Import Layered Photoshop Files into After Effects

Importing layered Adobe Photoshop (PSD) files into Adobe After Effects allows motion designers to animate individual graphic elements while maintaining their original design structure. By bringing a PSD into After Effects as a composition rather than a flattened image, you preserve separate layers, blend modes, transparency, and editable layer styles. This guide explains how to properly prepare, import, and configure your layered Photoshop files for seamless animation workflows.

1. Prepare Your Photoshop File

Before opening After Effects, optimize your PSD file to prevent rendering issues:

  • Color Mode: Ensure the document is set to RGB Color (Image > Mode > RGB Color). After Effects does not support CMYK for layered animation compositions.
  • Organize Layers: Name all layers clearly. Grouped layers in Photoshop will translate into pre-compositions in After Effects.
  • Vector Elements: If using vector shapes or text that you want to scale infinitely, keep them unrasterized.

2. Import the PSD into After Effects

  1. Open your After Effects project.
  2. Go to File > Import > File... (or press Ctrl+I on Windows / Cmd+I on macOS). Alternatively, double-click an empty area inside the Project panel.
  3. Select your PSD file.
  4. Locate the Import As dropdown menu at the bottom of the import window.
  5. Select either Composition or Composition - Retain Layer Sizes.
    • Composition - Retain Layer Sizes (Recommended): Sets the bounding box and anchor point of each layer to the bounds of the specific artwork on that layer. This makes rotating and scaling individual assets much easier.
    • Composition: Sets the boundary and anchor point of every layer to the entire document's canvas size, regardless of where the artwork sits.
  6. Click Import (or Open).

3. Choose Layer Options

After clicking Import, a secondary dialog box will appear asking how to handle Photoshop layer styles:

  • Editable Layer Styles: Keeps drop shadows, strokes, and color overlays editable directly inside After Effects. This offers the most flexibility, though it may occasionally alter the visual appearance slightly due to rendering differences between the programs.
  • Merge Layer Styles into Footage: Renders the layer styles permanently into the individual layer graphics, ensuring an exact visual match to your Photoshop document.

Choose your preferred layer style setting and click OK.

4. Access and Animate the Layers

Once imported, After Effects creates two items in your Project panel:

  • A Composition containing your assembled artwork.
  • A Folder containing each individual Photoshop layer as separate footage items.

Double-click the newly created composition to open the timeline. All your Photoshop layers will appear in their original stacking order, ready for rigging, keyframing, and animation.