<p>I've got a composition in After Effects CS 6 on Windows that contains several .ai files. One of them has over 30 layers, which I imported and animated in AE. Unfortunately, I gave the .ai file the not so clever name <code>foo.ai</code> because it started out as a test but worked, and I'd like to go ahead with it. When I rename the file to something more sensible, like <code>Scene 1 - Spaceship.ai</code>, AE complains about a missing footage file. Now it wants me to give it the new path, which I do. I have to select the layer from the .ai as well. And it looks like it wants me to do it for every layer from the same file.</p>

<p>I've already tried making a copy of the AE project file, opening it with a text editor and replacing all occurrences of <code>foo.ai</code> with <code>Scene 1 - Spaceship.ai</code>. After that, AE told me it <em>tried to read after the end of file</em>. Looks like there's a file length in there. Damn.</p>

<p>So how can I do this without having to change the source file and resellecting the layer for each individual layer in AE?</p>

<after-effects>
How can I rename a footage .ai file for AE without breaking the references?
simbabque
# How can I rename a footage .ai file for AE without breaking the references?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2013-06-01)

I've got a composition in After Effects CS 6 on Windows that contains several .ai files. One of them has over 30 layers, which I imported and animated in AE. Unfortunately, I gave the .ai file the not so clever name `foo.ai` because it started out as a test but worked, and I'd like to go ahead with it. When I rename the file to something more sensible, like `Scene 1 - Spaceship.ai`, AE complains about a missing footage file. Now it wants me to give it the new path, which I do. I have to select the layer from the .ai as well. And it looks like it wants me to do it for every layer from the same file.

I've already tried making a copy of the AE project file, opening it with a text editor and replacing all occurrences of `foo.ai` with `Scene 1 - Spaceship.ai`. After that, AE told me it *tried to read after the end of file*. Looks like there's a file length in there. Damn.

So how can I do this without having to change the source file and resellecting the layer for each individual layer in AE?

**Tags:** after-effects


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## 0 answers

