Prepare your vector artwork for animation

Learn to organize Illustrator artwork to simplify animation in After Effects.

Published January 12, 2026

00:01

Introduction

I'm Jess, a Motion Designer and Director.

Like with most things, a little planning and organization can help make things easier.

I'll help you get your Illustrator artwork ready and import it into After Effects and show you how to convert layers to shapes for more control.

Let's open up the artwork supplied in Illustrator.

First, let's make sure the Color Document Mode is set to RGB.

00:18

Setting the document color mode to RGB

You can see in the file tab information this document is in CMYK.

CMYK colors are used for printing processes.

Printers use a specified mix of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black ink to create a color.

Screens, however, use a mix of red, green, and blue light, which is why using a CMYK color mode doesn't convert accurately in an RGB color space.

The differences are subtle, but you can see that our RGB file on the right is a little more saturated and vibrant than the CMYK one on the left.

Since our final output is for screens, we should work in RGB.

We can fix this in Illustrator by navigating to File, Document Color Mode, RGB.

01:11

Organizing and separating artwork into layers

Anything we want to animate together should be grouped together and on its own layer.

Since I want all the shapes making up this flower to move together, I'll select Group this artwork using the shortcut Ctrl G.

Take a look at our Layers panel to the right of the screen.

If you can't find the Layers panel, navigate to Window at the top of your screen and find Layers.

The artwork is currently on one layer.

We need to separate our artwork to layers, so we can move the individual parts in After Effects.

With Layer 1 selected, click on the Menu button at the top right corner of the Layers panel and select Release to Layers (Sequence).

Now that we've released the layers, we can select all of them.

Click and drag them outside of Layer 1, and all of our artwork now has been split into their own layers.

Grouped artwork will stay together on the layer.

We should name the layers to quickly identify the artwork and stay organized.

Double-click on the layer name, type in the name, and hit Tab to move to the next layer.

Let's speed this process up.

We're ready to save.

02:26

Saving a layered Illustrator file for animation

Navigate to File, Save As...

Rename the file to something new.

I'm going to type Doglllo-Layered here.

Select the AI file type from the dropdown, click Save and we can leave all of these settings defaulted.

Click OK.

Open After Effects and start a New project.

02:47

Importing Illustrator artwork into After Effects

To import our artwork into After Effects, double-click in the Project panel to the left, navigate to the file, there's a dropdown here under Import As.

Footage means our artwork will import as a single flat layer.

Composition will create a new composition with layered artwork.

Each layer's bounding box will be the size of the Illustrator file.

Composition - Retain Layer Sizes means that the bounding box for each layer will be the size of the artwork on that layer.

For this example, let's retain our layer sizes, click Import.

Now we have a composition in our Project panel and a folder of all of our layers from Illustrator.

Double-click on the Import a Composition to open it.

You can convert Illustrator layers to shapes to make edits,

03:38

Converting vector layers and preserving vector quality

animate paths and have more options.

Right-click this Grass Bunch 3 layer, go to Create and Create Shapes from Vector Layer.

This layer has now been converted to shapes and you can see more options when you twirl open the layer.

The original Illustrator layer is still underneath.

It's hidden by the visibility switch, which is this little Eye icon to the left of the layer.

We can also make changes to the artwork in Illustrator and update dynamically in After Effects.

Right-click one of the Illustrator layers and go to Open, Edit Original...

The artwork should open in Illustrator.

Click on the Grass Bunch 1 to the right and change the color to something different.

Save to the same file with the shortcut Ctrl S.

Let's go back to After Effects and you'll see the color has updated.

One benefit of building the artwork in Illustrator is that you're creating vector-based graphics, giving you the ability to scale your artwork without losing fidelity.

When I scale this butterfly layer larger in After Effects, you'll notice the artwork is getting soft.

That's because we need to tell After Effects, this is a vector layer.

We can do that by switching on Continuously Rasterize, which is this column with an icon that looks like a sun.

Click the switch and watch how the artwork becomes sharp again.

Being organized can save you time and ensure flexibility for animation in After Effects.

Thanks so much for following along.

What you'll learn

Organize your Illustrator project

Using named layers when you prepare your vector file for animation makes working in After Effects simpler. Group objects onto layers based on how you want to animate them and then rename your layers so they’re easy to find.

Import your vector artwork

Choose the composition option when importing an Illustrator file so your layers stay the same in your project. The Layer Size option will result in easier animation throughout your project.

Update your artwork

Make changes in your Illustrator project and see the results reflected in After Effects without needing to import the asset again.

Instruction and illustration by: Jess Libby

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