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AI (illustrator) layers not showing up in AE (after effects) CC 2014

Forum|Forum|10 years ago
May 1, 2015
13 replies
110983 views

I've just come across this issue for the first time. I've imported AI files into AE many times before and had no issues like this one.

After importing the layered AI doc into AE, only one layer will show up. Attached is a video I recorded of what happens. If you can make sense of it, please let me know. Note: I can save out eps as separate files and use those in AE no problem.

I'm working on a macbook pro retina and just did a fresh format about 2 weeks ago so everything is up to date. I've tried restarting AE and my computer. Also recreating a new AI file with different dimensions.

I blocked out the files on my computer in respect to my clients (in case you're confused).

Error or problem

Correct answer TalkMotion

sorry, that's what I meant. I've forced everything to vector. There's nothing "live" about the graphics. I've also double checked that the layers aren't checked off as templates.

I figured it out... you can't have more than one artboard in your illustrator file. I didn't know that but it makes sense now that I've come across the answer.

G

graceful_life5F94

Participant

"To ensure Illustrator files appear correctly in After Effects, select Create PDF Compatible File in the Illustrator Options dialog box."

THIS RESOLVED MY ISSUE!

surfacist

Participant

Also be sure your artboard is named "Artboard 1". Any other name will result in AE pulling it in as a flat file (no layers)

Z

z-z-z88

Participant

I tried everything written here, but nothing worked.
I found solution: save ai file as psd (photoshop) and import psd file.

М

Мария306105652rkv

Participant

Thank you so much!

A

abdula72470968

Participant

Always make sure you when you save the AI files, you choose save as PDF option. 🙂

W

william5E2E18759031

Participant

Thanks a lot, this solved the issue of not showing layers when imported in After Effects 😄

M

mhrbilalhassan

Participant

I have tried all the methods but all in vein. After a long time I got this. You should check this.

How To Seperate Objects to Their Own Layers | Illustrator Tutorial - YouTube

J

jake_3591

Participant

This one solved it for me too!

D

defaultbvei59yvvlzc

Participant

I am facing the same issue, thank you for sharing your experiment and the solution for it!

S

sneakysnakesucks

Participant

Man I found it !

Had a similar problem, I was working on an illustrator file with an image in one of my layers.

No matter what I did, nothing showed up in AE for this image, even though other vector layers were ok.

I also have to mention that this problem only occured on PC, on Mac everything ran fine.

I tried everything suggested in this forum and looked for answers on the net, nothing worked for me.

But while trying different settings on AI, I let AE opened with this problematic imported file.

I turns out that the not showing image imported from AI finally appeared, but took 15 minutes to do so, no loading bar to hint me.

I figured out it had something to do with the image settings inside AI.

What you have to watch is the image size. Even if you're image appears in a small portion of your artboard, illustrator manages links to your assets, as AE and InDesign do, and use the original size of the asset.

Open your Window > Links panel, and select your faulty image.

Turns out mine was 4947x9178, 363dpi ! Even if I worked in a 1080x1920 artboard !

So huge that AE struggles to show it (on PC, strange things that my weak mac air has no problem.) !

The solution is to reduce the image size to something more manageable.

Select your image, then Object > Rasterize

Color Mode RGB

Resolution : 72 dpi (we're working for videos, not print !)

Click ok, save your document, and now everything should work fine !

(Also check other suggestions if it doesn't work ! )

Cheers !

J

jonathangolgota

Participant

Make sure your CAPLOCK not checked, or artwork not show up

S

sneakysnakesucks

Participant

Hi jonathan, thank you for your attention !

I know this caplock thing, the problem wasn't here! 😉

Wish I could send the problematic file as an example!

Best

charissao25298376

Participant

you saved my life

robierta

Participant

man, you helped me so much!!!

thank you for writing that answer...

saved me a lot of nerves and stress

Roei Tzoref

Legend

you can't have more than one artboard in your illustrator file.

this statement is actually not accurate. you can work with 2 artboards when importing an illustrator file to After Effects and sometimes you really should. different sized artboards are great for the design process in Ai, but when you want to prepare your files for Ae. you should work within your final output dimensions. for example a common output is HD (1920x1080) so you would to work with an artboard at that size, and if you got objects bleeding to the pasteboard - you want another artboard that is bigger than HD and contains the partly cropped object. for this reason there are video templates in Ai and they have 2 Artboards and not one so that object that are on the pasteboard (or partly on the pasteboard) won't be cropped in Ae.

let's see for example the HDTV1080 Preset.

it comes with 2 artboards and this is a good thing:

it's an HD artboard on top of a very big 14400x14400 artboard. as stated in the tutorial later in this post, this is said to be a magic size for this trick to work and not crop layers, but I have found that any artboard that is larger then the HD artboard and contains the cropped elements this is good

when I import it to Ae, it will not be cropped

this is actually very useful. but what am I explaining this when you actually have the lovely Trish Meyer to explain it to you in this free video from Lynda: After Effects Hidden Gems

more about preparing your work from Ai to Ae in here: Preparing and importing still images in After Effects

J

johnjii9128978

Participant

Thanks for posting the 'Preparing and importing still images' guide, the solution for this issue for me was this:

To ensure that Illustrator files appear correctly in After Effects, select Create PDF Compatible File in the Illustrator Options dialog box.

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