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usermg
New Participant
April 7, 2020
Question

Pixelated image in After Effects

  • April 7, 2020
  • 4 replies
  • 17148 views

I have prepared my vectors in Illustrator and saved them as .ai files 

I prepared my files in Illustrator in the same size as the preset for a Facebook video (828px x 315)  
I created a new composition in a custom setting - 828x315 and full resolution. 
I imported the illustrator images as footage.

The images are pixelated, edges not clear. The “Continuously rasterize” it doesn't change the quality. And also I am not scaling the images so it should be the problem(the scale is max 100%).

I discovered that not only the .ai files are pixilated but also shapes that I make in the program itself like circles and text.

I have the view in full quality 

Blending mode on each layer is normal
After rendering the image is still blurred.  I don't know how to make the quality better. As I am running out of ideas I starting to realize that my problem could be connected to the custom size of the video (828x315) which maybe is simply too small. If you would have any idea what could be the problem it would be a great help for me. How to make a video that fits the Facebook header requirements?  I didn't have this problem with the previous video where I also used illustrator files.

Thank you

This topic has been closed for replies.

4 replies

R
Rick Gerard
Adobe Expert
April 7, 2020

I see two obvious problems and possibly a third.

The third problem: If you send Facebook an uncompressed video like the ones showing in your Render Cue, Facebook is going to compress it with a sledgehammer and it is going to look horrible. Send them a proper h.264 video using their size guidelines. The Facebook preset you used to create the AI file is not suitable for any kind of video production.

angie_taylor
angie_taylor
Brainiac
April 7, 2020

Did you import any raster images into illustrator? For example a PNG or JPEG? If so they will not continuously rasterize. Also, if you ratesrized anything in Illustrator then it will no longer be vector based so will not continuously rasterize either. Only purely vector-based artwork will work. As Mylenium said, Illustrastor can create Bitmap artwork as well as Vector artwork. Without knowing which you have its hard to know for sure.

    U
    usermgAuthor
    New Participant
    April 7, 2020

    This is a screenshot of the saving options 

     

    angie_taylor
    angie_taylor
    Brainiac
    April 9, 2020

    I'd recommend unchecking the following options;

    • Make PDF compatible file
    • Use Compression

     

    • Also, in After Effects, right click on your file and go to Interpret Footage > Main. In here, go to the bottom of the page and you'll see a "More Options" button. Click this to get to the Illustrator Anti-aliasing settings. Choose "Better". Not sure if this will make mush difference but it certainly won't do any harm 🙂
    Kyle Hamrick
    Kyle Hamrick
    Brainiac
    April 7, 2020

    Can you provide some screenshots to help provide context? 
    Any chance you're using very thin lines? Those will always be problematic. 

    U
    usermgAuthor
    New Participant
    April 7, 2020

    Here are some screenshots of the project.  I understand that if I scale the view the quality gets worse, but after rendering the video still is in bad quality when I open it in its original size.

     

    Here are composition settings 

     

    Some images of the project:

    and render setting

     

    The imported images look bad as also the typography and some simple shapes made in AF itself.

     

    If this provides any more information I would be grateful for the help. 

     

    Thank You

     

    Mylenium
    Mylenium
    Brainiac
    April 7, 2020

    Might we have here once more a case of viewing artwork on anything other than 100% zoom without realizing that unlike AI it doesn't get dynamically re-rasterized in AE? Conversely, just because you created it in AI doesn't mean it has infinite resolution. You could still have used features that merely produce pixel datas like raster effects (drop shadows etc.), certain brush types or gradients. And yes, even the custom size doesn't realyl make sense, beginning with the fact that any MPEG footage only allows dimensions to be a power of 2, so 315 will be squeezed down or stretched out just a tiny bit, which will at least cause a minor degradation even under the best conditions. The rest could be a million things, including Facebook's server-side treatment of your file ruining it, but your info is at best generic and vague and doesn't tell us a lot. Screenshots, excact render settings and so on sure would be much more useful...

     

    Mylenium

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