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Subject: Re: [AE] Text questions
From: Chris Zwar <chris@chriszwar.com>
In-Reply-To: <list-4814238@media-motion.tv>
Date: Thu, 16 Aug 2012 22:20:29 +1000
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Message-Id: <49FEC9AA-E64F-4621-8B28-8479829C577D@chriszwar.com>
References: <list-4814238@media-motion.tv>
To: "After Effects Mail List" <AE-List@media-motion.tv>

Animating text is slightly different to animating normal layers and =
effects because you have to specifically enable animation for each text =
property you want to use.  So while every layer has a property for =
position, anchor point, scale, rotation and opacity without you having =
to do anything, you can't see all of the options for text until you =
'add' them manually.

All you have to do is click on the twirly arrow of a text layer to =
reveal the properties, and over towards the right you'll see the word =
'animate' followed by an arrow.  Click on the arrow to reveal all of the =
parameters that you can enable.  Once you choose one, all of it's =
parameters will be added to the timeline.

I would suggest that animating text is very powerful and not for the =
faint-hearted.  You are better off to begin with a text preset and =
modify it.

I haven't checked to see how Bridge works with CS6, but assuming it's =
the same you should be able to choose 'browse presets' in After Effects, =
and it will take you to Bridge so you can preview the animation presets. =
 There are loads of them for text, bound to be something there you can =
use.

Don't overlook paragraph text, if you need to stick within boundaries.  =
There are a few basic text tips from the half-way point of this video:

=
http://provideocoalition.com/index.php/motiongraphicsvizfx/video/after_eff=
ects_leftovers_-_part_4/


-Chris

On 16/08/2012, at 9:49 PM, Richard Green wrote:

> Hi all
>=20
> I've been asked some text and font questions by a client but my use of
> AE tends to be for imagery not MoGraph so I'm sure somebody here will
> have better advice. One thing his question made me realise is that you
> can't animate font size on a text layer, how crazy is that? OK, you
> can scale but I thought text layers were supposed to unlock loads of
> great typography animation capabilities. Anyhow, I'm pasting his
> questions here, I feel like there's bound to be some great little
> plug-in out there to handle the scaling issue but I don't look for
> those kind of plugs!
>=20
>>> I have also seen that AE may have difficulty with opentype fonts. =
Can you
>>> confirm if this is the case with AE6 ??"
>=20
> I just tried loading a couple of OpenType fonts via Font Agent Pro and
> sure enough, AE6 doesn't seem to see them. Is that correct?
>=20
>>> I'm wondering if AE6 has an auto font sizing feature a bit like =
powerpoint
>>> and if it doesn't can we use Expressions to look at this issue. I =
have
>>> looked it up and expressions don't appear to be able to change font =
size
>>> but you can have multiple text areas with different preset font =
sizes that
>>> you could select and put in place depending on desired outcome. Do =
you
>>> know any more than this?
>=20
> The issue here is that it's an interactive project where users will
> input the text that ends up in the comp. So they would like to draw
> out a box and, if the user enters too much text, it will automatically
> scale down to fit. The only way I can see to control font size via
> expressions is with ye olde Basic Text effect but this where I can
> imagine there being a plug-in solution - anyone? Thanks a lot.
>=20
> ---
> Cheers
> Rich
>=20
> www.loopcorp.com
>=20
> +---End of message---+
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>=20