Welcome to the Treehouse Community

Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.

Looking to learn something new?

Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.

Start your free trial

Design

Posted by Gabriel E
Gabriel E
8,916 Points

Need Help with Adobe Illustrator file!

Hi there, So I've finished sketching my game aspects in Photoshop, and since I'm designing this game to look hand-drawn, I'm not really adding a ton of color or fine edges, but I do need to animate it. I have one illustrator file for my scene(a desert), another file for my character(a little soldier with an artillery gun), and an enemy(a helicopter). Now I need to combine all these into one file, but I need to have the scene, character, and helicopter be completely separate objects so I can animate. Can someone please help me with this. I would really appreciate it. Thanks!

Roy Penrod
Roy Penrod
19,810 Points
Roy Penrod
Roy Penrod
19,810 Points

What file format are you using for images in the game?

Gabriel E
Gabriel E
8,916 Points

well, under file type in my folder it just says Adobe Illustrator File. Just for the record, they used to be GIFs, but they are now just Ai files. Does this help?

Gabriel E
Gabriel E
8,916 Points

Ok, wait, I just figured out I can just copy and paste into my scene, but how can I make the character object respond as a new layer to it's not part of the scene? Thanks for your help!

Roy Penrod
Roy Penrod
19,810 Points
Roy Penrod
Roy Penrod
19,810 Points

I've never heard of a game engine using an Adobe Illustrator format. Game images are normally bitmaps (png, gif) or vectors (svg or swf for Flash).

What game engine and language are you using to develop your game with? Are you taking a course on it here on Treehouse?

Give me some specifics about your project and I can give you a better idea of how to approach it. It's been a couple of years since I did any game programming, but I think I remember enough to be dangerous. ;-)

Roy Penrod
Roy Penrod
19,810 Points
Roy Penrod
Roy Penrod
19,810 Points

Are you trying to actually create the behavior of the game objects in Adobe Illustrator, Gabriel?

Gabriel E
Gabriel E
8,916 Points

Ok, so I'm not trying to develop yet, I just need to get the objects in a scene file so I can animate them adequately. I'm taking the mobile game design with Jake Flemming. To break down even further, I have 3 files: A scene, a character, and a helicopter. I figured out I can copy and past the character and helicopter into the scene file so that is totally squared away. It's just that I don't know how to make my helicopter and character know that they should be in a separate layer. For a test, when I hide the scene layer by clicking the little eye icon, everything disappears.

Gabriel E
Gabriel E
8,916 Points

Ok thanks. I'm just running through the videos now.

Gabriel E
Gabriel E
8,916 Points

Ok, thanks so much for your help. I figured out that if I select the desired object for a new layer, I can click Object>Arrange>Sent to Current Layer. Thanks again! Cheers, Gabriel

Roy Penrod
Roy Penrod
19,810 Points
Roy Penrod
Roy Penrod
19,810 Points

You're welcome, Gabriel Glad it helped.

1 Answer

Roy Penrod
Roy Penrod
19,810 Points
Roy Penrod
Roy Penrod
19,810 Points

Here's a short video that shows you how to use layers in Adobe Illustrator. I think that's what you're asking for.

I've never heard of anyone actually doing a game animation within Illustrator. Game developers normally create their art assets in Illustrator or Photoshop and export it to a format their chosen game engine uses. Then they use the tools within the game engine (often using a programming language) to the create animation.

An animation is essentially just a series of still images drawn quickly enough that it fools your eye into seeing movement.

Roy Penrod
Roy Penrod
19,810 Points
Roy Penrod
Roy Penrod
19,810 Points

If you're trying to make an animated GIF, I believe you can do that in Photoshop, but I've never heard of it in Illustrator. Here's a tutorial I found about making animated GIF icons in AI and then importing them into Photoshop.