Converting a 1080p project to a 4K one?

[media kat]

I created a 1080p project using artwork from Illustrator saved as .ai files. I now need to make a 4K version of this project.

1. Is everything from AI rasterized after being imported?
2. Is there a way to easily convert the file to a 4K version without redoing everything?
3. If I have to redo everything, how can I ensure consistency of positioned items, and animation between the two files? I'm guessing that the coordinates for individual items in the 1080p file will be different if copied and pasted into the 4K one since the sizes are different?

Thanks!

[Rick Gerard]

Go to File>Scripts and find:

Select

When the script panel opens all you have to do is select width and enter a number:

If you have continuously rasterized your illustrator layers you are done. If you have rolling or scrolling text that is not controlled by and expression you may need to adjust speed to avoid Judder problems. If you have pixel based elements in the project they may be scaled up over 100%, which is never a good thing but you can mitigate that problem by redoing the artwork or by changing the scale back to the 100% and using a plug-in like detail preserving upscale to resize the layers.

This script as been around since there were scripts in AE but nobody looks for it. It's also available directly from the Scripts menu.

You may have to enable allow scripts to write files and access the network in the Preferences>General options.

Before you run the script either duplicate the project or the composition to preserve your original.

If you have a bunch of nested comps you will have to run the scale composition on each of the nested comps.

There is a script available that does the same thing but it automatically finds all nested comps for you. It's under $10 so it may be worth the investment. You'll find it here: Recursive Scale Comp - aescripts + aeplugins - aescripts.com

[media kat]

This seems to have worked — thanks!

You said “If you have continuously rasterized your illustrator layers you are done.”

Does AE retain the vector properties of imported .AI files or are the rasterized?

Thanks!!!

[Rick Gerard · Accepted solution]

After Effects always converts vectors to pixels because AE only renders pixels. When you turn on Continuously Rasterize the rendering order is changed so that transformations in the layer (scale is the most important) are calculated before the vector information is turned into pixels. This maintains good edges. You should take some time reading up on the subject. The search Help field at the top right corner of AE is a good place to start.

When you are working with raster art (pixels) like video, still images or illustrations made with something like Painter or Photoshop you must design that artwork or capture the images with sufficient resolution (number of pixels not pixels per inch) so that the footage will never be scaled larger than about 120% at some point in your project. If your footage is never larger than about 75% scale you are also loosing quality and the footage is too big. If you go scale over 125% it is areal good idea to use some special techniques to improve the quality of the scaling. If the layers are made 3D then the distance between the camera and the layer should be equal to but not much greater than the zoom value of the camera because moving the camera is doing the same thing as scaling.

When you get your head wrapped around these concepts it's a lot easier to design artwork and capture images that will render faster and give you better results than you can get if your images are too small or too large for the project. This even goes for vector art created in Illustrator. The closer the artwork is to the size it needs to be in the frame when it is in it's hero position the easier it will be to work with the images in After Effects.

[jaredc10735834]

Will the plugin you mention here work with newer version fo AE? When I use the script to scale a composition from HD to 4k, it appears that it worked in AE, but when I export as MOGRT to premiere pro, the canvas is now 4k but the elements are in their original HD locations. How can I scale everything to 4k without having to readjust everything? 

[wilmer5DE7]

This worked like a charm! I literally didn't change a thing as all the layer in the composition was continuously rasterized. Thank you, sir!