Illustrator layers into After Effects CS5

A client supplied an eps Logo with one layer and many "sub-layers" (sorry, don't know Illustrator well enough to call them anything else but
it's broken down to every tiny element such as every letter, portions of graphics, etc.),
When importing into AE CS5, it just recognizes the one "layer" like it was flattened. How do I separate these other layers in AI or After Effects
so I can animate them?

You need to import the document as a composition to get access to the individual layers.
See this page for information on preparing files in Illustrator: "Preparing and importing Illustrator files"
See this page for information about importing layered still images as compositions: "Importing a still image as a composition"

Similar Messages

  • Importing Illustrator layers into After effects, released to layers yet still one layer- ?

    Hi,
    Please bear with me as this should be a simple fix but the situation is hard to describe.
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    T

    I'm not clear what you are describing. Have you actually tried other import settings in AE? There is some bug with the retain layer size stuff, but other combinations might work. Also try exporting a PDF of the artwork and using that. This may work better.
    Mylenium

  • I need help with Importing my Illustrator file into After Effects, I'm having problems

    Hello everyone, I'm new to this forum. I am having a hard time importing this Illustrator file into After Effects. Here's how it is in the Illustrator file
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  • Problems importing iPhone 4 video into After Effects CS5 - Audio sync out

    Hi there,
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    Thanks Rick and Mylenium
    Thanks that worked!
    I thought that changing the frame rate in the composition settings would have worked.
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  • What is the best video format for importing into After Effects CS5

    Please look at this video, work in progress.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49_wbdKALQk
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    Then I imported them into AfterEffects.
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    What  is the best format to export video from in Premiere Pro CS5 to import  into after effects, or to import into any other editing program,  incuding importing right back into Adobe Premiere, if that is eever  needed.
    AVI?
    MOV
    MP4
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    To follow on with Wade's suggestion...
    There are lots of ways to get movies and projects and other things back and forth between After Effects and Premiere Pro. This page outlines them:
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    If you must render and export a movie out of one application to bring it into another, there is a very basic piece of video workflow advice that you need to keep in mind (which applies to _all_ video software, not just After Effects and Premiere Pro):
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    MP4 (MPEG-4) is a lossy codec. The quality loss is acceptable for the last stage in the pipeline, but it's not acceptable for an intermediate file.
    It seems that you would benefit from reading this and and working your way through this.

  • Photoshop CC 3d Layers into After Effects CC?

    Hi,
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    Hi Seanmonteagudo,
    You definitely can! Here is a great tutorial explaining step by step How to Import Photoshop 3D into After Effects.
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  • Photoshop CS6 PSDs into After Effects CS5.5

    Hi there,
    Our graphics department have recently upgrade Photoshop to CS6 version 13.0 x64. I am trying to open a .psd file they have created in After Effects CS5.5 version 10.5.1.2. However I get the following message:
    'After Effects error: could not open (.psd name) because it is not a valid Photoshop document. ( 51 :: 19 )'
    Is there any way they can save their photoshop files differently so that they will open or do I need to upgrade to After Effects CS6?
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    (wasn't sure whether to post this here or in the photoshop forum - thought I would try here first though)

    I've never encountered such an issue, and switch between both versions regularly.  On the machine I'm working on right now I have CS6 Creative Cloud installed, but do most of my AE work in CS5 or 5.5 because the clients I'm working for haven't upgarded yet.  But all my PSD work is done in CS6. 
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  • Video not importing correctly into After Effects CS5

    I just downloaded a trial version of After Effects CS5 to work on a couple corporate videos, but I'm having issues importing the footage (.WMV). When I try to import, I get a message saying that there is an unnamed alpha layer (with a few options on how to fix the alpha layer). Regardless of the option I choose, only the bottom half of my footage imports. It looks like this.
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    Probably an issue with whatever created the files in the first place. WMV doesn't have Alpha, but can have multiple streams... anyway, AE is crap at dealing with such stuff, so convert it using an external tool like Handbrake or whatever...
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  • Illustrator issues with After Effects CS5

    It seems i have discovered a bug with CS5 illsutrator files and CS5 After Effects. When importing illustrator files or layers into AE working on the project, saving, closing and then reopening the same project, the illustrator files apepar to be present in the project window but actually need to be reloaded in order for them to register properly and therefore be visible in the composition window.
    Subsequentally, when rendring these comps without "reloading" the illsutrator files the renders, as expected are missing the illustrator elements.
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    Todd_Kopriva wrote:
    > As a work around in the meantime, Adobe recommends when working with
    Illustrator CS5 in comjunction with AE to save illustrator files as
    Illustrator CS4 files and then import for use in CS5 AE.
    Let us know whether that is working for you.
    Is this Windows-specific? I've never had this problem on my Macs. I'm on CS5, not 5.5.
    bogiesan

  • Problem importing PSD (with multiple groups and layers) into After Effects. Help!

