- Softonic review A powerful video post-production tool. Adobe After Effects is a powerful software, which comes in handy for video post-production work. If you often work with motion graphics and visual effects, this program is an excellent choice to add effects, make edits, and perform several other functions.
- Since After Effects is designed with the Photoshop rendering engine included in the program, After Effects can import all attributes of Photoshop files, including position, blending modes, opacity, visibility, transparency, layer masks, layer groups, adjustment layers, layer styles, layer clipping paths, vector masks, image guides and clipping.
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Take the titles and graphics you created in Photoshop and import them into After Effects for the finishing touch. Here’s how to do it.
Independent filmmakers and videographers not only have to develop and film the content they produce, but they have to add the finishing touches to that content as well. These finishing touches can come in the form of editing their work down to a fine cut, mixing the audio, and even developing the opening titles or graphics for the content.
The easiest place to develop these titles or graphics for most users is Photoshop — but that shouldn’t be the end of the process. What many don’t realize is that things developed in Photoshop can be translated over to After Effects with relative ease. This is because Adobe includes a Photoshop rendering engine within After Effect, which makes it easy to add motion and animate your graphics. Let’s take a quick look at how to import Photoshop graphics into After Effects, giving you the ability to generate amazing motion graphics work like this:
Video via Sander van Dijk
Step 1: Develop Your Graphics
The first step in this process is to develop the graphics you’ll be importing into After Effects. These graphics can be just about anything, but are usually an adjusted text layer or logo. Just make sure that your Photoshop layers are organized and grouped, properly named, and unlocked, as After Effects will import these layers as they are.
Image via Sander van Dijk
Step 2: Import Your Graphics
1. In After Effects, go to File > Import > File or simply hit Command+I.
2. A dialogue window will appear where you can browse and find your PSD. Before you select OK, be sure to select Import As: Composition, as well as check the Photoshop Sequence box.
The other two choices Footage and Composition – Retain Layer Sizes allow users to import a series of images that act as a single frame in a sequence, or that are imported at the same resolution and size as the image in Photoshop.
3. An additional box will appear giving you options for importing the layers, simply leave this as is and click OK. Once you do this, it may take some time for your comp to be created based on how big the PSD file is.
Photoshop After Effects Workflow
Step 3: Animate Your Graphics
Once you have your graphics imported, you can double-click the created comp in the Project Panel. This will open the comp for editing. From here you can begin exploring ways to animate your graphic by keyframing the layer’s attributes or using the Puppet tool. You can also use Photoshop to enhance or fix issues in your footage from After Effects, but that’s another tutorial for another day.
Video via PremiumBeat
Have you ever utilized Photoshop in your After Effects workflow? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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Importing Photoshop layers into an Adobe After Effects project is a lot easier than you might think at first. Since After Effects is designed with the Photoshop rendering engine included in the program, After Effects can import all attributes of Photoshop files, including position, blending modes, opacity, visibility, transparency, layer masks, layer groups, adjustment layers, layer styles, layer clipping paths, vector masks, image guides and clipping groups.
To begin, navigate to the top menu bar and click File — Import — File. Find the Photoshop document you want to import in the Import File dialog box that appears. Before you click Open, make sure you set the Import As drop down menu to Composition.
This will make After Effects view and import the file as one element through Photoshop will all the layers attached.
Once you click Open, you’ll see another dialog box, where you can choose to have After Effects Merge Layer Styles Into Footage.
*Checking the box next to Live Photoshop 3D will cause the Photoshop layers to be viewed from the perspective of the compositions camera. This may or may not apply to you, depending on whether or not you have any 3D elements in your Photoshop document.
Set Extensions Photoshop And After Effects
Once imported, you’ll see the Photoshop files located in the Project window. Additionally, each layer should be neatly organized into a single folder for quick access.
With the ability to integrate Photoshop files into After Effects while preserving the layer format, Adobe makes it extremely easy to work on a single project across multiple platforms.
Read more by visiting our page at:
http://www.mahalo.com/courses/adobe-after-effects/layers-and-controls/import-photoshop-layers/