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MEMEM
Inspiring
December 14, 2020
Question

Pixels to Vectors

  • December 14, 2020
  • 3 replies
  • 391 views

I have some photoshop files, saved as psd and I want to use them in After Effects as Vectors - because I need those beautiful smooth lines.

 

How can I change these files?

Help is appreciated.

 

Myf

This topic has been closed for replies.

3 replies

Community Expert
December 14, 2020

Video is pixels so even vectors get turned into pixels. Vectors let you scale without quality loss, but there is no gain if the layers are at 100% scale or the equivalent when the layers are 3D. Single-pixel wide horizontal and vertical vector lines must be lined up with the pixel grid to maintain their original color and single-pixel vector lines that are curved or on the diagonal will not work well in video and if the media player is scaled, these lines fall apart very quickly. You must follow the rules if you want your graphics to look good on video, even if the originals are vector shapes.

Roland Kahlenberg
Legend
December 14, 2020

Adobe Capture (not sure if it's still around), Photoshop, Illustrator - and their tablet versions can do this but it's not going to be a one-click solution. Do a bit of googling, "Adobe convert pixel raster to vector" to get started on the right track.

Very Advanced After Effects Training | Adaptive & Responsive Toolkits | Intelligent Design Assets (IDAs) | MoGraph Design System DEV
Mylenium
Legend
December 14, 2020

You would need to re-draw them as vectors in Illustrator or rebuild them from AE native vector elements liek shape layers. No magic shortcuts here, give or take the occasional quick hack with auto-trace or converting some text layers and vector-based PS layer masks to vectors where possible.

 

Mylenium

MEMEM
MEMEMAuthor
Inspiring
December 15, 2020

I think your advice is probably best here and there is no problem re-drawing because this is a new project and I want to get it right from the start.

Thanks

Myf

Myfanwy E S McLean