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.

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.
I want to import layers from Illustrator into After Effects. I need the AI layers to have their "handles" (the four corners of the object) close in around the object and not spread out to the corners of the composition. I figured out how to do this: by "releasing layers to sequence" in Illustrator and then dragging them out of the group they were all in. Then I "import as composition - retain layer sizes" into AE. When I open the illustrator composition in AE, it's layers appear in AE as separate layers and with the layer 'handles' tight around the objects (all is well). BUT here is what I want to do: I have a layer/object in Illustrator that I "image traced" to make it black but it still has some white parts to it. So I drew two black rectangles around the white parts. But now when I bring it into AE, they all appear as separate layers (the image traced object and the two rectangles) but I want those black rectangles to be literally part of the object that I image traced. In photoshop this would be akin to "flattening the layers". I can do this in AI by "merging" the layers, but if I do that I am brought back to the problem of having AE put the layer's 'handles' to the corners of the comp window and not tight around the object. Frustrating!
So I basically want to be able to paint over/cover up the white parts of my object without that creating new layers/objects.
Thanks for reading!
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

Trying to import boujou .ma tracking data into after effects, seems like it doesn't support the file.

I have tried everything to try and get this to work; i have tried multiple settings in boujou, i have imported the .ma file into maya and exported with baked keyframes and only the camera selected etc. I don't know what i'm doing wrong. I am wondering whether Adobe has cut support for .ma files altogether, which is a real pain in my *** as the built in 3d track just isn't good enough. I have tried dragging the file into after effects, i have tried importing it neither of which do anything. The .ma files don't even show up, i have to select 'all files' under the file type when i choose import to even see the files, and when i click them it doesn't recognize it as tracking data, it'll try and import it as a .PNG file or something. I can't seem to find any plugins that would enable me to import .ma files. I just need that tracking data as a Camera in my scene and i don't care how it is done. Additionally, i have tried exporting as a .txt file and copying and pasting that data into a camera, which doesn't work (unless im doing it completely wrong).
Thankyou for reading

I also experience this problem. My mp4 clips has been taken with a Samsung NV24HD camera and are HD (720p). I haven't tried to convert these clips but I think it should not be necessary since I can play them in quick time. However I have perian installed, perhaps that's why they play in quick time? The next question is then: Is there a similar plugin to iMovie?

Bridge not importing files into After Effects

From AE I go to File > Browse in Bridge...
Bridge opens up and I find the file I want. If I double click the file, an AI for instance, it opens the file within Illustrator. I could find, double click it, and it opens in Photoshop.
I feel as though I'm missing how to import files into After Effects by using bridge.
I'm running CC 2014 on a Win 7 machine.

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...
Mylenium

Cannot import .mov files (from JVC HM100) into After Effects CS6

Hi,
I am trying to import .mov files into After Effects CS6. Unfortunately, when I try to import the .mov files, AE tells me "After Effects error: 210_0001_01.mov cannot be imported -- this '.mov' file is damaged or unsupported." The file works in Premiere CS6. I have the latest Quicktime, and even with Quicktime 7 Pro installed, I got that same result. I would appreciate any advice on this problem.
Thank you.

RobertHorn2012 wrote:
I'm going to set up a new sequence with just the clip I'm using after effects on. I'm going to import that sequence into AE.
Your footage is currently a long-gop codec, which may be giving Mocha fits. So instead of Dynamic Link, you may want to simply export the clip in question from Premiere using a lossless codec. Remember to leave handles on the footage.
To get back to Premiere you would then render in a lossless codec. It's not very handy, but it will get the job done.
Give it a try and see what happens.

How do I import a Premiere Pro file into After Effects

So I'm an editor, I cut trailers and TV spots. I enjoy making my title cards on After Effects because it gives me a lot of options but I'm having difficulty. How do I import / edit a Premiere Pro file into After Effects? I imported the project file but the whole thing was a mess and nothing made sense. Can anyone explain this process to me?
By the way I used CS5.5 versions of the software.

It actually works better if you go the other way... link an AE comp into your Premiere project.
Create and link to After Effects compositions with Dynamic Link

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
As you can see, I made all the layers separate so then when I import it I can work on each and every one. (I want them to bloom from the center)
but when I import to After Effects (I ask to import the composition and retain the layers), the size looks completely different:
Then when I drag down the layers folder to the Comp Panel, the layer order starts getting really messed up. Here is what I am talking about
What am I doing wrong and how can I fix it? Also how can I figure out how to let the petals boom? I'm thinking of scaling the center larger first and then scaling the petals from there. but first I have to figure out how to get the size distortion and the layer orders right. Thanks.

