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How to best use AI files inside After Effects
Hello. Have a basic “importing from AI” question, since Illustrator is not my strong suit. I created some “curved shapes” in Illustrator and exported them as .eps and .ai files into After Effects, where I am building a 720×486 comp for video (to be sued as lower-third name supers). My AI shapes are mostly black with a 2-pt white stroke. Now, when I import them into AE, the edges aren’t as as a expected, they seem a tad aliased, even when I have my layer settings in my AE composition set to BEST and have the CONTINUOUSLY RASTERIZE icon checkmarked. When I render the comp (QT file, Animation codec) and import it into Final Cut (720×486), there’s still this slight aliased look to my AI shapes. I can even see the aliasing when I play the comp back in quicktime. 🙁
So…is there something I am doing wrong inside Illustrator? At what resolution should I create my curves in AI? And should I consider dpi values, as I would in Photoshop? I believe my Ai shapes were around 800×500 or so when I checked in AE….should they be larger?
I’m a little lost. And I HATE the aliasing.
thx for your help.
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6 Replies
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Hey, Aaron-
Just a few things off of the top of my head…
1. 2 pixel lines (from ANY graphic program) in AE can be problematic. Especially if they’re curved.
2. Make sure all points of your production pipeline match. Make sure your AE comp is set to 720×486(D1), 0.9px. Make sure your render/output settings are correct(fields ON/OFF, etc.). Make sure your FCP sequence settings are correct as well.
3. Render out different tests…render one version with FIELDS NONE, one with FIELDS LOWER, and see which looks better in FCP.
4. Try adding a sub-pixel blur to your AI file in AE. Something like 0.2 – 0.5. I know you’re thinking: “What? Blur my image to make it ‘sharper?'” Trust me, sometimes this little trick works.
5. If any of your AI files have a gradient, that could be an issue. If you need a gradient on your graphic, consider exporting to photoshop and re-importing. OR (this is what I do sometimes for simple gradients) …in AI, change the gradient to a solid color and re-import. Then, re-create the gradient in AE with Ramp or another gradient plug-in.
hope that helps…
Cheers,
Jason -
Thx Jason. Yeah, I already had everything set to similar parameters re. fiield orders, comp settings in AE vs. those in FCP, etc. I went ahead and added a 1-pt FAST BLUR to the AI curves, and that really smoothed things out for me…thx. A 1-pt fast blur looked a little better than anything between 0.2 and 0.5, so everything looks much better than before…THX AGAIN!!
😉
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I’ve had trouble on occasion with importing stroked lines, but that may have been a version or two ago. You might test it by importing a filled shape to see if you get the same problems.
I’ve had very small art try to cause problems.
Also, don’t forget that now AE supports copy and paste of vector art from AI into masks, so you don’t need even to save your ai file at all if you just need to grab a vector shape and paste it in as a mask.
Good luck. Post an image if you keep having trouble. I use AI and AE together constantly. You shouldn’t have troubles.
-Greg.Antifreeze Design
https://www.antifreezemotiongraphics.com -
In my experience (I use AI files in AE every day) I have found that importing AI files into a comp with 0.9 Pixel Aspect Ratio can be problematic as well. I generally do all my work in square pixels (I am not using any video, I don’t know if you are) and then I render from one main 0.9 comp containing my master comp shrunk to 90% horizontal. I hope that makes sense. Whatever you do, don’t have AE interpret your AI files as DV footage. That causes all kinds of wackiness if you try rotating things! Also, the blurring tip is very good advice as well.
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Could you explain this in more detail? So you’re saying, pre-comp my animations (everything’s pretty much static, except the curves are revealed by a linear wipe) with my pixels set to “square” (same resolution though, in my case, 720×480) and then nest that inside a master comp with D1/DV pixels (0.9), with the x-scaling of my precomp set to 90% (turning “contrain proportions” off, basically)? lemme know
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I think you may be adequately compensating (with the scaling) for something that you don’t need to compensate for if you set your comps up correctly.
1. AI files are going to come in as square pixels. Once you’ve imported your file, go to your footage interpretation (right-click on the footage in the proj window) and interpret the art as square, if it’s not already. (photoshop now has the ability to work in non-square mode.)
2. Use your artwork in either a square or non-square (.9) comp.
3. If you want to work in square pixels until you’re ready to output, that’s fine. Work at 648×486 (1.0). (I like to set myself up with a template in AI that is 648×486 so that I can see a basic outline of my comp window.) Then make your master comp for your final render that is at .9 (720×486). Your square comp(s) that you put into it won’t need adjusting, and AE won’t be doing scaling and resizing on your art because it was oversized at 720×540.
—One other note about the line art from AI. Make sure that if you’ve used the collapse layer button on your comp that contains the art, that you also use the collapse button on subsequent layers until you get down to your source ai art. If you don’t have them collapsed all the way down, you’ll get rasterazation somewhere along the line. (I think there also may be a pref that also affects sub-layers so that you don’t have to walk all the way down the nested-comp-line to make sure they’re all collapsed.)
-Greg Neumayer
Antifreeze Design
https://www.antifreezemotiongraphics.com
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