• Global community
    • Language:
      • Deutsch
      • English
      • Español
      • Français
      • Português
  • 日本語コミュニティ
    Dedicated community for Japanese speakers
  • 한국 커뮤니티
    Dedicated community for Korean speakers
Exit
0

Importing compound paths into after effects - why is it reversing the fill?

New Here ,
Jan 16, 2017 Jan 16, 2017

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Noob question but probably too specific to solve it with google. I want to copy and paste a shape from illustrator to after affects to use as a path. It is a graphic based on the letter D, and when I do it, it fills the hole in the D rather than the outside "line." The first image below is from illustrator and the second one is from after effects. I don't know why there is this beige path in the middle. I simply want the path to fill like I have it in Illustrator. Any help would be awesome.

Screenshot 2017-01-16 19.29.09.pngScreenshot 2017-01-16 19.28.58.png

Views

13.1K

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines

correct answers 1 Correct answer

LEGEND , Jan 16, 2017 Jan 16, 2017
I want to copy and paste a shape from illustrator to after affects to use as a path. It is a graphic based on the letter D, and when I do it, it fills the hole in the D rather than the outside "line."

you could go that route and copy paste paths from illustrator, but maybe you will be better served by using shapes (later in this post).

if you are copying a path from illustrator it will be pasted as masks in Ae. if you copy more than one path (like a compound path or a clip group) then Ae will recr

...

Votes

Translate

Translate
LEGEND ,
Jan 16, 2017 Jan 16, 2017

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Is there anything stopping you from using layers from the Illustrator file as track mattes? 

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
New Here ,
Jan 16, 2017 Jan 16, 2017

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Sorry but I'm not familiar with track mattes. I played around with importing the ai. file and going to layer>track mattes but I don't know what it does. It didn't give me a path.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
New Here ,
Jan 16, 2017 Jan 16, 2017

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Maybe I'm wrong but as far as I can see, importing whole .ai file doesn't allow me to see and edit the paths of the shapes. It just imports the graphic as a picture. Thanks.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
LEGEND ,
Jan 16, 2017 Jan 16, 2017

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

alexm11385966 wrote:

...as far as I can see, importing whole .ai file doesn't allow me to see and edit the paths of the shapes. It just imports the graphic as a picture...

Oh, my.

Instead of hit-and-miss tutorials on YouTube, I recommend some quality time here:

After Effects tutorials

You can't get by in AE without a thorough grounding in the basics.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
LEGEND ,
Jan 16, 2017 Jan 16, 2017

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

LATEST
I want to copy and paste a shape from illustrator to after affects to use as a path. It is a graphic based on the letter D, and when I do it, it fills the hole in the D rather than the outside "line."

you could go that route and copy paste paths from illustrator, but maybe you will be better served by using shapes (later in this post).

if you are copying a path from illustrator it will be pasted as masks in Ae. if you copy more than one path (like a compound path or a clip group) then Ae will recreate the setup using a set of masks.

it will set it's mask mode to difference which works in most cases. if it's not you can always change it (add, subtract, intersect) until you get the desired outcome.

more about copying a path to Ae here:

https://helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/using/creating-shapes-masks.html#copy_a_path_from_illustrator_...

I recommend you use shapes:

1. simplify your Ai artwork. for example you might want to use a compound path instead of different path layers - this can be important later when you convert your artwork to shapes and get a group for each path which can be messy.

2. separate your art into different layers so it will be more managable. think of how you want to animate it and separate it accordingly (for exampe the F - layer 1, the circle in the middle - layer 2, the D - layer 3)

2. in Ae, right click on the Ai layers and choose "create shapes from vector layer" - no you have a duplicate of these layers as a shape layer where you can manipulate the path.

more about importing and preparing illustrator files to Ae here:

https://helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/using/preparing-importing-still-images.html#preparing_and_impo...

Create shape layers from vector layers for easy animation | Adobe After Effects CC tutorials

Create and customize shapes and masks in After Effects

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines