Master the skill of preparing vector graphics in Illustrator for animation in After Effects with this comprehensive tutorial, covering topics such as resizing artboards and vector graphics, setting up layers, and even reordering and renaming layers for efficient animation.
This exercise is excerpted from past After Effects training materials and is compatible with After Effects updates through 2020. To learn current skills in After Effects, check out our After Effects classes and video editing classes in NYC and live online.
Note: These materials are provided to give prospective students a sense of how we structure our class exercises and supplementary materials. During the course, you will get access to the accompanying class files, live instructor demonstrations, and hands-on instruction.
Topics covered in this After Effects tutorial:
Resizing Artboards & Vector Graphics, Setting up Layers for After Effects
Exercise Overview
Preparing vector graphics designed in Illustrator (like the Noble Logo from an earlier exercise) often takes a bit more work than converting the file’s color model from CMYK to RGB. Often, you will need to resize the artboard to the size of the composition you want to create in After Effects, then resize the vector graphics to look good at that size. If you want to animate the artboard’s elements individually in After Effects, you will also need to divide each element into separate layers.
In this exercise you’ll see steps we took in preparing the file you animated in the first Noble Logo exercise!
Resizing Artboards & Vector Graphics
Remember that when we import an Illustrator file into After Effects, it comes in at the same dimensions as the artboard. You always need to check to make sure your artboard is the same size as your desired composition size, and change it if it’s different. You may then need to change the size of the vector graphics.
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On the Desktop, navigate into Class Files > After Effects Class > Noble Logo > Assets and double–click noble-logo-to-prepare-CMYK.ai to open it in Adobe Illustrator.
Make sure you are opening the to-prepare file in the Assets folder, not the similar one that’s outside that folder!
To convert the file, go to File > Document Color Mode and choose RGB Color.
In the Tools panel on the left, choose the Artboard tool
.In the docked panels at the right of the screen, if you don’t see the Properties panel, click on the Properties tab or go to Window > Properties.
In the Properties panel, notice that the Width (W) is 201.85 px and Height (H) is 127.74 px. That’s different from the comp size we want, so we need to change it.
We don’t need to maintain its aspect ratio, so in between the W and H dimensions, make sure Maintain Width and Height proportions
is unlinked.-
Set W to 1920 px and H to 1080 px, the standard size for HD video (and the size of the composition we want to create in After Effects).
TIP: You could also use the HDTV 1080 preset to set this size.
To see the entire artboard on-screen, go to View > Fit Artboard in Window.
The much larger artboard makes the logo look insignificant, so we need to expand the artwork. In the Tools panel, switch to the Selection tool
.Press Cmd–A (Mac) or Ctrl–A (Windows) to select all the art.
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Go to Object > Transform > Scale and:
- In the field next to Uniform, type 550. (You’ll have to experiment with this value on your own projects.)
- At the bottom, check on Preview to see how this change will look.
Click OK.
Setting Up Layers to Individually Animate Elements in After Effects
Each layer in an Illustrator file becomes a layer in After Effects. Currently our document only has one true layer, with a bunch of paths nested inside. If we were to import it into After Effects at this point in time, we would only have one layer. We wouldn’t be able to animate each shape and letter separately like we want! We’ll need to convert each path into its own layer.
On the right of the screen, click on the Layers tab to switch to that panel. (If you can’t find it, go to Window > Layers.)
Expand Layer 1 by clicking its triangle.
With Layer 1 selected, to start breaking up the two
<Group>elements inside the layer, go to Object > Ungroup.We must ungroup Layer 1 two more times, so press Cmd–Shift–G (Mac) or Ctrl–Shift–G (Windows) twice.
With Layer 1 still selected, at the top right of the Layers panel click on the panel menu
.From the menu that appears, choose Release to Layers (Sequence).
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It looks like there are now 21 layers. However, only the first one is a true layer (the rest are sublayers). So we can make them actual layers, in the Layers panel:
- Click on Layer 2
- Hold Shift and click on Layer 21.
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Drag any layer name (such as Layer 21) down until a thick blue line appears at the bottom, as shown below. Release, and the layers will no longer be indented!
- Select Layer 1.
At the bottom of the Layers panel, click the Trash button
.- Remember that thumbnails in After Effects aren’t a preview of the layer’s content. Renaming the layers will help us remember what everything is. In the Layers panel, double–click on the Layer 9 name to edit it.
- Rename it to black square and press Return (Mac) or Enter (Windows) to apply it.
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At the top of the layer stack from Layers 2–8, notice the seven colored rectangles. One at a time, click on the circle to the right of their layer names, then look in the artboard to see where they are.
Notice that some of the rectangles’ bounding boxes are bigger than that shape appears, which means that they are overlapping each other. We want each rectangle to start appearing separately, clockwise starting with the blue rectangle. Normally we would reorder the layers, but that would mess up the overlap.
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Rename Layers 2–8 to indicate the rectangles’ order in the animation sequence we’ll create, as listed below.
Layer 2: red-05 (it will be 5th in the sequence) Layer 3: yellow-03 Layer 4: darkOrange-06 Layer 5: green-02 Layer 6: blue-01 Layer 7: gold-07 Layer 8: orange-04 -
To reorder layers, we drag them up or down in the list, being careful not to put a layer inside another layer. The letters that comprise Noble Desktop are out of order, so let’s reorder them and give them more descriptive names such as red n. When done reordering and renaming, your layers should look like this:
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This file is ready for importing into After Effects! Go to File > Save As and:
- Navigate into Desktop > Class Files > After Effects Class > Noble Logo > Assets.
- Name the project yourname-noble-logo-prepared-RGB.ai
- Click Save.
In the dialog that appears, make sure Version is set to Illustrator 2020 (or whatever version matches After Effects) and click OK.
Quit Illustrator.