Once the file was properly organized it was quite simple to import it into After Effects. Most of the work that we did was actually in Adobe Illustrator.
#Animate an adobe illustrator with after effects plus
In the Project panel you will see a new Composition plus a folder with all the individual layers.ĭouble click the Composition to open it and you should see all of your layers ready to be animated in the Timeline! Now the Illustrator file will be imported into After Effects. In the Options section Import as a Composition and also check the box that says Create Composition. Avoid double clicking as this may import the file with incorrect settings. Navigate to the Illustrator file and single click on it to select it. Choose File > Import > File or just double click an empty space in the Project panel. To rename, simply double click the layer name inside the Layers panel.Īfter doing some work, the sample file now contains 4 layers:īe sure to save your Illustrator file. You can also rename the layers to give them meaningful names if you want. Keep repeating the above process until you have all the artwork you need onto separate layers. Now you have moved the artwork from one layer to another. Then choose another layer in the Layers panel and choose Edit > Paste in Place. Selecting the artwork in the artboard with the Selection tool ( Black arrow) or Direct Selection tool ( White arrow) and choosing Edit > Cut.Dragging and dropping in the Layers panel.Then move the appropriate artwork onto that layer.
To create a new layer in Illustrator, click on the Create New Layer button at the bottom of the Layers panel. How much control do you need in After Effects? How many different elements of your graphic will you animate individually in After Effects? Once you have determined that, you should place each graphical element on its own layer to give you the control that you need. This will require some skills in Illustrator.Įvery situation is unique and how many layers you create in your project is up to you. In order to get the control that I need in After Effects, I need to organize my Illustrator file onto multiple layers. When I look in the Layers panel in Illustrator all my artwork is organized onto a single layer. I would like to animate each word individually, plus the various parts of the compass in an interesting way in After Effects. The following is a logo with a compass shape and some text created in Illustrator. This is key, because if your Illustrator file is not organized properly then it will not import correctly into After Effects. Creating Layered Illustrator Fileįirst of all, you will need to have an Illustrator file created already and organized into layers. In this tutorial, I will show you the best way to import layered Illustrator files into After Effects. You can watch the tutorial video or scroll down to read the tutorial:Īdobe Illustrator is one of the leading programs in the industry for creating vector graphics, and Adobe After Effects is one of the leading programs to animate and add movement to those graphics.