    I created a "comic strip" in photoshop (multiple rectangle shape layers, then various shapes within each box for each frame of the comic strip) that I want to import into AE. When I import it as a composition (to keep my layers), however, what appears is an simply a black image with white lines where the lines of the comic strip used to be. I checked the color modes, but they are both in RGB so I don't think that's the problem. Also, when I double click the cartoon strip composition, I can choose certain groups from the mini flow-chart at the top left and view those individual frames. However, I can't view the entire comic strip as a whole, which is necessary for my animation. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated, as I'm on a tight time constraint. Thanks!

    When I asked what version down to the last decimal, I meant it. After Effects version should start with 11, but we need the numbers after that too.
    And I understand that you want to pan between them, so just put all the different PSD's you import into the same comp and pan between them.

  • Importing from premiere pro cs5 to after effects cs5

    hi, can anyone help me with this problem?
    im editing some stuff in premiere pro cs5 and when i import it into after effects cs5 for colour correction and other effects all the transitions that i had from premiere will disappear. if someone can guide me step by step to this process it will be very helpful
    Thanks,
    Randolph Azzopardi

    As Mylenium suggests, there are many ways to move information between Premiere Pro and After Effects.They are all outlined on this page: "Working with After Effects and Premiere Pro"
    You didn't specify, but I'll assume as he did that you are exporting a Premiere Pro project from After Effects. That works by converting things from native After Effects to their equivalents in Premiere Pro; sometimes there isn't a good equivalent, so the conversion isn't perfect. The same conversion is done as is done for copying and pasting between After Effects and Premiere Pro. There's a set of tables that describe the conversions here.
    The way to get perfect fidelity is to either use Dynamic Link (as Mylenium suggested) or render and export a movie from After Effects and import that into Premiere Pro.

  • Importing .AI file (multiple artboards) into After Effects imports all layers?

    Okay, so I've been trying to figure out this issue that I am having but the problem is a bit wordy to explain.
    What I want to do: Import an Illustrator file, that is a single artboard from a multiple artboard file into After Effects and ONLY import the layers from that artboard.
    What is happening: Artboard 1 with shape 1, artboard 2 with shape 2, and artboard 3 with shape 3. When I export them (Save as --> .ai --> Save each artboard as a separate file), in .ai the layers are correct (ie only shape 1 on artboard 1), but when I import the .ai into AE, artboard 1 has shape 1, shape 2 and shape 3 (they are all separate layers).
    How does Illustrator determine what is or isn't in an artboard? I am seeing the other layers but they are only 1x1 in AE.
    I am using Illustrator CS6 and AE CS6 and I've tried it both on Mac and PC, and haven't gotten it to work. The weird thing is that it WAS working correctly before.

    I have (hypothetically), a three layer file each with a rectangle. Each rectangle is on a separate artboard. When I save each artboard as a separate .ai file (ie "Save as --> save each artboard as separate file"), in each .ai file, only the layers in each artboard are in the separate ai files:
    artboard_01.ai only has layer with rect 1,
    artboard_02.ai only has layer with rect 2,
    artboard_03.ai only has layer with rect 3,
    This is good, BUT when I import into After Effects, all three layers appear in each comp generated from the imported .ai files
    comp of artboard_01.ai has layer with rect 1, layer for rect 2 (no content), and layer for rect 3 (no content).
    comp of artboard_02.ai has layer with rect 1(no content), layer for rect 2, and layer for rect 3 (no content).
    comp of artboard_03.ai has layer with rect 1(no content), layer for rect 2 (no content), and layer for rect 3.

  • Can 3D work from photoshop extended cs5 be transferred into after effects cs4?

