Importing Photoshop, Illustrator, Pdf, And Eps Files; Layered Files; Preparing Layered Photoshop Files - Adobe AFTER EFFECTS 7.0 Manual

Importing Photoshop, Illustrator, PDF, and EPS files

Layered files

You can import Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, EPS, and many PDF files directly into an After Effects project.
After Effects imports attributes that were applied in Photoshop, including position, blending modes, opacity,
visibility, transparency (alpha channel), layer masks, layer groups (imported as nested compositions), adjustment
layers, common layer styles (Drop Shadow, Inner Shadow, Outer Glow, Inner Glow, Bevel and Emboss, and Color
Fill), layer clipping paths, vector masks, image guides, and clipping groups.
You can also create a new Photoshop file and add it as the top layer in a composition from within After Effects, or
use After Effects to create a new Photoshop file without adding it to a specific composition. See "To create a new
Photoshop layer" on page 152.
When you import an Illustrator file, After Effects makes all empty areas transparent by converting them into an alpha
channel.
After Effects can import Illustrator CMYK files. However, to maintain accurate color, convert your CMYK images
to RGB images in Illustrator.
You can import a multilayered Photoshop or Illustrator file in the following ways:
•
As a new composition, with each layer in the Photoshop or Illustrator file becoming a separate layer in the compo-
sition that keeps its original dimensions. This option, Composition - Cropped, makes it easier to manipulate layers
and speeds their rendering time.
•
As a new composition, with each layer in the Photoshop or Illustrator file becoming a separate layer in the compo-
sition and changing dimensions to match the composition size. This option, Composition, is helpful when you
need to align layers manually.
•
As a single still-footage item imported from any one layer in the Photoshop or Illustrator file.
•
As a single still-footage item merged as you import multiple Photoshop or Illustrator layers.
See also
"To import an Adobe Illustrator path as a mask" on page 249

Preparing layered Photoshop files

Importing layers into After Effects makes it possible to prearrange a composition in Adobe Photoshop using layers
and preserve those layers in After Effects so that they are ready for animation. Preserving layers is also useful if you
want to use a single Photoshop file as a source for both print and dynamic media.
Before you import a layered Photoshop file, prepare it thoroughly to reduce preview and rendering time. Avoid
problems importing and updating Photoshop layers by naming them properly. Before you import them into After
Effects, do the following:
•
Organize and name layers. If you change a layer name in a Photoshop file after you have imported it into After
Effects, After Effects retains the link to the original layer. However, if you delete a layer, After Effects is unable to
find the original layer and lists it as Missing in the Project panel.
•
Make sure that each layer has a unique name to avoid confusion.
If you want to import a composited version of a layered Photoshop file along with a layered version, select Always
Maximize Compatibility For Photoshop (PSD) Files in the Photoshop File Handling Preferences dialog box.
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