 MHz DDR2 FB-DIMM
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These two windows pop up. The text is very long for the crash report so this first image is the top.
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Bottom of the Report
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I have after effects through creative cloud and I'm struggling to get the puppet tool. I have been told it's free.

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See After Effects Help:
After Effects Help | Animating with Puppet tools
Start here to learn After Effects:
http://adobe.ly/AE_basics

Puppet Tool RT Preview Issue

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