You need to open the comp not drag layers in a new comp.

Importing Premiere Project into After Effects

When I import a Premiere Pro project into After Effects, it splits every shot onto a new track, ending up with a couple of hundred tracks at the end.
Is there a way to avoid this ?
Particularly, since I'd want to keep the option of bringing the project file back in Premiere for further editing.
My colorist suggested that I nest reels of my timeline and split it that way so that when he imports it he has nests on one timeline and the multiple tracks in each of those nests. Still, this feel very clunky.

Since my colorsit doesn't have CS4, I nested sequences in another timeline so that when I imported project in AE my colorist could see the one clip nest and click it to see other timeline to see all clips detail.
Thank you.

Problems Importing Premiere Pro Project into After Effects

I've got my first Pemiere Pro CS6 project completed. Now i want to import it into After Effects CS6 to add titles.
The PR file includes two segments, two still photos and two AE compositions. I am trying to import the PR project into AE two different ways:
1. File>Import> Adobe Dynamic Link>Adobe Premier Project. When I do this, the project looks great in the Footage tab of the RAM preview window on the right. But when I make a new sequence to get it on the Timeline so that I can begin to add titles, I get only blackness in the Comp tab of the ram preview window whether I am playing a RAM preview or a spacebar preview.
2. File>Import> Adobe Premier Project. When I do this, the two AE segments are missing.
I am on an iMac with OSX.7.4.
Can anyone give me some advice on the best way to do this?
Thanks!
--Carol Gunn
Gunn Graphics
Austin, TX

You will need to render out those two AE compositions to video before you can bring them back into AE through dynamic link. If you are concerned with making changes, you can always replace footage in Premiere with a new render.
Dynamic Link is just not designed with your workflow -- AE doesn't open multiple projects at one time, and your workflow ends up with AE trying to open 3.
You can bring those two compositions into AE as imports. They won't be linked together (so any changes in original project will not reflect in imported version) but you would have all 4 elements in one AE project.

Importing Premiere Pro project into After Effects ???

When I import a Premiere Pro project into After Effects, it splits every shot onto a new track, ending up with a couple of hundred tracks at the end.
Is there a way to avoid this ?
Particularly, since I'd want to keep the option of bringing the project file back in Premiere for further editing.
My colorist suggested that I nest reels of my timeline and split it that way so that when he imports it he has nests on one timeline and the multiple tracks in each of those nests. Still, this feel very clunky.

An editor at work was using our Avid to do a grade on a short promo and I
wanted to see what I could do in After Effects. So when he was out of the
office I exported the timeline as an AAF and copied the OMFI media. When I
brought the project into After Effects I ended up with a massive number of
layers and freaked at first at the idea of doing anything with it.
However I thought about it again and decided to precompose all the layers,
as this gave me just one layer to work with. I then added a couple of
Adjustment Layers above it; one with a Levels effect added and the other
with HSL. I also added Masks to the Adjustment Layers so I could vignette
any effect.
The key to working like this was to use Hold Keyframes at the beginning of
each new shot for each effect, Mask Shape and Feather. I could then adjust
that shot, scrub to the next shot add new Hold Keyframes adjust that shot
and so on. When I wanted to repeat any effect settings on a shot, I just cut
and pasted the relevant keyframes. Mixes across shots can be tricky but you
can always go back to work with the original shots on their separate layers
if you need to.
I ended up with a quick grade that stood up nicely against the one done on
the Avid and I only had work with 3 layers on my timeline!

JPEG import into After Effects 6.5/7 over Xsan

We are unable to import any type of .jpg file into After Effects over the Xsan file system. When attempting to do so we only receive a slew of bogus error messages and the files will not import, tiff files or other formats are fine. This issue plagued us back in Panther and we scratched the Xsan file system and went to plain apple share to get around this.
We went back to Xsan with Tiger because we were told the issue had been resolved, it hasn't been fixed, and now we're back to square one.
Being an effects department, all of our photo librarties are jpeg so we have to convert everything to tiff to get it to import into AE. Apple told us to contact Adobe and Adobe tells us to contact Apple. Has anyone else experinced this joy?
P.S. Has anyone had trouble importing .tga files into Photoshop CS2 over Xsan, we are also having this issue?
Xserve G5 Mac OS X (10.4.7) Xsan 1.4
Xserve G5
Xserve G5 Mac OS X (10.4.7) Xsan 1.4

