Using motion graphics in illustrator for after effects

[Jimgfc]

Hi, have looked for relevant topics using search terms but don't know if this question has been posted before so here goes:

I have a detailed weather graphic set up in Illustrator, and symbol elements on it (clouds, sun, rain, temperature etc) are updated in the AI file on a daily basis then rendered as an ainmated file in After Effects.

These symbols are animated so they appear and disappear according to time of day etc, but otherwise they are static, given their origins in Illustrator.

We have had the idea of animating these symbols individually (so the sun shines with twinkling rays, raindrops fall etc) but it's not possible to do that in Illustrator - or post-animate it in After Effects as the effect you apply would only work on one symbol or the other (raindrops behave differently to sunrays etc)

Is there a way of importing an animation into Illustrator as a movie clip that is inert in Illustrator (and used as say, a movie clip symbol there) but when the AI file is imported into After Effects, it is animated?  Can a clip be created in Adobe Animate for example, and placed in Illustrator as a movie clip symbol that will run in After Effects? Or have I misunderstood the idea of movie clip symbols in Illustrator?

The reason I'm asking is we apply the daily weather updates in Illustrator as it's the fastest way of making the changes that After Effects then updates, and we immediately then render the movie (of a daily weather bulletin) - we don't want to have to do any daily element changes in After Effects as that's another layer of work we'd like to avoid.

Conversely, doing the whole weather bulletin as an After Effects file - and using animated weather symbols created in there - is a complete overhaul and we don't want to do that either.

Hopefully somebody can help?

[Mylenium]

Of course you can "animate symbols" in AE and re-use them simply by creating self-contained pre-compositions and placing them all over the map as duplicates. Likewise, there's a million ways to rig this with expressions or create scripts to facilitate the project (and a lot of such stuff already exists on AEScripts.com) plus potentially make use of things like Essential Graphics, animation presets and what have you. Your workflow sounds not so great and most of these things can be easily achieved in AE these days. Even just fetching position layer data from your updated AI work and having the AE project update almost magically might be doable...

Mylenium

[John Mensinger]

Or have I misunderstood the idea of movie clip symbols in Illustrator?

It looks that way. there may still be some use for the distinction, but Illustrator's New Symbol dialog explains...

Also see where Movie Clip is chosen, it is set as the "Export Type"; which is sort of the reverse of your demonstrated understanding.

[Ton Frederiks]

Illustrator does not import animations or movies (an animated gif is an exception, but does not play in Illustrator). The name movie clip id from the Flash period and does not make sense anymore.

Like Mylenium mentioned this is a job for After Effects, maybe post the question there:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/after-effects/ct-p/ct-after-effects?page=1&sort=latest_replies&tabid=...