Hello everyone
Okay i have read the question from another user asking how to import from illustrator without distorting the curves or points, but all i need to know, and quite desperately, is how i can simply import my artwork from AI and have colors, and gradients etc. remain the way i had them before, line distortion is not an issue as i have very few points, but i cant seem to get my work in, other than having a bunch of flat black vectors come in, and the AI stuff is quite worked on and dont have time to learn how to get to the level im at in AI in AS.
Is this import method correct? or should i say is it normal that the colours dont come in? Because i think its pretty odd a programme would allow you to import something, but then you cant import it properly, whatss the point of the Illustrator import function?
Anyway, if anyone can help, please let me know
Matthew
Illustrator Import
Moderators: Víctor Paredes, Belgarath, slowtiger
AI gradients and fill effects are way different from AS and will not translate in the conversion.
Also it has been noted previously that color integrity is not always completely maintained in the conversion from AI but colors should be fairly close. I didn't have much trouble with the color conversion myself although I haven't used AI import in ages. As I recall, if the colors shifted drastically I just fixed them in AS. I don't know precisely why you get "black filled" meshes.
Make sure you don't have "funky" fills in Illustrator. Just use flat colors. Keep things simple. It may have to do with CMYK vs RGB. I would make sure your fills are defined as RGB in AI before importing... just guessing here.
If you want fancy fill effects in AS you will need to use the tools in AS to achieve this. Also the gradients in AS are not as advanced as Illustrator. Don't expect to recreate the exact thing from AI to AS. You have to make sacrifices or change how you work.
p.s. If you don't have time to learn AS... uh... well, can't help you there. Sometimes you have to learn new stuff even when you don't want to. I can't keep track of all the new stuff I have to learn dealing with web standards that change every 5 minutes... yikes!
-vern
Also it has been noted previously that color integrity is not always completely maintained in the conversion from AI but colors should be fairly close. I didn't have much trouble with the color conversion myself although I haven't used AI import in ages. As I recall, if the colors shifted drastically I just fixed them in AS. I don't know precisely why you get "black filled" meshes.
Make sure you don't have "funky" fills in Illustrator. Just use flat colors. Keep things simple. It may have to do with CMYK vs RGB. I would make sure your fills are defined as RGB in AI before importing... just guessing here.
If you want fancy fill effects in AS you will need to use the tools in AS to achieve this. Also the gradients in AS are not as advanced as Illustrator. Don't expect to recreate the exact thing from AI to AS. You have to make sacrifices or change how you work.
p.s. If you don't have time to learn AS... uh... well, can't help you there. Sometimes you have to learn new stuff even when you don't want to. I can't keep track of all the new stuff I have to learn dealing with web standards that change every 5 minutes... yikes!
-vern
Thanks
Thanks alot for your response,
Thing is im really used to using After Effects, and i have time to learn the app. but its more for me about figuring the animation out, only been using this ap for about a week, at most.
But to answer your questions, they are simple fills, okay they are gradients, but nothing "funky", its all pretty plain, but i cant even seem to get any colour come through, but as you say, i guess ill just have to adapt. I think i just need to feel more comfortable without using a pen tool that im so used to.
Also i did notice that about the gradients, which is a pity, however i think from reading similar posts, doing my illustrations in AS is my only answer.
Thanks alot for your help and response
Thing is im really used to using After Effects, and i have time to learn the app. but its more for me about figuring the animation out, only been using this ap for about a week, at most.
But to answer your questions, they are simple fills, okay they are gradients, but nothing "funky", its all pretty plain, but i cant even seem to get any colour come through, but as you say, i guess ill just have to adapt. I think i just need to feel more comfortable without using a pen tool that im so used to.
Also i did notice that about the gradients, which is a pity, however i think from reading similar posts, doing my illustrations in AS is my only answer.
Thanks alot for your help and response
Keep in mind you can import the vectors and fill those shapes in AS pretty quickly once you get the hang of it.
Try saving in older versions of AI. Don't save as the latest version. I don't recall exactly which version to use offhand.
Another thing that helped me learn AS (Moho originally) WAS from importing those Illustrator files. Doing that got me started... so I could reuse artwork I already had and get animating before having mastered AS.
Eventually I learned AS as I edited and changed the AI imported artwork. What I found was that my artwork wasn't created with animation in mind. I needed to have points in EXACTLY the right place to get smooth motion in AS.
Even if the import was perfect you need to design your characters so they animate properly, things like strategically placed points around the joints, as few points as possible for easy animation, or extra points for specific control. Since I had used AI for many years as only an illustration program, not for animation, I didn't always draw my artwork for easy animation in AS.
I now draw everything in AS.
-vern
Try saving in older versions of AI. Don't save as the latest version. I don't recall exactly which version to use offhand.
Another thing that helped me learn AS (Moho originally) WAS from importing those Illustrator files. Doing that got me started... so I could reuse artwork I already had and get animating before having mastered AS.
Eventually I learned AS as I edited and changed the AI imported artwork. What I found was that my artwork wasn't created with animation in mind. I needed to have points in EXACTLY the right place to get smooth motion in AS.
Even if the import was perfect you need to design your characters so they animate properly, things like strategically placed points around the joints, as few points as possible for easy animation, or extra points for specific control. Since I had used AI for many years as only an illustration program, not for animation, I didn't always draw my artwork for easy animation in AS.
I now draw everything in AS.
-vern
Nice
I had started doing as you said, filling my vectors with colour and working with them from there, but as far as that goes i can see it would save alot of headaches by just getting down to it and using the AS tools, another thing i have been messing around with for the last couple hours is bringing the character elements in seperately as png. (sure this sounds like sacrilige to you expert users) This is working nicely for me, its amazing how it manipulates a full bitmap image, still waiting for my render to see full results.
But im pretty sure ill end up doing all character artwork in AS, animating it, then possibly comping everything in After effects.
I dunno, but thanks alot for all the help, it is definately coming along alot better than i would have thought.
Thanks again
But im pretty sure ill end up doing all character artwork in AS, animating it, then possibly comping everything in After effects.
I dunno, but thanks alot for all the help, it is definately coming along alot better than i would have thought.
Thanks again
Using PNG is NOT a sacrilige!
Animating cutout style images is a very popular style of animation and AS is especially good at this.
My only concern is that some people might use images only because they don't like the drawing tools or think the tools aren't good enough. I would hate to see new users limit their creativity in this way.
I don't like animating images in AS because... I'm very lazy. I hate trying to figure out how big I will need to save my images in case I want to zoom in or enlarge a layer. With vectors no worries about image resolution.
To me, having resolution independence is one of the main reasons I avoid animating with images in AS.
-vern
Animating cutout style images is a very popular style of animation and AS is especially good at this.
My only concern is that some people might use images only because they don't like the drawing tools or think the tools aren't good enough. I would hate to see new users limit their creativity in this way.
I don't like animating images in AS because... I'm very lazy.
I hate trying to figure out how big I will need to save my images in case I want to zoom in or enlarge a layer. With vectors no worries about image resolution.To me, having resolution independence is one of the main reasons I avoid animating with images in AS.
-vern
Another thing AS is particularly good at is claymation (with photographed exploded view clay model, of course). Squash and stretch is now very easy with this technique.
And combining drawn animation with live-action is also very easy, although you'll need a good script for that to work (for the live-actors).
The only thing AS is not very good at is digital cel animation. You can do it, but other products are better suited for that type of animation.
And combining drawn animation with live-action is also very easy, although you'll need a good script for that to work (for the live-actors).
The only thing AS is not very good at is digital cel animation. You can do it, but other products are better suited for that type of animation.
