Text along 3D path in AE CS3

[Brian Maffitt]

An interesting puzzle, but you can pull it off.
You’ll need to take advantage of text on a path, plus the ability to make a layer rotate in 3d space, plus the ability make individual letters rotate in 3D space.
As an example, type some text, add a circular mask to the type layer, and set the circular mask to be the path for the text. Make this layer 3D and rotate it along the x axis back into 3D space. Now enable per-character 3D in the timeline text dropdown, and adjust the x rotation of the type by 90 degrees to make the letters swivel up and behave more like a “cylinder” than a “disk”. You’ll immediately see what I mean when you do it.
Once you understand this approach, you’ll be able to draw an appropriate curvy path, then animate the 3D rotation of the layer AND the 3D rotation of the letters to generate the effect you are after.
If this is all too vague, let me know and I’ll throw together a demo project for you.
Good luck,
Brian Maffitt

[Cam Lewis]

You, sir, are absolutely brilliant. I like the way you think! I made an account just so I could let you know how incredibly excellent this idea is. Thank you for existing and for imparting your wisdom to the rest of us. 😀

[Vaqas Iqbal]

Thank you Sir