I brought in an Xsan expert to set this system up and I do not know what block size he set, I will check with him. We are running Xsan 1.4 w/10.4.7 on all of the clients and servers and we still have this issue.
I am hoping the block size is the default but if it isn't at least that would be a good explanation. It took five days the last time to do this and I am not ready to do it all over again, especially when it cost so much to bring someone out to do it and they said that the issue has been resolved since previous versions of Xsan.
Xserve G5

Problem with sound when import from Premiere into After Effects

Hi!
I imported a sequence from a Premiere Pro project using File -> Import -> Adobe Premiere Project...
The video in the sequence showed up in the After Effects project as a composition. However, the composition did not include the sound from the sequence! Is there a way to keep the sound from the sequence upon import into After Effects?
Thanks

i`m sorry about the screenshot size, but i could only upload pics with 605 px width.
Nevertheless it seems that you saved my day. looks like it was all about the scale to framesize thing.
thank you so much!!!!

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
The opening, featuring a ribbon of videos, was created in After Effects, using Digieffects Freeform.
The issue is the poor quality of the videos that are featured in the opening -- compared to the higher quality of videos from the original Premiere project., which you can see at the end of the clip.
To create the After Effects project, I exported a series of video clips from Premiere to mp4.
Then I imported them into AfterEffects.
The bottom line, and the purpose of this question, is I am thinking that MP4 was not the best choice for the Adobe Premiere export.
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
And any other settings that will result with the highest qualiity videos for importing.
Thanks

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:
"Working with Premiere Pro and After Effects"
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):
If you're creating a movie to be used in the next step of a post-production pipeline, you _never_ want to use a format that does lossy compression. You either use no compression or (preferable) lossless compression. Examples of codecs that provide lossless compression are the Animation codec and PNG codec at the highest quality settings; these can be used in a QuickTime container, for example. Never compress a movie with lossy compression except at the very end of your pipeline, when you're creating the final movie for distribution.
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.

Best export format for importing into After Effects or even back into Premiere

Please look at this video, work in progress.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49_wbdKALQk
The opening, featuring a ribbon of videos, was created in After Effects, using Digieffects Freeform.
The issue is the poor quality of the videos that are featured in the opening -- compared to the high quality of videos from the original Premiere project., which you can see at the end of the clip.
To create the After Effects project, I exported a series of video clips from Premiere to mp4.
Then I imported them into AfterEffects.
The bottom line, and the purpose of this question, is I am thinking that MP4 was not the best choice for the Adobe Premiere export.
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
And any other settings that will result with the highest qualiity videos for importing.
Thanks

Okay, here's where I stand at this point regarding exporting and/or dynamic linking between AfterEffects and Premiere.
I'm in After Effects. I create a composition I like. So I first tried the old fashioned way. I exported it into a MOV file with the animation preset. Millions of colors. Same frame rate as my Premiere project, which also uses MOV files with no problem.
Howver when I import the MOV file created by After effects, the NEW MOV file section of the premier project plays sluggish. And it also causes the videos that follow to play sluggish. And they are all MOV files at the same frame rate.
The same thing happens when I do a dynamic link between the two projects. A sluggish response starting with the After Effects dynamic link and affecting the MOV video files that follow.
It's a very short After Effects composition. About 3 second slong.
I have a very powerful computer built especially for CS5 and premiere --so that should not be an issue -- recently was in the top ten of the benchmark list.
Up to this point my video files have played perfectly layer upon layer with no problems.
Is there something I am not considering?
Thanks.
Rowby

Importing a Premiere Pro Sequence into After Effects Crashes After Effects

Hello,
I'm on a Quad Core Mac, 2.8GHZ with 6GB of Ram.
I have a Premeire Pro project with varying MOV and MP4 files; from a DSLR and from a Sony EX-1 camera. This project has lots of media, over 3 TBs, and each and every time I try to import it into After Effects-After Effects crashes and does not respond.
Please help.
Thanks

Don't try and do a whole movie in AE. After Effects is for making shots or short sequences. Break up the projects. Organize. 3TB of source materials into AE's Project folder means linking, analyzing, interpreting, and generating previews for enough material to shoot a feature film. Bring in the shots you're working on, not the entire movie. If you need to do an entire movie, break that up to Scenes and make each scene a separate project.
Terabytes of data would also choke Final Cut Pro, Premiere Pro, Avid, or any other NLE if it was dumped in all at once. The only reason that a NLE can handle that much data is that there were some caches created when the footage was imported.

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

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for