    Can 3D work from photoshop extended cs5 be transferred into after effects cs4? please help

    Why would you post this in the "Photoshop Elements" forum...?
    Try here;  http://forums.adobe.com/community/aftereffects_general_discussion
    or here; http://forums.adobe.com/community/photoshop

  • After effects cs5 crashing - dynamiclinkmanager, Language registry key, Ivideosource

    Hey everyone,
    I'm running After Effects CS5 (10.0.2 - most up to date) in OSX 10.6.8 on a Mac Pro tower
    2x2.66 ghz dual-core Intel Xenon
    7gb DDR2
    ATI Radeon x1900 XT 512mb
    Dual monitors
    I keep getting the following error messages, most frequent to least
    <140735089106112> <5> /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Common/dynamiclink/CS5/dyanmiclinkmanager.app.
    <140735243008352> <ASL.ResourceUtils.GetLanguageIDFromRegistry> <0> Unable to obtain the User 'Language' registry key at: Software\Adobe\After Effects\10.5.1\ Defaulting to 'en_US'.
    <140735089106112> <Ivideosource> <5> AE push total_frames 180, MC pull frames w/safety margin 180, margin 0.
    I have also gotten other error messages pertaining to these problems invovling the gaussian blur filter and some pdf error.
    After Effects error: crash occured while invoking effect plug-in "Gaussian Blur".
    After Effects error: There was an error processing this PDF Document. (1074397201) ( 50 :: 29 )
    I am working with AI files, some have been converted to footage, some still AI - continously rasterizing. I even cleared all AI files out to see if they might have been the problem, still crashing. File works fine on PC. Have reinstalled twice. Need to stay on cs5 because I'm working on files with others.
    Crashes randomly in a variety of processes such as scrubbing the time, RAM previews, composing, etc. I have tried resetting all preferences, deleting prefs manually, and some open GL things.
    Would cs5.5 or 6 work? We have additional licenses for both. Could also upgrade to mountain lion?
    Any other solutions or ideas would be greatly appreciated! Trying to get work done for a client and have tried running AE CS5 on OSX 10.6.8 on a macbook pro - getting the same problems, and its not the file (fine on pc).

    Well, I see the letters "PDF" in the error message, and that's where I smell the rat. 
    Illustrator can open PDF's: just choose the page you want for multiple-page PDF's.  Then make any necessary changes, and save as an RGB Illustrator document.  Backsave to an earlier Illustrator version if you can.
    You can even sort the PDF out into separate Illustrator LAYERS -- not shapes or groups -- which can be used in AE as layers.  Very handy.  Just make sure to create a new layer in Illustrator; most hard-core Illustrator users who aren't used to AE tend to overlook that nifty little feature.

  • Sizing PSDS for After Effects / Preparing Illustrator files for After Effects

    3 questions
    For the longest time I have been told when importing PSDs to
    After effects, in order to keep circles circles (proper ratios) I had
    to make a 720 540 PSD file and then crunch it down to 720 486. Then import the file to a D1 NTSC 720 486 after effects comp and everything works fine.And it does and always has
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    in Photoshop at 720 486 and then just import to a 720 486 DV1 After
    Effects comp and everything is fine.
    That view mode in Photoshop is for viewing purposes only though so this
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    So to simplify my questions are the following.
    1. Is there a way to avoid creating a 720 540 PSD and then crunching
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    stretched.
    2. Why does the DV viewing mode in Photoshop effect the importing into
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    If anyone can help it would be much appreciated. I've been fine doing what I'm doing but for the last couple years I have been told there's a quicker way and haven't found anyone who knows.
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    Thanks very much to those who can help.
    J.

    >Is there a way to avoid creating a 720 540 PSD and then crunching
    >down to 486? And somehow keep circles circles and photographs not
    >stretched.
    Not really and then "crunching down" is very much a matter of point of view. The real question is: Can you accept the variations e.g. in antialiasing introduced by creating your work with non-square pixels in Photoshop. Apparently doing so will affect horizontal sampling more than vertical and as there is a difference in how AE and PS deal with these matters, the result would be different. It also extends to the matter of how practical it would be to work with such files if you need to move them to applications that don't provide PAR correction...
    >Why does the DV viewing mode in Photoshop effect the importing into
    >After Effects if it's just for preview purposes?
    It doesn't. The people told you only half the facts. Photoshop's PAR correction is just for viewing purposes, that's true, but it does not mean that PS itself would be unable to deal with non-square pixels. Whenever you create a files based on such presets, PS will correctly embed that information for saving, hence programs like AE that are able to extract that information, will use it to correctly interpret items.
    >How do you import an illustrattor file into After Effectcs with
    >layers?
    You can't. In the strict sense Illustrator has no layers, only objects and groups and since they can be infinitely combined in the funniest ways, it's a hell of a thing to read them right. Maybe in CS5 after all these years... (or even later).
    Mylenium

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