Participating Frequently

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AE keeps importing the same file.

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Hello,

I've lately been importing Illustrator files into After Effects for animation. I've been running into an issue where I'll upload one file, and then every file I upload afterwards is that same first file. Sometimes saving the file in a different folder, or drastically changing its name helps.

I've reinstalled AE/restarted my computer. This has been a problem for a few weeks.

Thanks for any help!

Deric

ambitious_Journey0D4DCorrect answer

Participant

Hey everyone I found a solution to your problem.

I had the same situation when using Premier 2018 when I tried to import slide from a presentation and had the same problem. The original file was PDF so I had to turn it into jpg to use it in premier. After restarting my computer and trying again all the steps described nothing worked. So I brought the exported jpgs and re-exported them again in resolution matching my sequence settings. After that I was able to import all my images normally.

Seems like Premier and After effects don't like Illustrator files.

G

greg vannoy

Known Participant

Adobe is the WORST. Year in and year out, I'm fighting more bugs than the world's busiest immunologist.

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R

Ruairi5FA4

Participant

August 2021 and I am getting the same problem from images 'exported for screens' from Illustrator. I have 8 different jpegs, and they all raster as image 6 in AE.

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J

Jorge5E52

Participant

This still happenning i am importing form illustrator as compostition and keep importing me as some previuos sequencial ai file name

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J

Jorge5E52

Participant

As previuos mentioned it work finw with the drag to ae mechanism, but is houl be fixed by this time

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G

goodrobot9169155

Participating Frequently

It's 2021 and this problem still persists - cannot import JPEGS exported from Illustrator into After Effects. They import as duplicates of the first frame.

In the latest release of AI and AE, however, PNG's seem to work for me.

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I

irapuanc

Participant

hello,

It happens when you export JPGs from Illustrator using the "Export for screens" feature. All images exported output as the same. When you export PNGs, it doesn't help.

Adobe screws up again!

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Jonas5E26

Known Participant

Remove the metadata from the JPGs with an external tool. This helped in my case.

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ambitious_Journey0D4DCorrect answer

Participant

Hey everyone I found a solution to your problem.

I had the same situation when using Premier 2018 when I tried to import slide from a presentation and had the same problem. The original file was PDF so I had to turn it into jpg to use it in premier. After restarting my computer and trying again all the steps described nothing worked. So I brought the exported jpgs and re-exported them again in resolution matching my sequence settings. After that I was able to import all my images normally.

Seems like Premier and After effects don't like Illustrator files.

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J

Jewel-E

Participant

Here is how I corrected this problem.

I would get the same image opening up for all files when I tried to export jpgs from Illustrator, but if I open the jpgs in photoshop and resave, they open up correctly in AE.

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Tuukka24593103485m

Participant

THIS worked for me, none of the others didn't.

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ivanc63611878

Participant

I was having the same issue. What solved for me was to stop using cmd + i.

Instead, I dragged the file straight into the timeline.

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trần xuânl36362891

Participant

it works! thanks!

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R

RStachelek

Participating Frequently

I am having this same issue importing Illustrator layered files as comps. Even though each AI file has a unique name, a different number of layers etc. AE thinks each new imported file is a duplicate of the first one I imported.

MacOS Sierra 10.12.5, AE CC 2017 14.2, Illustrator CC 2017 21.2

MacPro late 2013, 12-core, 64Gb. SSD drives

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jsolterbeck

Known Participant

Bumping this, discovered similar behavior with psd files, OS X 10.12.6, AE 14.2.1.34. Drag and drop works, but importing as a comp creates the same file over and over, regardless of order.

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Lawn Care Ninja

Inspiring

What happens when you click and drag the file into AE? Instead of clicking import and importing, try clicking the file in Windows Explorer and dragging it into AE. Does it still happen?

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HeroicHandleAuthor

Participating Frequently

Just tried it, it works fine when I drag the file into AE.

However, I also tried it with Illustrator files that had multiple layers. Since it had layers, it prompted me about importing as footage or a composition. Sure enough, it duplicated the first import.

These were also named Untitled 1 and 2. I noticed that by dragging them in, at least the file is named correctly in AE. If I were to import from AE, the name would be duplicated as well.

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Lawn Care Ninja

Inspiring

Maybe upload those files to a file sharing site and share them here. I could then try them on my machine.

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Rick Gerard

Community Expert

Your description of the problem does not give many details. Upload a file isn't really the right term to use. I think you mean Import a file.

If your copies of After Effects and Illustrator are up to date (not the latest but the most current build for the version you are using) and you have already purged all memory and cache try this:

Reboot your machine
Create two new illustrator files with a square in one file and a circle in the other
Name the files test 1.ai and test 2.ai and same them both to a new folder
Open After Effects and from the Menu choose File>Import
Select test 1.ai and select Import as footage from the import options
Select the imported file in the Project Panel and choose File>New Composition from selected
From the Menu select File>Import and choose test 2.ai and import the file as footage
Double click the test 1.ai file in the Project Panel to see if it opens properly in the footage panel
If it opens properly then in the footage panel drag the file from the Project Panel to the comp you made from test 1.ai and see if you have both a square and a circle in the comp panel

If this works then you are experiencing user error and you need to carefully review your workflow and verify the files by opening them in Illustrator. If it doesn't work then let us know and give us complete workflow details and uncrossed screenshots of your project with the appropriate footage selected in the Project Panel and the appropriate layers selected in the timeline with their modified properties revealed so we can help you get to the bottom of this problem.

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