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A brief guide how to

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Prepare* illustration files for

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animation in After Effects

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* and make animator's life easier

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 Contents
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Step 1 - Software Step 8 - Scale of the artwork

Step 2 - Colour space Step 9 - Embedding images

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Step 3 - Canvas size Step 10 - File size

Step 4 - Video safe area Step 11 - File format

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Step 5 - Multiple artboards Step 12 - File names

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Step 6 - Layers Step 13 - Editing illustrator files

Step 7 - Layer Effects Step 14 - Fonts

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 Step 1 - Software
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Create amazing illustrations using software of your choice. This time we're covering artwork created in
Adobe Illustrator as it is most common vector illustration tool nowadays.
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Adobe Illustrator Affinity Designer Adobe Photoshop

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 Step 2 - Colour space
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Files should be in RGB colour mode, and not CMYK.

CMYK is for print work, and is not suitable for After Effects working space.
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RGB
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 Step 3 - Canvas size
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Nowadays majority of animation projects are output in 1920x1080 px with 16:9 aspect ratio.
If you're working on illustrations for a mobile device stick to 16:9 aspect ratio and you should be fine
(mobiles can be rotated to horizontally!).
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HDTV 1080 Web-Large

1920 x 1080 px 1920 x 1080 px
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Handy tip
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HDV and HDTV presets have same pixel dimensions, but their aspect ratios are different. You should stick to HDTV or generic 1920x1080 px canvas size.
 Step 4 - Video safe area
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Think about safe areas as guides or safe margins. It gives you a better idea how text or other important
info is placed on screen so you're sure that it won't be cut-off by accident. Safe Guides should be used
when working on broadcast project. Obviously, it's less relevant for media intended for web, computers
and mobile.
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Preset name

HDTV 1080
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Artboard size
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1920x1080 px
Aspect ratio

16:9

Text Safe Area

Video Safe Area
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 Step 5- Multiple artboards
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Multiple artboards is useful when storybaording, brainstorm or in pre-production stage.

It is impossible to import multiple artboards in to After Effects. And if it was, project would be
humongous and not efficient to work with.
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Export multiple artboard file as .pdf so it can be used as scene reference.

 Step 6 - Layers
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Illustrator only transfers Top-Level layers to After Effects. Make your and animator's life easier by
grouping multiple objects. Double-click and rename layers accordingly.
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In After Effects Layer 1 will Click on layer panel and Objects are now layers. Still, in All layers are separate.
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appear as a group of rectangles. Release to Layers (Sequence). After Effects Layer 1 will appear It will reflect in After Effects
as a group of rectangles.
 Step 7 - Layer effects
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Better not to use it. It is much easier and effective to add a layer effect in After Effects.
If you wan't to show animator how a certain object should look like, use main storyboard file.
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 Step 8 - Scale of the artwork
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Question

What if the artwork is larger than the artboard/canvas?

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Answer no.1

If the artwork is complex - resize the canvas so it is similar size to the artwork.
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Answer no.2

If the artwork is not complex - scale it down so it fits the artboard. Animator can scale up vector files
without loosing quality directly in After Effects.
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 Step 9 - Embedding files
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It is likely that the file links will break when Illustrator files are swapped between MacOS and Windows.
Try to embed illustrator links, or even better, don’t use them at all. A much better option is to provide
the associated files separately, and then they can be placed and composed directly in After Effects.
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 Step 10 - File size
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Split everything into separate, smaller, more manageable files for the following reasons:
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Reason no.1 Reason no.2 Reason no.3

For an animator it's easier to Easier to make small edits to If a file becomes corrupt,
find the necessary elements, the graphics later on in the then at least it’s only that
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and work with them. project, without messing up one file that is gone.
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existing animation.
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 Step 11 - File format
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Eventually, files should be saved in .ai (Adobe illustrator) format, with PDF compatibility turned on.
Although other vector file formats ( .svg or .pdf) may work they are not suitable for animation.
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 Step 12 - File names
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We like it all well organised. Please name your working files properly.
Here's an example of how we at zazu.tv name our project files:
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Project Name
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Project folder

Project Name_Storyboard_v1
Multiple artboard & multple layer file for scene reference.
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Project Name_Scenes
A folder with clearly labeled scenes and separate elements

Project Name_Scene01
A single artboard file with a single scene in it

Project Name_Scene01_Character
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A single scene can be divided into separate objects so it has less clutter
 Step 13 - Editing illustrator files
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07/07/2017

Stop it! Don't work in .ai files that are already used in After Effects. Instead, we suggest to create a
duplicate or increment save e.g. SCENE NAME_V2 so animator can extract additional assets himself.
Illustrator files that are used in After Effects mainly get messed up because of the layer dimension change.
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Project Name_Scene01
A single artboard file with a single scene in it
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Project Name_Scene01_Character01
A single scene can be divided into separate objects so it has less clutter

Project Name_Scene01_Character02
Amended graphic file that hasn't been used in animation yet
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 Step 14 - Fonts
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Use OpenType/TrueType fonts, because they are compatible with both MacOS and Windows.
Unfortunately, Mac-only fonts do not work for those of us on Windows.
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OTF
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TT
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 Conclusion
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Here at zazu.tv we hope this quick guide will come in handy. And that it will make collaboration between
illustrators and animators easier.

We're all ears if you have any feedback or suggestions! Feel free to email us hello@zazu.tv
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Happy illustration!
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