Write On Effect with AI files not working

Report · Nov 26, 2021

Hi there! I’m a bit of a beginner at After Effects & need help please!

How do you do the ‘write on effect’ with illustrator files please, where it shows my image layer underneath & not the paint brush?

I am creating a “write on effect”, that makes it look like my illustrations are being revealed / drawn live. I am following the process seen in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkUKms3uqpk

I first used the effect on top of Photoshop layer files, which worked how I want it to (see first video) - however it was blurry due to it being pixel based. So I started all over again, as I want it to be clear (especially when I do pan-zooms) so I redid all the images layers as vectors on Illustrator, and tried doing the same ‘write on effect’ & the same process using the YouTube tutorial (I also checked & unchecked ‘continuously rasterise’ so I could use the paint brush on top of my AI file in After Effects). But all that shows now is the paint brush stroke being recorded, not the image underneath being revealed! (See second video)

Does anyone know how to help with this? I am quite a beginner with after effects. I would continue as I was with the Photoshop files version but because it’s blurry I don’t want to. How do you do the ‘write on effect’ with illustrator files please, where it shows my image layer underneath & not the paint brush? I’ve seen people do similar effects before so I’m really stuck (and desperate as it’s for a job🤣)! Thank you!! Nice to meet you all on here 🙂

Report · Nov 26, 2021

That is a really, really bad tutorial where the creator seems to barely understands the basics of AE himself. So the first thing to do would be to find a better tutorial. That and of course educating yourself about that continuous rasterize thing. Applying effects will ultimately always rasterize content and the only way to gain better quality is to really create the artwork at larger resolutions so it can be scaled down as needed. Other than that I suggest you realyl look up "logo reveal" tutorials liek they were al lthe rage ten or fiteen years ago. There's a million better ways to deal with this scenario instead of relying on something as clunky as paint effects or basic reveals using Write-On. From simple wipes to using complex shapes as track mattes there is so many ways to do this better.

Mylenium

Report · Nov 26, 2021

Use shape layers as track mattes (= masks) as Mylenium said. They have way more flexibility.

Beside this, the second video is not an issue of pixelated artwork, but "Quick preview". AE can dynamically downsample the image for faster previews. I switched this option off all times and manually reduced preivew resolution if I needed it faster.

Here you find the toggle and the options:

(https://blog.pond5.com/12772-10-tips-for-increasing-productivity-in-after-effects/)

*Martin