Illustrator's files to huge in composition

[F.Jely]

Hello,

I'm here because in my project I imported .ai files and I animated them.

Although, the ae became very slow and it wasn't possible to continue ...

Then, I tried to reduce the size of the .ai (by un-tick the pdf compatibility, the file goes from 60mb to less than 1mb).

The reduced files are working fine on Illustrator but when I replaced them with the heavier one, After effect doesn't show me anything.

Then how to reduce the illustrator files than can be used in After effect ?

Thanks for reading,

sincerely,

F.Jely

[Roei Tzoref]

I tried to reduce the size of the .ai (by un-tick the pdf compatibility, the file goes from 60mb to less than 1mb).

it needs to be turned on.

first read this about preparing your illustrator files for Ae:

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

if you still have problems provide information about your setup and be specific. also show some screenshots and share your Ae full version number and Os version.

[F.Jely]

Thanks for your help

I read the documentation and I have a question:

how do you change the format of file from web (format of my ai files) to Film and Video ?

Should I made a new file, then copy and paste layers ?

[Roei Tzoref]

Should I made a new file, then copy and paste layers

yes, in the layers panel flyout menu: make sure "paste remembers layers" is checked. Select the artwork, copy paste in new document. It will recreate the layer structure like the previous document.

[F.Jely]

I made those new documents.

Sadly, the Ae file is still very slow and almost impossible to edit.

[Roei Tzoref]

if you still have problems provide information about your setup and be specific. also show some screenshots and share your Ae full version number and Os version.

[F.Jely]

Ae cc 2015

Windows 10

memory: 8gb RAM

graphics: AMD Radeon R9 200

Processor: AMD 8350 eight-core 4.0 Ghz

as you can see the software doesn't do a single thing

[Rick Gerard]

Your screenshots tell us nothing about your project except that you have what looks like a composition (not a layer) nested in your comp. The normal process is to import Illustrator files as a composition, then open the composition that is created. This will show you all of the layers in the original illustrator file so you can animate them. We can't even tell if the comp in the timeline is the same that is in the project panel.

If you have problems with a layer you should select the layer and press the U key twice to reveal all modified properties. If you can't see anything wrong then use Print Screen to take a screenshot of the whole app and then just paste it to the reply field on this forum. It will take 2 seconds.

If you can't make the illustrator file work at all try starting a new project, create a new hd 25 fps comp (I assume you are living in a PAL country) that is about 10 seconds long, select the Rectangle tool and draw a square in the middle of the comp. Then press Alt/Option + p to set a keyframe for position, then move the CTI (current time indicator) to a out 9 seconds and with the selection tool (v) move the rectangle to another part of the frame. Now press the space bar and see if you get an animation. If this works and your Illustrator files opened as a composition doesn't show anything then we need to take a serious look at the illustrator file and the contents and the layer styles that may be involved.

I hope this helps.

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi F.Jely,

Did you ever solve your issue? As Rick says, it's tough to see what's going on there. Can you share more of the screen with us?

Thanks,
Kevin

[Rick Gerard]

F.Jely wrote:

Sadly, the Ae file is still very slow and almost impossible to edit.

You must be new to AE. After Effects is NOT an editing app. It's for creating shots and it's slow to use. You have to get used to it and to plan your compositions as shots and not movies. If you are doing things like dynamic text (lyric videos) then break each phrase or sentence up into a separate composition and then finalize your edit in Premiere Pro. You'll work a lot faster that way and end up with a bette project that is easier to polish up. You should also get in the habit of having your Composition Panel resolution set to Auto and working at standard composition frame sizes and frame rates. Combine Auto resolution and a Magnification factor (first box on the left at the bottom of the comp) of 50% and you should be able to fairly quickly position and animate elements in a standard HD comp even on a less than professional machine. Newbies waste far too much time at 100% magnification factor and Full resolution trying to preview 15 seconds of a comp. It's a waste of time. Figure out the timing and the position, run a preview, add your effects and check a few frames, send the project to render and move on to the next one while it is rendering, then verify your work. Notice that I did not say preview the whole thing with all the effects, go back and make some changes, then preview the whole thing again, then do it again, then again, then render. You can easily learn how your final project is going to look without full frame full length previews. You'll get better at it the more you do it.

Lets talk about Illustrator and After Effects for a moment. When you create or resize Illustrator artwork for video you should know a few things and follow a few simple workflow rules. First, you should set the document size to pixels or points (a pixel = a point = a pixel) and not to inches. Second, only one Artboard  may be used and all artwork must fit inside that artboard. Third, you should turn on Snap to pixel in the view options. Fourth, and very important, you should never use a line in Illustrator that is less than 1 point wide because that is the minimum width of a pixel. There's no such thing as a half pixel. A 1point line black line that is not perfectly aligned to the pixel grid will turn into a 2 pixel wide gray line when it is converted to pixels.

[Roei Tzoref]

Good pointers.

about Artboards, actually having Two artboards is a good thing if they are from within the HD preset. it prevents cropping if the elements or a part of it is outside the edges. this is from the help files:

Create your document in Illustrator using one of the Video And Film document profiles. In addition to creating a document at the appropriate size for video or film work, this creates a document with two artboards: one at the appropriate frame size, and one much larger. When you bring such a document into After Effects, the area outside the smaller artboard isn’t cropped and lost; it’s retained outside of the composition frame. This only works for an Illustrator document with multiple layers imported as a composition.