- Chapter overview
- Getting started
- About text layers
- Creating and formatting point type
- Using a text animation preset
- Animating with scale keyframes
- Animating using parenting
- Animating imported Photoshop text
- Animating text using a path preset
- Animating type tracking
- Animating the letters opacity
- Using a text animator group
- Cleaning up the path animation
- Animating the dragonfly
- Adding motion blur
- Review
Getting started
Make sure the following files are in the AE7_CIB > Lessons > Lesson03 folder on your hard disk, or copy them from the Adobe After Effects 7.0 Classroom in a Book DVD now:
- In the Assets folder: credits.psd, dragonfly.ai, Lilypad.mov, pondbackground.mov
- In the Sample_Movie folder: Lesson03.mov
- Open and play the Lesson03.mov sample movie to see what you will create in this lesson. When you are done, quit the QuickTime player. You may delete this sample movie from your hard disk if you have limited storage space.
Setting up the project
When you begin this lesson, restore the default application settings for After Effects. See “Restoring default preferences”.
- Press Ctrl+Alt+Shift (Windows) or Command+Option+Shift (Mac OS) while starting After Effects. When asked whether you want
to delete your preferences file, click OK.
After Effects opens to display a blank, untitled project.
- Choose File > Save As or press Ctrl+Shift+S (Windows) or Command+Shift+S (Mac OS).
- In the Save Project As dialog box, navigate to the AE7_CIB > Lessons > Lesson03 > Finished_Project folder.
- Name the project Lesson03_Finished.aep, and then click Save.
Importing the footage
You need to import two footage items to begin this exercise.
- Double-click an empty area of the Project panel to open the Import File dialog box.
- Navigate to the AE7_CIB > Lessons > Lesson03 > Assets folder on your hard disk, Ctrl-click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac OS) to select the Lilypad.mov and pondbackground.mov files, and then click Open.
Creating the composition
Now, you’ll create the composition.
- Press Ctrl+N or Command+N to open the New Composition dialog box.
- In the Composition Settings dialog box, name the composition Pond_Title_Sequence, make sure the NTSC DV preset is selected, and set duration to 10:00, which is the length of the pond background movie.
- Click OK.
- Drag the Pondbackground.mov and Lilypad.mov files from the Project panel to the Timeline panel, making sure that Lilypad is
above Pondbackground in the layer stack.
Now, position the Lilypad layer in the composition.
- With the Lilypad layer selected in the Timeline panel, press the P key reveals its Position property.
- Change the Position values to 170.0, 480.0 to move the lily pad to the lower-left corner of the composition.
- Select the Lilypad layer again and press U to hide its Position property, and then choose File > Save.
Now you’re ready to add the title text to the composition.