Smoothing of hard lines

Question

I bought after effects specifically so i can use it to make anime.

A friend of mine who is more familiar with the process says after effects is what smooths out the incoming animation cels like this

See how the edges are very jagged.

However in they should be like this

According to my friend after effects is responsible for smoothing the lines of the first image into lines like the second, but I really cant figure out which plugins to use

The best I came up with was Gaussian blur but that makes the lines too thick.

iuyi71168881 · Accepted Answer

Just want to update that I found my answer

there is a free japanese plugin called OLM smoother

Here is an example with the previous image I linked, this is default settings.

You can download it here Tools OLM Digital R&D

Rick Gerard · Answer

If the lines are vectors they need to be at least 2 pixels wide to be properly anti-aliased. Single pixel lines do not work for video unless they are horizontal or vertical and perfectly aligned with the pixel grid. Your lines look like they are a single pixel wide and the quality of the layer is draft. Personally, I never used a curved line that is animated in a video that is not at least 3 pixels thick and I try and never use 100% black against 100% white. That combination never reacts well to compression.

If the lines are pixels (raster images) then you are stuck. You'll have to redo the artwork and make the lines thick enough for video. Roland's idea of using a matte choker will only work if the lines are more than one pixel thick. Choking a really thin black line will give you a soft grey one.

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