The core mechanic of Overlord is moving layer into After Effects and the first button slot is dedicated to this action. The button changes based on which app you are working in:

• push selections from Illustrator

• pull a selection into Ae.

From inside of Illustrator, push selected shapes to After Effects.

• Grouped shapes will be build as individual layers

• Loose shapes on an artboard will be built as individual layers

• Text layers will be created as individual layers

From inside of After Effects, pull selected shapes to Illustrator.

Pulling shapes works exactly like Pushing but may be used to clarify into which Ae comp Overlord will build layers.

New in 2.3.0

Image that have been placed in the Illustrator artboard will now export just like text and vector shapes. Importing images into Ae means that the files must exist on disk. If Overlord can find a file on disk it will import it quickly. If it cannot find a linked image file it will export it as a PNG. Whether an image element needs to be exported depends on its linked/unlinked status.

You probably don't think about this one option because, unlike Ae, it's possible to paste images right into an Artboard. But it's important to mention that Illustrator keeps track of whether or not the image in the artboard is linked to a file on disk or not.

Illustrator even comes with a panel to help you (Window > Links) tells you what is linked or unlinked.

Linked

If a linked file is found, Overlord will locate the path to that file on disk and import it into Ae. You'll see a 🔗 icon next to linked images.

This is the fastest and best quality possible since it's importing an image that already exists

Unlinked

Images are unlinked if:

• the placed image has been deleted or renamed

• the image was never linked to a file on disk (like pasting from the internet)

Any image that Illustrator considers unlinked will need to be exported before it may be imported into Ae. You will see either a 🔴 icon or no icon in the Links panel.

Exporting images

Unfortunately, it isn't possible to know the source dimensions of an unlinked file so Overlord will export the image at 200% of its size within the comp. This will import the image into the Ae comp at 50% scale to give a little bit of room to scale.

This image export can take some extra time and will be compounded by the number of selected images. Thanks for being patient.

The suggested Overlord workflow is to use a relative paths from the AEP. This means you may navigate up as many directories as needed to an /Assets folder and stay consistent between projects.

Twirl down the SYSTEM group to set the relative path.

Or you may disable the option, and Overlord will ask you where to save every time. It will also ask where to save if you haven't saved your AEP file yet.

Unfortunately, not all Ai data is available to 3rd party developers like us.

• Elements from the Appearance panel

  • Stacked fills/strokes

  • Effects

• Freeform gradients

• Gradient meshes

• Tapered strokes

• Patterns

• Art brushes

Press and hold the primary Transfer Actions button to reveal additional transfer methods ↓

An alternate to the standard transfer method is to Split all elements into their own Ae layer. The grouping hierarchy of Illustrator will be recreated in After Effects with a parenting chain and empty group layers (kinda like Voids).

This process intentionally creates a lot of layers to provide the most flexibility for animation. Manage the group layers with actions in the Groups section.

By selecting properties in After Effects and transferring updates, it is possible to update the property with the first selected shape in Illustrator. This is useful for updating shapes in Ae with the layer in place, and not needing to create additional layers.

If the updated property already has keyframes, additional keyframes will be added at the playhead.