A Guide to Importing Procreate Assets into After Effects

In this tutorial, Payton Becwar shows us how to export assets from Procreate and bring them into After Effects for animation.

Introduction

Hey, it's nice to meet you! I'm sure you're here because you've got some killer assets in Procreate that you're eager to bring to life in Adobe After Effects. Whether it's animations, text, backgrounds, or any other type of asset, you're in the right place. In this comprehensive guide, we'll walk you through the process of exporting and importing your Procreate assets into After Effects, step-by-step. Let's get started!

Prerequisites

Before we get started, let's make sure we've got the basics:

• Procreate: Installed on your iPad or another compatible device.
• Adobe After Effects: Ready and raring to go on your computer.
• Basic Understanding: A quick grasp of both software interfaces will make your life a whole lot easier.

Step 1: Prepping Your Procreate Assets

What You're Working With

1. Create or Select Your Assets: For this guide, we're using a mix of assets—animations for the background and text, to be specific. Your assets could be anything, from static illustrations to complex animations.
2. Label Like a Pro: It's essential, trust me. If you're working with multiple elements, name them clearly. No one ever regretted being too organized.

Time to Export, Folks

1. Find the Gear Icon: Open your Procreate project and tap the gear icon at the top of your screen.
2. Sharing is Caring: From the gear menu, go for the 'Share' option.
3. PNGs for the Win: Export your assets as PNG files for the best quality.

Note: I'm using AirDrop and a MacBook for this guide. If you're not in the Apple ecosystem, you'll need to transfer your files via email, cloud storage, or another method.

Step 2: Tidy Up Your Desktop

1. AirDrop or Transfer to Your Computer: The files should pop up on your desktop, "all in blue," signifying they've loaded successfully.
2. Folder Up: Before you proceed, stash these files in their own dedicated folders. Trust me, it's going to make your life a lot easier when importing into After Effects.

Step 3: Making an Entrance in After Effects

The Importing Game

1. Launch After Effects: Open the program and kickstart a new project.
2. Go to File > Import > File: Remember, choose 'File,' not 'Multiple Files.' I learned this the hard way.
3. Select the First PNG: Navigate to where you've stored your exported Procreate assets and pick the first PNG in the folder.

Key Point: Ensure 'PNG Sequence' is ticked if you're importing an animation. If not, just hit 'Open.'

Naming is Knowing

1. Right-Click for Renaming: Right-click on your imported assets and rename them. For instance, I've got mine as "Scene Four Text" and "Scene Four Background" to keep things straightforward.

Step 4: Get the Speed Right

1. Enable Time Remapping: If your imported animations are sprinting like they're late for a meeting, right-click, navigate to 'Time,' and hit 'Enable Time Remapping.'

Insider Tip: Time Remapping adds keyframes that you can adjust to regulate the speed of your animation.

Step 5: Tweak the Composition Settings

1. Visit Composition > Composition Settings: If you need more time for your assets to shine, you can extend your composition duration here. I generally set mine to around 5 seconds for some wiggle room.

Step 6: The Grand Finale—Exporting

Time to wrap it up! Export your animation through the standard After Effects export process. No surprises here.

Conclusion

And there you go! Your Procreate assets, be they text, backgrounds, or animations, have successfully made the leap into Adobe After Effects. This guide has set you up for a seamless creative workflow between Procreate and After Effects, allowing you to produce more dynamic and versatile projects.

So, what are you waiting for? Time to dive back into your creative world. Maybe your summer plans will include creating even more jaw-dropping animations or designs? Either way, thanks for sticking around, and have an awesome day ahead!

The Result