Mode Effect

[MahaB82A]

There is a star image in Ai file. This Ai file is imported to Ae. In Ae a black backgroud[BG] is appeared around the star image. In Mode switch "Add" option is selected to remove the black BG around the star image. What is the reason behind getting a black BG?

   

[nishu_kush]

I see the issue. Do you mind sharing the .Ai file with me to test?

Looking forward to your response.

Thanks,
Nishu

[MahaB82A]

Ai file

https://easyupload.io/g1wjae

[nishu_kush · Accepted solution]

Thanks for sharing the file. Switching the blending mode to Add or Screen works for me. It is happening because the star is built that way. Screen blending mode is used in Ai as well.

Hope it helps.

Thanks,
Nishu

[MahaB82A]

Thanks.

[Warren Heaton]

@MahaB82A 

What's tricky about the Star Layer in the Illustrator file is that an Apperance is applied to each Object consisting of a Gradient that goes from white to almost black (the RGB value is 0, 0, 4) with the Blending Mode set to Screen to knock out the black at the Object level.

When imported into After Effects, all of the seperate Objects combine into one rasterized Layer and those Blending Modes for each Object are not maintained.  To match this well in After Effects, each Object needs to be on it's own Layer in Illustrator so that the Blending Modes can be set seperately in After Effects.  A secondary issue is that the blending in Illusrtrator is not an exact match to the blending in After Effects.

Here's the cloeset match that I was able to come up with (the star on the left is the re-worked version):

If you like how that's looking, I can send you this After Effects 25.x project file and Star2.ai file.

- Warren

[Warren Heaton]

Is the black background hidden in Ilustrator?  If so, it should not need the Blending Mode changed to hide it.  Also, Add doesn't remove black entirely.  For that, you want a third-party effect called UnMult (short for Unmultiply).  

If the star object in the Illustrator file is white and the background object is black, an alternative approach is to use Star.ai as a Luma Matte where white reveals and black conceals.