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Insufficiencies of AE CS5 Text Stroke Animation— Seeking Alt Ideas
I have a very nice stroke-effect textgif idea from playing in Photoshop. I’ve searched around but I can’t see how to animate stroke effects there.
In CS5, Photoshop’s stroke controls have more and richer parameters than those in AE: AE has no Fill Pattern option, nor Scale option for the fill. Therefore I can’t get the same effect in AE.
Wondering if anyone might have ideas on how to either,
A. Just animate the stroke effect in Photoshop
B. Augment AE’s stroke features
C. Suggest another text animator to play with -
6 Replies
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Shape Layers are much more useful in AE and should be the first option instead of the ole’ way of using the Stroke effect. Why don’t youpost an image of what you have done in Photoshop so that we can have a better idea of what it is that you need to do in AE to replicate the effect.
Cheers
RoRKIntensive AE & Mocha Training in Singapore and Malaysia
Adobe ACE/ACI (version 7) & Imagineer Systems Inc Approved Mocha Trainer -
I agree with Roland about shape layers being better than text layers for this kind of thing.
Note that you can create shapes from text, which can get you started.
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Todd Kopriva, Adobe Systems Incorporated
Technical Support for professional video software
After Effects Help & Support
Premiere Pro Help & Support
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Roland, thank you. Attached is a file that shows what I’m trying to get. It’s a gif logo for a TV shop website, RGB is the theme; using a stroke effect set to Tie Dye Pattern, and scrolling the scale slider, I can get a very nice, variable RGB wave over the logo in Photoshop. But I’m having lots of trouble getting anything like it in AE. One can get primitive color rolls through the text with presets, but they’re not as nice as this. The % figures indicate how much the stroke scale slider was activated; hoping you can help—
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Hi Charlton, it looks more like you’re vertically scaling the pattern rather than the stroke itself. Further, the pattern is essentially a gradient.
I can think of three ways to get this done. It depends on exactly what you want to do. Shape Layers can certainly do this but surprisingly, I find Layer Styles offer more intuitive options for its Gradient Overlay Layer Style compared to the Shape Layer’s Gradient Fill.
With the Layer Style’s Gradient Overlay, you can either animate the Offset Value and/or the Colors property, which is where you define the gradient. The Scale Property within the Gradient Overlay may also come in handy.
The only issue you may have is getting the white part, which is centered within your text. It looks like some blending mode thingy that you got from PS. Perhaps you can try to replicate that in AE, using the same tools. Otherwise, if it’s animating the RGB colors within AE, there’s Shape Layer, Layer Styles and Colorama.
Should you decide to go the Shape Layer route, it’ll be more productive to have your text, as it is (ie untouched) on a layer below a rectangular Shape Layer. This Shape Layer should off course encompass the area of the text. Click on the Preserve Underlying Transparency box (the little “T” icon next to the Blending Modes drop-down menu). With this setup, you will only have to set the Gradient Fill once instead of individually for each of the Shapes that define your text characters.
So, to make a short story, short 😉 Layer Styles look like they’re the best way to go.
HTH
RoRKIntensive AE & Mocha Training in Singapore and Malaysia
Adobe ACE/ACI (version 7) & Imagineer Systems Inc Approved Mocha Trainer -
Gosh—-thanks so much. That’s a tutorial in its own right!
Charlton
Houston -
You’re most welcome Charlton. Hope it works out for you. If not, do let us know, with as many specifics as possible. I’m sure we’ll be able to assist you.
Cheers
RoRKIntensive AE & Mocha Training in Singapore and Malaysia
Adobe ACE/ACI (version 7) & Imagineer Systems Inc Approved Mocha Trainer
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