Animated elements (Lottie Files) in Interactive Pdfs

[thebobwolf]

Hello 👋

Is there a way to import Lottie files into indesign and then export an Interactive Pdf  (not epub) with them gloriously animating in, perhaps when you click a button or even just for the hell of it, because you know sometimes your client wants a pdf with some animation in it (but pls not a heavy .mp4) 

Wouldn't it be great to be able to make rich multimedia interactive pdfs, ahhh. 🥳

[Derek Cross]

You can't have animations in a PDF.

[thebobwolf]

Thanks for your succinct reply Derek. Years and years ago we could happily have animated content in an Interactive Pdf but since the removal of flash / swf support this has left a bit of a gap for this kind of rich media (something Adobe once championed) Since Lottie files are very light, much smaller than .mp4's and can even contain interactivity it would be nice to imagine that Adobe will in the not too distant future develop a way to use them with Indesign.

[Mike Witherell]

Also, you cannot import / place Lottie files into InDesign.

[thebobwolf]

Thanks Mike, I also tried to import one before posting the question. It would be nice to be able to use such a small animated file in InDesign.

[BobLevine]

You can use animations in InDesign for output to Publish Online, Fixed Layout EPUB or with in5. You cannot use them in PDF and Lottie Animations are designed for websites.

If you want more than is capable with InDesign's native features, you can use Animate and save as OAM and place that in InDesign.

[thebobwolf]

Thanks Bob, I'll have a look into OAM files much appreciated. 

I had hoped since After effects had JSON-based animation export features (through Bodymoving) that Lottie may be an easy way to include them into interactive Pdf. Maybe I'll pop a feature request over on the Indesign page. OR maybe I'm trying to push a square into a round hole... 😉 

[BobLevine]

Don't bother. Adobe can't do anything about the limitations in the PDF specifications.

Unless you're speaking about being able to import Lottie animations for HTML-based output. In that case file that feature request here: https://indesign.uservoice.com/

[Derek Cross]

You can't realistically have videos or multistate objects in Interactive PDFs either – you can only have  simple hyperlinks to internal parts of the document or to external websites. 

If you want to produce documents with animations and multistate objects and videos, have a look at InDesign's Publish Online facility.

[thebobwolf]

Alas my clients are not able to have documents published to the web, but thanks again.

[Derek Cross]

You might consider in5, an InDesign plug-in (at extra cost) that produces HTML5 documents.

https://ajarproductions.com