Adobe Illustrator To After Effects



Illustrator is for creating scalable vector graphics. SVG has no resolution – vectors can be scaled up or down with zero change in their appearance.

Vectors do take on a resolution once they need to be printed or exported to other formats like JPG and PNG.

Adobe After Effects is a digital visual effects, motion graphics, and compositing application developed by Adobe and used in the post-production process of film making and television production. Among other things, After Effects can be used for keying, tracking, compositing and animation. Illustrator is by far less hardware intensive and has any easier learning curve. Plus graphic design leans heavily on Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign as it’s go to choice for professionals in that field. If you’re looking to animate an image or vector, Illustrator will allow you to break that image up into individual parts so that once you open up After Effects, you’re able to move them around, add expressions, or do whatever you want to those individual objects.

I’m working on some textures for a print project. These are pretty big textures – at 100% scale I want them print as 12″ x 12″ at 300 dpi.

So I created a document with the settings below. I’ll pause now and say that my first mistake was thinking that the 300 dpi setting here controls the resolution files are exported at – it doesn’t. I explain what this setting IS for further down, but for now, ignore it.

  • If you are a designer and looking to apply effects and transitions to your video, or create animated logos, illustrations or infographics After Effects is the program to edit in. The tools in After Effects make it very easy to build video compositions, add video effects and motion graphics to bring your presentation to life.
  • Shape layers in After Effects are powerful tools for making compositions, but designers unfamiliar with the software may find them difficult to use. For those more familiar with Illustrator, you’re in luck! Importing Illustrator files into After Effects has become easier with each new release.

Next, I created my texture using several live effects, expanded their appearance, and exported at 1x to PNG. Audacity line in gain.

Looking at the file, the color was right but the dimensions were wrong – the file is 864 pixels x 864 pixels. In other words it’s 72 pixels per inch, which the printer will interpret as 72 dots per inch – nowhere near the 300 dpi I’m after.

So my next thought was to export the textures specifically at 300 dpi – this got me the right dimensions, but the color was wrong.

My next thought was to leave the live effects in place – skip expanding their appearance and go straight to exporting at 300 dpi. Again, I had the same color issue:

End Result:

Adobe Illustrator is a graphic vector editor developed by Adobe. Difference between Photoshop and Illustrator? Illustrator is vector-based. So, unlike Photoshop’s pixel-based format, Illustrator uses mathematical constructs to create vector graphics. A vector graphic will never lose its quality if it’s scaled up or down. So graphic designer uses Illustrator will also give you a better print output since it’s not resolution dependent. Illustrator are typically used to create logos, icons, drawings, typography, and complex illustrations.

Some contemporary design trends are Skeuomorphism, Flat design, and Material design (more details). For this workshop, we work with Flat design.

Adobe After Effects is a digital visual effects, motion graphics, and compositing application developed by Adobe and used in the post-production process of film making and television production. Among other things, After Effects can be used for keying, tracking, compositing and animation. For this workshop series, we work with Motion graphics.

Text Effects Adobe Illustrator

Illustrator to After Effects is a 3 session workshop series that introduces attendees to simple illustrate-animate workflow: from Illustrator – vector graphic – to After Effects – motion graphic. By the end of the series, attendees will have a basic understanding of graphic design, the software, and a cool animated rocket video/GIF (some work/other work).

The 3 workshop sessions ideally will cover the basics of Illustrator and After Effects can do. Generally, the series is for Illustrator and After Effects newbies. Difficulty levels may increase but not drastically so don’t worry if you miss the previous one and want to go to the next one!

If you have questions, you are also more than welcome to pass by the Digital Media Bar, looking for Thanh Nguyen, or email me at tnguyen19@wooster.edu.

Agenda & files of session 1 is available.

Agenda of session 2 is available.

Agenda of session 3 is available.

Adobe Suite CC is available on the lab computers in Ebert 109 – Visual Resources Lab and Andrews Library Digital Studio.

Some Illustrator examples

ILLUSTRATOR to AFTER EFFECTS session #1: FLAT DESIGN

Attendees will create vector drawing of a rocket that will be used for animation using introductory tools.

Files: x

    • Introduction to Vector graphics
      • Vector graphics & common uses
      • Difference between AI, PS, and AE
      • AI User Interface
    • Flat Design – creating this from squares and circles
      • Document setup
      • Select & Direct Select tools
      • Shape & Pen tools
      • Color guide & Color scheme
      • Pathfinder

Beginner tutorials:

Illustrator
  1. Learn to set up a new Illustrator file: x
  2. Learn to use pen, pencil, and flare tool: x
  3. Learn to work with shape tools: x

ILLUSTRATOR to AFTER EFFECTS session #2: ILLUSTRATION to ANIMATION

Attendees will continue the rocket vectors & arrange them into animation components that then will be imported to After Effects

Web scraping js. Files:x

    • Continue with Flat Design and Illustrator
      • Quick revision
      • Shape & Pen tool
      • Rotate tool & Mirror tool
      • Transform again tool
    • Motion Graphics & Animating components
      • Introduction to motion graphics
      • Animation components
      • Export components (assets) in Illustrator

Effects In Illustrator

Tutorials & Resources:

  1. Add depth and texture in Illustrator (not flat design): x
  2. Adobe Color wheel: x
  3. A simple Typography tutorials: x
  4. Introduction to Motion Graphics in After Effects: x

ILLUSTRATOR to AFTER EFFECTS session #3: MOTION GRAPHICS

Attendees will animate the imported illustration using After Effects

Files for workshop:x

FINAL RESULT:x

  • Introduction to Motion Graphics
    • Quick Revision: import .ai file to After Effects
    • Motion graphics
    • After Effects UI
  • Animate the rocket
    • Create new composition
    • Timeline & Transform
    • Export project files to .mov an .mp4

Tutorials & Resources:

  1. Helpful graphic design channel: The Simple Designer
  2. Slick object transitions tutorial: x
  3. Inspiration Character animation workflow: x