AI to AE Blending Modes

[mikehamm]

Is there something I should be doing in Illustrator to control blending modes when brought into After Effects? I had a number of objects on different layers that used the Color Dodge blending mode but upon opening in AE, they were set to Normal. Do I need to apply the blending mode to the whole layer rather than the objects on them?

Thanks!

[Dave_LaRonde]

I wouldn't rely on IL blending modes to properly come in to AE.  Use the blending modes in AE for your Illustrator layers -- life gets a whole lot easier if you do so.

[Rick Gerard · Accepted solution]

The blending modes do not translate across layers like they do in AI.

All of the shapes must be on the same layer or a group for the blend modes to show up in a composition made from an AI file,  but they are not editable.

If you need to edit blending modes you can choose Layer>Create>Shapes from Vector layers, and as long as the fills are simple (not gradients) you will get a group with each path and shape in the AI layer and you can then edit the blend modes any way you like.

I hope this makes sense.

[mikehamm]

Thanks for the info. After a bit of fiddling about, I'm happy to get pretty much the exact same look in AE as I had in AI. AE on the left, AI on the right.

[njdunn1]

I recommend using Overlord for this kind of work! You can import layers easily from AI > AE

https://www.battleaxe.co/overlord