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DF23
DF23
Participant
June 17, 2021
Answered

Convert an illustrator file to a layered comp in After Effects in 18.2.1

  • June 17, 2021
  • 2 replies
  • 7638 views

Hey, I notice on the latest AE upgrade 18.2.1 (2021) that the 'convert to layered comp' feature has disappeared. Does anyone know where they've hidden it??? It was a really handy feature for splitting out the elements of .ai file from illustrator into separate layers. I hope I'm just being stupid and that's it's hidden in plain sight! Thanks.

 

    Correct answer Warren Heaton

    Actually, no, when importing an Illustrator document as a Comp or creating a Comp from AI source footage later, After Effects does not see objects nor sub-layers as separate.  AE only sees AI Layers and all AI layer contents are merged onto the corresponding AE Layer.

     

    So, we've always had to move any Illustrator objects that we want to animate separately on the AE side to their own layer at the root level of the Illustrator document (that is, the object cannot be on a sub-layer).  The "Release to Layers - Sequence" option in the Illustrator Layer panel pop-up menu can be helpful for this as it promotes each object on the selected Layer to its own sub-layer which can then be renamed and promoted to Layers.  

     

    Have you tried using Adobe XD yet to export to After Effects?

    Export from Adobe XD to After Effects | 1 Minute Tutorial

     

    You open the Illustrator document in XD (File > Open) and then choose File > Export > After Effects.  With this approach, the Illustrator objects become AE Layers in a Comp.  If you take this approach, be sure to review Supported features when you export to After Effects from the Adobe XD User Guide.  What's not listed here that probably should be is that the Illustrator document Layer structure is not supported.  If I could make any change to how exporting to AE from XD works it is that the AI Layer structure would be maintained via AE Comps and pre-Comps on the After Effects side.  That said, Groups, Artboards, and Text Layers are supported.

     

     

     

     

    2 replies

    J
    Jamie Northrup
    Participating Frequently
    October 22, 2022

    I was also just looking for 'Convert to Layered Comp'. Like some, it does not show up in my Layer>Create menu. I'm in AE 2022.

     

    I think maybe they replaced the workflow. Here's what I found: When you have an .ai layer in your Comp, you can use Layer>Create> 'Convert to Shape Layer'. Then you end up with 1 Shape Layer in your Comp. In the Contents of this layer, you should have all of the individual Paths in Groups. So my layer has Group1, Group2, etc. With each of the groups you can animate each of the paths separately.

     

    Unfortunately this is still a mess if you need to apply an Effect to just one path- but you can duplicate the layer and throw away all of the other groups and just affect the path you want. It seems like Adobe is moving towards making us use Shape Layers for more....

     

    Hope this helps. I didn't have time to make this a tidy write-up. Cheers!

    Warren Heaton
    Community Expert
    Warren HeatonCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    June 17, 2021

    Yes, it's still there if you right-click the selected layer based on AI source footage or use the Layer pulldown menu (Layer > Create > Conver to Layered Comp).

     

    DF23
    DF23Author
    Participant
    June 18, 2021

    Thanks Warren. But it doesn't work the same way the previous version use to. I use to be able to take in an .ai file with everything on one layer in the Illustrator file and it would separate each element out into an individual AE layer. From what I can see this will only work if you've already separated the layers out in Illustrator. Hmmmm....

    Warren Heaton
    Community Expert
    Warren HeatonCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    June 18, 2021

    Actually, no, when importing an Illustrator document as a Comp or creating a Comp from AI source footage later, After Effects does not see objects nor sub-layers as separate.  AE only sees AI Layers and all AI layer contents are merged onto the corresponding AE Layer.

     

    So, we've always had to move any Illustrator objects that we want to animate separately on the AE side to their own layer at the root level of the Illustrator document (that is, the object cannot be on a sub-layer).  The "Release to Layers - Sequence" option in the Illustrator Layer panel pop-up menu can be helpful for this as it promotes each object on the selected Layer to its own sub-layer which can then be renamed and promoted to Layers.  

     

    Have you tried using Adobe XD yet to export to After Effects?

    Export from Adobe XD to After Effects | 1 Minute Tutorial

     

    You open the Illustrator document in XD (File > Open) and then choose File > Export > After Effects.  With this approach, the Illustrator objects become AE Layers in a Comp.  If you take this approach, be sure to review Supported features when you export to After Effects from the Adobe XD User Guide.  What's not listed here that probably should be is that the Illustrator document Layer structure is not supported.  If I could make any change to how exporting to AE from XD works it is that the AI Layer structure would be maintained via AE Comps and pre-Comps on the After Effects side.  That said, Groups, Artboards, and Text Layers are supported.

     

     

     

     

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