Understand the practical differences between Adobe Illustrator and After Effects when it comes to preparing graphics for animation. Learn why Illustrator is often the preferred tool for creating and organizing assets before importing them into After Effects.
Key Insights
- Graphics used in animation are typically created and organized in Illustrator, which allows for easier layering and exporting of assets in formats like AI, EPS, or PDF for use in After Effects.
- Stock vector graphics often originate from Illustrator and require file preparation—such as separating elements into layers—before they can be effectively animated in After Effects.
- Noble Desktop notes that while some users create graphics directly in After Effects, Illustrator’s built-in tools, like the chart-making feature, make it a more efficient choice for many design tasks in a professional workflow.
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If you already draw an illustrator, you're not going to want to start drawing here, because what you basically see is that it's a lot less trouble to draw an illustrator. Obviously, if you don't create graphics and also illustrator, then it's not impractical. Okay, but again, if you're working with a designer.
Probably 90% of the time or more, they're going to be making stuff in illustrator. That's how it works. If you're using stock graphics, because there is stock vector graphics.
One of the places listed on that list, I gave you a free stock. Is this one that is the. Dot com, right? It's free stock vectors.
Okay, license type. I don't want to pay for it free, free, free, free, free, free. So, most of those will probably create an illustrator.
Some of them, some of them other programs, but mostly illustrator. Okay. Now, those, let's say, for example, this 1, if I wanted to use some of the assets in here and animation.
Okay, I'd have to still have someone take it into illustrator for me. To separate out into pieces or layers, so I can use it, whatever file format that is, and it could be an illustrator file. It could be an PDF or a bunch of other things.
By the way. Someone has to prep files. Okay.
Either I do or someone else does or whatever. Okay. Oh, okay.
Now, there are also, like, dedicated charting programs that exist. Many Excel, Excel can export charts and stuff. So can Google sheets.
Some of those can export them as images, like what we had here. We had to rebuild. Some of them can export them as, like, EPS files, which can then be edited in illustrator.
So, it kind of depends on where you are, where you're working. What you're doing, but in general graphics, unless they're explicitly created for animation. Always need to be prepped before affects gets them.
Okay, like, I mean, literally this file, whatever it is, even if it's an illustrator file, if I brought it in, it's all flat. Okay, I might be able to use illustrators featured. Sorry.
I have featured a flat to extract. Shapes, but if I do that, I have no clue what I'm going to get. I get a real mishmash of, like, really wonky things.
Keep that in mind. Okay, so it's fun, but it's what it is, honestly. Okay, most actually, I wouldn't want to draw a person because that would be hard in After Effects, but most of these I could rebuild in After Effects just with some work.
Okay, shape tools do let you make these things, these kind of things. Okay, so. One of my colleagues, Gary, doesn't really know Illustrator.
So, what he does is he pretty much draws everything in After Effects. Yeah, it's like, and my thing is, like, I mean, if you learned Illustrator, that'd be faster to do, but he's able to create it. There's a lot of people that don't like that.
All they know is After Effects. They don't know Illustrator, so they learned how to make everything in AE. It does have power features for certain things and only certain things, but again, like, it's in your workflow.
It may not always be practical. By the way, the other reason I would make a bar graph in Illustrator, Illustrator has a freaking chart tool where you can literally copy and paste data in, and it makes a real chart. It does, by the way.
So, yeah, I mean, it depends. I mean, it depends what your workflow is.
