A New System for Designing Motion With Both Sketch and Figma
By: Adam Plouff
Tags: Design, Motion Graphics, UX, Tools, Animation

Welcome to AEUX

One of the goals of the new system is to support more host apps and increase flexibility when working between teams. Exchanging data within the Adobe ecosystem is now well supported in XD and Illustrator, but with AEUX, you can import layers from Sketch and Figma, and support new Sketch features. Plus…

Speed has been boosted by 93 percent on build time for complex artboards.

has been boosted by 93 percent on build time for complex artboards. Symbol overrides for text and nested symbols are now supported. Symbol masters are located more efficiently, putting an end to beach-balling.

overrides for text and nested symbols are now supported. Symbol masters are located more efficiently, putting an end to beach-balling. Image exporting has been reduced by drawing native Ae gradients and eliminating redundant images.

exporting has been reduced by drawing native Ae gradients and eliminating redundant images. Text layer accuracy has been majorly improved with position, tracking, leading, upper/lowercase overrides, rotation, and horizontal/vertical flipping.

layer accuracy has been majorly improved with position, tracking, leading, upper/lowercase overrides, rotation, and horizontal/vertical flipping. Groups have the option to be automatically created as Ae precomps. Additionally, groups of layers may be precomped and un-precomped with a click even if you don’t use the AEUX importer.

have the option to be automatically created as Ae precomps. Additionally, groups of layers may be precomped and un-precomped with a click even if you don’t use the AEUX importer. Additional new features like nested booleans, layer and group masking, shape blurs, options to works with paths or parametric shapes.

Learn more and download AEUX

AEUX + Figma

While Sketch is widely used, many visual designers have also begun using Figma. AEUX was designed to support working seamlessly when switching between teams.

Figma’s core feature is online collaboration, so exporting layer data is done through a web app that taps into the Figma API. As of right now, Figma plugins cannot run inside of the design environment, which means layer exporting is done as a more traditional export/import. With a design app that runs online, security is the most important consideration.

After authenticating the AEUX export app, you are asked to enter a Figma file URL. The app will gather all the data for each of the frames (artboards) within the file. Each frame may be downloaded individually and any required images will be processed and zipped up as well. Drop the new AEUX.json file into the AEUX panel in After Effects and layers will build.

Note: the AEUX app doesn’t track user data, and does not view or store your designs in any way. It is a blind robot that does the conversion of your designs into the AEUX JSON format right within the browser on your machine. Access to file data is managed by the owner of the file from the Share menu.

Lessons learned

Building tools based on how you imagine another designer working can be tough. Sometimes your best intentions aren’t really valuable or people find new paths that you hadn’t planned for. I learned a lot building Sketch2AE and then learned even more building Overlord (shameless plug for a commercial tool).

The biggest lessons I’ve taken from these projects are to limit the amount of mental mode switching. If someone is trying to design, let them design, instead of forcing them to read a manual.

Remove copy/paste

Layer data is now transferred behind the scenes in order to limit confusion. It’s not totally instant, but by the time you switch from Sketch to Ae, the panel should update to show new layers ready to build. This simplifies the transfer process and allows you to focus more on design.

Make it interactive

For me, one of the most compelling parts of the design process is trying things and finding what works and what doesn’t. This sits pretty contrary to file importing where you must restart everything again if you don’t prep one layer right. Overlord’s core idea is to let you transfer what you need when you need it. I wanted this concept to be central in AEUX, which required getting away from menu-diving and into a floating plugin panel for Sketch to more closely match the expected tool experience in Ae.

Show me what’s happening

In the previous version, notifications showed only after a successful export and were easily missed at the bottom of the Sketch window. So you had to wait, and guess if it worked. (This was a really poorly designed experience. I’m sorry about that.)

A new floating Sketch panel also provides a dedicated place for notifications (both success and failures). The idea of showing the process extends into Ae as well. From the panel updates to progress bars on heavy comps to failure notification for elements that Ae cannot currently draw.

Moving forward

UX motion design is growing and we’re all still learning what works and what doesn’t, and how to best execute and test these designs. As we do, we’re trying to share what we learn. I hope AEUX helps you work faster and enjoy the process more.

Get started with AEUX

Interested in working with us? Learn more about Google UX and send us your portfolio or demo reel.