- Text Effects In Illustrator
- Importing Illustrator Files Into After Effects
- Importing Illustrator Into After Effects 2019
- Import Illustrator Layers Into After Effects 2020
- Importing Illustrator Files Into After Effects With Layers
Tips for Importing your Illustrator File into After Effects To bring an Illustrator file into After Effects you just need to use Command+ I, or alternatively, FileImport. When you import your project file, you will see a few options appear; You’ll want to choose to Import as. After Effects can import Adobe Photoshop (.PSD), Adobe Illustrator (.AI), and Encapsulated PostScript (.EPS) files that use the CMYK color space. After Effects will convert the CMYK color values to RGB. Note: After Effects cannot assign an input color profile to files that use non-RGB color spaces, such as CMYK. Color management on CMYK files.
Hey there Adobe Community, Basically, what I want to do is animate a vector based image in after effects to animate it there. I know that I have to put the layers/paths in individual seperate layers in Illustrator first in order to animate it individually in after effects.Even when I did that, it didn't work. Import into After Effects I have several options when bringing an AI file into After Effects. When I import an Illustrator file, I get the import dialogue box, which provides me with two options: Footage and Composition. If I import my file as Footage, I can choose to merge all of the layers into one, or I can import a specific layer on its own.
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Are your vector files pixelated in After Effects? Enable ‘Continuously Raster’.
Text Effects In Illustrator
Adobe Illustrator is vector based, meaning you can adjust the scale of Illustrator files without a loss in quality (it uses a system of equations to calculate the shapes of your object rather than pixels).
Both of these blocks are imported into After Effects, but the one on the right has “Continuously Rasterize” selected.
However, if you’ve ever tried importing illustrator files into After Effects you may have realized that they remain pixelated when you scale them up in your composition. The enable/disable feature called “Continuously Raster” is unknown by many AE noobs, but is needed to get your vector files to scale smoothly in AE. In this quick tutorial we’ll show you how to use it.
1. Import an .ai, .eps, or .pdf file
After Effects accepts all four of these vector formats.
2. Move the vector file to your composition.
Simply drag and drop.
3. Select ‘Continuously Rasterize’.
It’s the box that looks like a sun. If you can’t see it select the “Toggle Switches / Modes” button at the bottom of your comp layer. It should pop up now.
If you follow these steps your vector files will be smooth when scaled up rather than pixelated. This technique also works with pre-comps, so if you happen to have something like text inside of a pre-comp but need to scale it up you can hit the “continuously rasterize” button and you will now be able to scale it up without it being pixelated.
Have any other tips for using vector files in After Effects? Share in the comments below.
Illustrator has great drawing tools. That's what it was designed for. There are some things you need to know to make it play nicely with After Effects.
You usually need to animate almost every element in the design, so you have to have files that are super clean and well labeled. You might be tempted to get lazy if the file isn't complex, but labeling layers is a good habit to get into.
Here's a guide for organizing your illustrator file.
Hey motion designers, you can send this to designers who are going to send you Illustrator files for animation.
Don't give them a hard time about it; no one has probably ever taken the time to explain it to them. Don't expect perfect files, but if they can help you out in any way, you'll be able to turn around an animation that much quicker.
All elements you want to animate go on a separate top level layer in Illustrator
When you import an Illustrator file into After Effects, 95% of the time you'll probably want to import as Composition - Retain Layer Size
Renaming layers is easier in After Effects (see below for details)
Stay organized!
Only one artboard in Illustrator
Don't mess with your Illustrator files much after you've started animating (colors are fine)
Everything on it's own layer
Anything that you want to animate needs to be on it's own top layer. It's pretty simple. Just do it.
Organize for your future self
Importing Illustrator Files Into After Effects
You never know when you'll need or want to dig back into a file. And whether it's the next day or the next month, if you don't label your file well, you're definitely going to be kicking yourself. I'm probably preaching to the choir on this one, but you probably also need the reminder and encouragement.
Artboards
Artboards can be great for storyboarding, but when you're preparing a file for animating in After Effects, it's best to create new files for each artboard. After Effects will only import the first artboard.
Don't mess with Illustrator files too much once they've been used in After Effects
Importing Illustrator Into After Effects 2019
Changing Illustrator files after they been used in After Effects can cause problems. You're pretty safe if you're changing colors, or doing minor adjustments to the shape, but adding new layers (or deleting layers) or making major changes to the design can cause big problems in After Effects. What you can do if you need to make big changes is duplicate the Illustrator file, make your changes, and re-import into After Effects. This does mean you have to start the animation over again.
Import Illustrator Layers Into After Effects 2020
Importing Illustrator Files Into After Effects With Layers
In After Effects, go to File > Import > File (Cmd+I)...