BIGMIKEDESIGN: Super Text Tutorial from Mike on Vimeo.

This project is very simple to create. I did this the simple way. You could apply a camera, some lights, cast shadows and jazz the whole thing up. And the solid? Well, replace that with a full size turkey with an alpha channel or even a pilgrim.

1. Create your text and move it along a path.
2. Mask off the area that you want to see in front of your obscuring object.
3. Duplicate your text layer.
4. Drag it behind your obscuring object.
5. Switch the mask mode to “subtract” on the layer of text that is behind your obscuring object.

To add a tich of realism I’ve blurred the bottom text layer slightly, to simulate depth of field. Remember, these are not 3D layers and you can not technically move your text into deeper areas in a path, so this is a compromise. I’ve also colored the text a slightly grayer shade of white to make it look a bit shadowier. Yes, I’m making up words now. It’s a talent that I picked up from my 3 year old.

Download circulartext.aep.zip (AE 7 Standard or Pro)

View sample movie

I’ll tell you that it matches the color, speed and everything about the original open of one of the films. I got this info from some Star Wars site that I don’t remember, a long, long time ago. Just Google it if you want to know the name of the font used in the original films. The color did slightly change for the first three Star Wars movies, so I believe I matched it to The Empire Strikes Back open (the best Star Wars flick, in my opinion).

Download AE Comp AE 7.0

I used Trapcode Particular to generate the star background. You do not necessarily need it to open the file, but I heart Particular and every AE user should own it. Our demo form is currently down, but you can download it from Trapcode.com.

It wasn’t until I was teaching a seminar on After Effects (just a couple weeks ago) that I noticed AE7 now includes ‘blur’ as a animatable type property. After scanning the “useful” AE type presets, I only found one that animates in by blur, word by word. And it wasn’t very interesting. I’ve always been a fan of the Motion presets that do this, so I thought I’d come with a simple one for AE.

So, I played with it, and came up with a simple letter blur on effect. I found that higher color resolution really helps, especially 32bpc.

DOWNLOAD THE PRESET HERE

Download preset (AE 7)

View video sample.

Roland has some customizing tips for you, too. “Remember that the effect requires three indentical text layers stacked on top of each other. The top two layers create the highlight effect while the lowest layer creates the entire text string.”

“To customize the effect for different text strings, time stretch the top two layers in each group. To do so, select all the keyframes for the top two layers, then press ALT+mouse (Option for the Mac) drag the last layer. Then drag the last keyframe for the lowest layer and give the composition window a good eye-ball. Your objective is to ensure that the last character appears just as the last highlight appears over it.” Click to view sample movie (pops)

Download the project file (AE 6.5)

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There’s some Fractal Noise in the background creating a slight fog effect, and
an Adjustment Layer with a little Glow and Trapcode Shine for a touch of pizzazz.

The type is freely editable on one layer.

DOWNLOAD THE PROJECT HERE (AE6.5)