Not reading Illustrator files correctly

Question

I do vector animation and my process is to import various Ai files in Ae. Recently, Ae has not been reading the respective Ai files correctly. So for example if I have taken the head off a character and saved that as a separate Ai file, After Effects show that character still with the head.

The only work around that I have found so far, which doesn't always work, is to go back into Illustrator, make a small change, undo that change, and then resave the Ai file.

After effects then notices the change and when I choose the option to reload footage it (sometimes) works.

Really making my animation work slow. What's going on?

nishu_kush · Accepted Answer

Thanks for reaching out.

As I can understand, you're editing an Illustrator file and Saving as with a different name. When you import that file into After Effects, the change is not registered. Is that correct? Do you have the original Illustrator file imported into After Effects? Can you try clearing the media cache (Edit > Purge > All Memory & Disk Cache)? If that doesn't help, try running After Effects in Safe Mode and test if the issue is still there.

Let me know how it goes. Moving this thread from Bugs to Discussions for troubleshooting.

Thanks,
Nishu

traviskershaw · Answer

I am encountering this same issue. I downloaded a vector from Adobe Stock, made changes to color and remove some elements, moved things into desired layers and when I import into AE - to begin making a motion graphic -, all the pieces that I deleted are still showing in AE despite not being there in AI.

As of writing this, there has been an update to Illustrator - now 2026 - and the version of AE is still 2025. I'm guessing that conflict has something to do with it.

I tried the purge option listed by Nishu_Kush, but no luck, still the same problem. But after I resaved my AI file as a new file combined with the purge, it fixed the issue.

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