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MysticElitess
Participant
August 19, 2018
Answered

How to get an Illustrator created letter (Path) in AE not as a Solid, but as a Stroke

  • August 19, 2018
  • 2 replies
  • 1021 views

Hello everyone,

Like the title says, I want to create a logo animation with trim paths. But for that effect to happen I need to have a stroke in AE which I can animate. If I import the Illustrator file into AE and turn vector to shape layers, I get a shape, but not a stroke. I need to have the Stroke in the middle of the shape and follow its form and it has to look exactly like in Illustrator. I know I can trace the letters with the pen tool but it's not accurate enough. I know the problem is probably within Illustrator. Is there a trick to this? I need to have a stroke line in the center of the letter basically. And even if I have it in illustrator, does AE recognize it as a stroke and creates one? Or is it just a shape layer again?

Thanks for the answers in advance.

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Roei Tzoref

if you want to animate the reveal of the letters, you will have to manually create the paths in Ae and then use stroke effect or trim path to reveal them (depends if you want to create a mask or a shape path). there is no advantage here to converting to Ae shapes so might as well leave it. just create a path over the layer and reveal it using any method your prefer using.

2 replies

M
MysticElitessAuthor
Participant
August 19, 2018

Thank you for the answer. The path is not in the middle but around it as usual. 

In AE i found the only solution is to alpha mask the illustrator file and let it follow the redrawn letter animation... It looks sooo mssy but it works like I want it to. And also I dont know why but the shape layer that AE creates from the vector Illustrator shape, is slightly smaller by maybe one pixel.

That is the original B as you can see and in the following pic is the alpha mask applied to that original B and it gets a little smaller, even though "Formebene 7 (the trim paths animation) has a big enough stroke not to limit the original letter size as well as no masks inside the shape layer.

Hope you understand what i mean.... It's so complicated

Roei Tzoref
Roei TzorefCorrect answer
Legend
August 19, 2018

if you want to animate the reveal of the letters, you will have to manually create the paths in Ae and then use stroke effect or trim path to reveal them (depends if you want to create a mask or a shape path). there is no advantage here to converting to Ae shapes so might as well leave it. just create a path over the layer and reveal it using any method your prefer using.

Roei Tzoref
Roei Tzoref
Legend
August 19, 2018
If I import the Illustrator file into AE and turn vector to shape layers, I get a shape, but not a stroke.

when you create a shape from a vector layer you get a path. you can use a trim path operator to trim the path (add->trim path)

if in illustrator you had the path in the center of the shape, in Ae the path will remain in the same place as long as you made it with a uniform width and basic size brush.

if this does not help show us your illustrator artwork and show us your Ae shape after you convert it. make sure the artwork is selected so we can see the path itself (in Ae or Ai)

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