Width tool problem

[Guest]

Hi, first of all I have to thank you for your intention to help me, and apologize for my low level of English.

Since yesterday I have a problem that I cannot solve. Making two arms symmetrically, I used the width tool. Once I finished them, I wanted to expand the appearance to make them manipulate both arms and what you see in the picture happened, everything got a little out of control. The manipulable points are gone and I need them. It's like the arm stopped being a stroke, became a shape.

And no, this is not the problem. I solved this by duplicating the arm I could manipulate and manually placing it where I wanted to. The problem is when passing the file to After Effects. Although the layer of the arm in illustratior appears with its joints, in After Effects it appears in the same way as my previous problem.

I'm not sure what solution to give to this, but I need to be able to use my arm as a normal stroke. Maybe not using the width tool is a solution, but I don't want to go through there until I know there's no other option. I hope someone who sees this can help me. If I don't make myself clear, please be free to ask whatever you want. Thank you!

[Myra Ferguson · Accepted solution]

After Effects won't recognize a variable width profile from Illustrator (whether it's a preset or a custom one created with the Width Tool). Here's a video with an approach that help for drawing your stroke inside After Effects CreativeCOW

[Guest]

Wow... I was afraid of that. Thank you very much for the clarification.

Thanks for the tutorial you recommend, but it doesn't work for me to move a character's arm. Also, there are properties in that version that are no longer available in this year's version.

With today's tools, how can I draw a trace from After Effects and give it width in some of its parts, without losing the vectors? I don't know if you understand me-

I hope you can help me.

[Myra Ferguson]

Are you set on using After Effects? If so, I can move this thread to the After Effects forum. An alternative would be to use Animate CC. You can make paths with strokes of variable widths and animate them in Animate.

[Guest]

Don't worry, if I can't find a solution myself I will, thank you!

That advice from Animate CC can be very helpful. The problem is, I've never used it. Could I pass vectors from Animate CC to After Effects? I suppose there would be the same problem as with AI.... Oh my God, today is not my day hahahaha.

Anyway, thanks a lot, Myra. I have learned new things today! If I can't find a solution, I will open a discussion in the After Effects forum, to see what I can do.

Again, thank you!

[Myra Ferguson]

You can only get rendered animations from Animate to After Effects. If you're looking to animate characters using vectors (either the strokes or the fills or both), Animate is really the tool for you.

[Abraham_MotionGraphics]

Are there any plugins that can recognize variable width profiles from Ai to Ae?

The feature is pratically there with the "taper" feature in AE. Adobe should make that a toggle in the import doalogue box. "Recognize Variable Width Profliles".

[Monika Gause]

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@Abraham_MotionGraphics  schrieb:

Are there any plugins that can recognize variable width profiles from Ai to Ae?

The feature is pratically there with the "taper" feature in AE. Adobe should make that a toggle in the import doalogue box. "Recognize Variable Width Profliles".

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You should probably ask that in the After Effects forum