[Jerry Cast]

Hi,

Under Generate, in the AE CS3 Effects Menu, there is s CC Light Sweep that I have inserted onto a animated text title that says “Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino”, without the quotation marks.

I see the controls on the left for the effect, but playing it from the timeline below doesn’t do anything. I have to scrub the direction knob in the effects control back and forth and then I see the light sweep left to right.

I’m sure this is a basic question, but after reading and tinkering, I’m still stuck and this has stopped my project dead for too long of a time.

What’s the easist way to get this thing sweeping?

Thanks.

Jerry
https://www.jerrycastaldo.com

[Jerry Cast]

Thanks Michael!

Jerry
https://www.jerrycastaldo.com

[Jerry Cast]

Dave,

Watched some tutorials and joined Lynda.com. Thanks, I’m slowly picking it up.

By the way, my brother and I were born and bred in NYC, but he moved out to you town in Iowa 20 years ago. He loves it.

Jerry
https://www.jerrycastaldo.com

[Jerry Cast]

Very interesting, and makes sense.

Got it, I don’t think I should use them on this project.

Thanks.
Jerry
https://www.jerrycastaldo.com

[Jerry Cast]

Wow, thanks everyone. I was having a bit of trouble finding things in AE, but this is great.

The only other thing is that I was able to successfully make a solid, size it to a rectangle, set it’s opacity, and get the text on top of it fine.

But, I still can’t find the menu item that allows you to automatically draw ovals, circles, squares…

I had it up on the top center left for a minute, then lost it and couldn’t get it back. The manual isn’t helping.

Also, I’m trying to make a title (one line of two words) sort of slowly “quiver” or just move somehow (rolling like smoke) or just wave like a slow rolling ocean wave, but am having trouble figuring this out too.

I noticed that Premier Pro CS3 has templates for lower thirds, but it looks like there are none in AE, right? One last thing, the solid seems to start “before” my “Animate In” text flys in from the side. I fixed it a little bit by trimming the start on the Dymanically linked AE title, on the Premier Pro timeline. But, it still appears fully a bit before the text. I was wondering if I can make that solid slide in “with” the text simultaneously.

Sorry for all the questions jumbled into one post. But it exciting learning how to do this from you guys (and girls).

Thanks again.
Jerry
https://www.jerrycastaldo.com

[Jerry Cast]

Thanks Jeremy,

I think (because I’m so new to AE) I have the text layer below the solid in that window on the bottom. Just thought of it and will try it later when I can.

I’ll look for the drop shadow button in the text creation menu’s too.

Jerry
https://www.jerrycastaldo.com

[Jerry Cast]

Thanks Dave,

I used the Rectangle tool in AE CS3, made it red (the text is yellow), and then down below choose Opacity to make the red almost see thru.

The problem now is that the yellow text dulls down with the turning down of the opacity on the red, so now the bright yellow text is dull.

Can’t figure out how to keep the yellow bright yellow.

Thanks.
Jerry
https://www.jerrycastaldo.com