Exporting keyframe data from After Effects to Fusion.

[TerryPXM]

Hello everyone I work mainly in the Motion Graphics field and I use AE and Fusion a lot but recently I've been using Fusion more and more so this question have increasingly been popping in my head, Is there a way to export keyframe data from AE to Fusion?

[SteveWatson]

Hi,

not exactly sure but there is a thing for IOS called lottie that reads JSON text files created in AE by a thing called bodymovin

https://aescripts.com/bodymovin/

There might be a way of using that JSON file in fusion - though might have to write some kind of custom translator.

To give you an idea what the output is like, this is a 4 second 1920x1080 25fps comp with a grey background with a white square with 3 position keyframes - the json has been formatted to be more readable - it comes out of AE as a single block of text.

Code: Select all

{
   "v":"5.7.6",
   "fr":25,
   "ip":0,
   "op":100,
   "w":1920,
   "h":1080,
   "nm":"Fusion",
   "ddd":0,
   "assets":[
      
   ],
   "layers":[
      {
         "ddd":0,
         "ind":1,
         "ty":4,
         "nm":"Shape Layer 1",
         "sr":1,
         "ks":{
            "o":{
               "a":0,
               "k":100,
               "ix":11
            },
            "r":{
               "a":0,
               "k":0,
               "ix":10
            },
            "p":{
               "a":1,
               "k":[
                  {
                     "i":{
                        "x":0.833,
                        "y":0.833
                     },
                     "o":{
                        "x":0.167,
                        "y":0.167
                     },
                     "t":0,
                     "s":[
                        284,
                        336,
                        0
                     ],
                     "to":[
                        172,
                        88,
                        0
                     ],
                     "ti":[
                        -214,
                        15.333,
                        0
                     ]
                  },
                  {
                     "i":{
                        "x":0.833,
                        "y":0.833
                     },
                     "o":{
                        "x":0.167,
                        "y":0.167
                     },
                     "t":52,
                     "s":[
                        1316,
                        864,
                        0
                     ],
                     "to":[
                        214,
                        -15.333,
                        0
                     ],
                     "ti":[
                        -42,
                        103.333,
                        0
                     ]
                  },
                  {
                     "t":99,
                     "s":[
                        1568,
                        244,
                        0
                     ]
                  }
               ],
               "ix":2,
               "l":2
            },
            "a":{
               "a":0,
               "k":[
                  -656,
                  -243,
                  0
               ],
               "ix":1,
               "l":2
            },
            "s":{
               "a":0,
               "k":[
                  100,
                  100,
                  100
               ],
               "ix":6,
               "l":2
            }
         },
         "ao":0,
         "shapes":[
            {
               "ty":"gr",
               "it":[
                  {
                     "ty":"rc",
                     "d":1,
                     "s":{
                        "a":0,
                        "k":[
                           278.453,
                           286.828
                        ],
                        "ix":2
                     },
                     "p":{
                        "a":0,
                        "k":[
                           0,
                           0
                        ],
                        "ix":3
                     },
                     "r":{
                        "a":0,
                        "k":0,
                        "ix":4
                     },
                     "nm":"Rectangle Path 1",
                     "mn":"ADBE Vector Shape - Rect",
                     "hd":false
                  },
                  {
                     "ty":"st",
                     "c":{
                        "a":0,
                        "k":[
                           1,
                           1,
                           1,
                           1
                        ],
                        "ix":3
                     },
                     "o":{
                        "a":0,
                        "k":100,
                        "ix":4
                     },
                     "w":{
                        "a":0,
                        "k":0,
                        "ix":5
                     },
                     "lc":1,
                     "lj":1,
                     "ml":4,
                     "bm":0,
                     "nm":"Stroke 1",
                     "mn":"ADBE Vector Graphic - Stroke",
                     "hd":false
                  },
                  {
                     "ty":"fl",
                     "c":{
                        "a":0,
                        "k":[
                           0.742156862745,
                           0.731947655771,
                           0.731947655771,
                           1
                        ],
                        "ix":4
                     },
                     "o":{
                        "a":0,
                        "k":100,
                        "ix":5
                     },
                     "r":1,
                     "bm":0,
                     "nm":"Fill 1",
                     "mn":"ADBE Vector Graphic - Fill",
                     "hd":false
                  },
                  {
                     "ty":"tr",
                     "p":{
                        "a":0,
                        "k":[
                           -652.773,
                           -260.586
                        ],
                        "ix":2
                     },
                     "a":{
                        "a":0,
                        "k":[
                           0,
                           0
                        ],
                        "ix":1
                     },
                     "s":{
                        "a":0,
                        "k":[
                           100,
                           100
                        ],
                        "ix":3
                     },
                     "r":{
                        "a":0,
                        "k":0,
                        "ix":6
                     },
                     "o":{
                        "a":0,
                        "k":100,
                        "ix":7
                     },
                     "sk":{
                        "a":0,
                        "k":0,
                        "ix":4
                     },
                     "sa":{
                        "a":0,
                        "k":0,
                        "ix":5
                     },
                     "nm":"Transform"
                  }
               ],
               "nm":"Rectangle 1",
               "np":3,
               "cix":2,
               "bm":0,
               "ix":1,
               "mn":"ADBE Vector Group",
               "hd":false
            }
         ],
         "ip":0,
         "op":100,
         "st":0,
         "bm":0
      },
      {
         "ddd":0,
         "ind":2,
         "ty":1,
         "nm":"Gray Solid 1",
         "sr":1,
         "ks":{
            "o":{
               "a":0,
               "k":100,
               "ix":11
            },
            "r":{
               "a":0,
               "k":0,
               "ix":10
            },
            "p":{
               "a":0,
               "k":[
                  960,
                  540,
                  0
               ],
               "ix":2,
               "l":2
            },
            "a":{
               "a":0,
               "k":[
                  960,
                  540,
                  0
               ],
               "ix":1,
               "l":2
            },
            "s":{
               "a":0,
               "k":[
                  100,
                  100,
                  100
               ],
               "ix":6,
               "l":2
            }
         },
         "ao":0,
         "sw":1920,
         "sh":1080,
         "sc":"#747474",
         "ip":0,
         "op":100,
         "st":0,
         "bm":0
      }
   ],
   "markers":[
      
   ]
}

[Guido]

I haven't used AE for decades and I have no idea what native exporters it has but if it has Alembic or FBX exporter you could export your keyframe data encoded in a null object. Export the 3d scene from AE then once in Fusion copy the keyframe data from the null to wherever you need it with an expression e.g..

[Chad]

Export to an image sequence

[TerryPXM]

Thank you everyone for replying and sorry to come back this late.

The FBX approach is the quick and dirty solution I was looking for now however the JSON approach seems like a very nice way to solve it as well.