Text animation adjustment

[Jerry Smith]

Thanks Dave. Yeah, I can do a small number easily. But with me, there is always an industrial scale backdrop. Literally, there are thousands of them. I suspect I need some sorta expression that somehow tells AE that there are six characters even if there are only three.

[Walter Soyka]

How about padding the text with spaces at the end, so the length of the text is always the same?

Walter Soyka
Designer & Mad Scientist at Keen Live [link]
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
@keenlive   |   RenderBreak [blog]   |   Profile [LinkedIn]

[Jerry Smith]

Yeah, I thought of that. But not very industrial.

To make matters worse, I’ve already done half crudely with no sync tuning.

Must be some way to set textTotal to 6 in an expression. https://helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/using/animating-text.html

[Walter Soyka]

Try this expression on your range selector’s Offset property (the thing that Bullet Train animates):

maxLength = 6;
myLength = thisLayer.text.sourceText.length;
maxTime = key(2).time - key(1).time;
myTime = maxTime * (myLength/maxLength);
keyTimeOffset = (maxTime - myTime) / 2;
linear(time, key(1).time+keyTimeOffset, key(2).time-keyTimeOffset, -100, 100);

Walter Soyka
Designer & Mad Scientist at Keen Live [link]
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
@keenlive   |   RenderBreak [blog]   |   Profile [LinkedIn]

[Jerry Smith]

WOW! I’M SO GRATEFUL. THANKS WALTER. THANKS.

I’m going to see if I’m smart enough to save it as a preset so that I can apply it to 40 layers at once.

[Jerry Smith]

I guess I’m not that smart.

Is there a way to save the expression as a preset so that I can very quickly just apply it to mutliple layers that have keyframes in different places? I seem to be running into the problem of not being able to save the expression without the keyframes and also possibly the problem of AE not knowing where exactly I want the expression to go (It creates a new range selector thingie).

The expression is great and I will use it one way or the other. But now I’m getting greedy and am trying to figure out how to apply it to numerous layers that have different keyframe locations.

Thanks!

[Walter Soyka]

[Jerry Smith] “I seem to be running into the problem of not being able to save the expression without the keyframes and also possibly the problem of AE not knowing where exactly I want the expression to go (It creates a new range selector thingie).”

An animation preset will not help you with stuff that you’ve already animated (though it may help for future items). Instead, I think you want the fastest way to apply the expression to the properties you’ve already worked on.

1) Select the Offset property that has the expression applied and use Edit > Copy Expression Only.

2) Filter the timeline panel for the word Offset by using the search field in the timeline panel, next to the timecode.

3) Multi-select the Offset properties you want to apply the expression to.

4) Edit > Paste.

Walter Soyka
Designer & Mad Scientist at Keen Live [link]
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
@keenlive   |   RenderBreak [blog]   |   Profile [LinkedIn]

[Jerry Smith]

Thanks so much Walter. I really appreciate all your help today. If you have a donut button somewhere, I can send you a six pack of Belgian beer!

[Walter Soyka]

[Jerry Smith] “Thanks so much Walter. I really appreciate all your help today. If you have a donut button somewhere, I can send you a six pack of Belgian beer!”

Thanks, Jerry, I’m glad I helped you.

As for the beer — that’s an incredibly kind offer, and I do enjoy a nice Belgian, but maybe we can do something else.

I’ve been releasing my scripts under the same terms that Jeff Almasol does with his #devforacause project: “In lieu of thanks, consider donating to a charity important to you. If my scripts save you time, maybe pass the savings onto organizations doing good work. I’d love to hear how you’re paying it forward. #devforacause” Maybe you’d consider supporting a local charity you believe in?

Cheers.

Walter Soyka
Designer & Mad Scientist at Keen Live [link]
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
@keenlive   |   RenderBreak [blog]   |   Profile [LinkedIn]

[Jerry Smith]

Sure thing! I’m sure the wife has some ideas!