Apple LiveType 2 - Manual (Page 128)

128 Chapter 9 Advanced Design Techniques
Creating Scrolls and Crawls
Scroll and crawl effects are used to create credit rolls, or to slide strings of text across
the screen like a stock ticker. These two kinds of effects use the Canvas Offset
parameter to create a vertical or horizontal motion path long enough to move text
onto the Canvas and fully off the opposite side.
The offset value, which defines the length of the motion path, is based on the length of
the element that’s scrolling or crawling. So it’s best to enter and format the text before
applying the effect, so you don’t have to reposition the starting point of the element
multiple times.
Note: From a design standpoint, scrolls and crawls are best used with system fonts, as
opposed to LiveFonts. If you do choose to scroll a LiveFont, you’ll need to work with
the font’s timing parameters, including speed and the Hold First and Hold Last options
in the Timing tab of the Inspector, to coordinate the LiveFont animation with the
scrolling or crawling movement.
To create scrolling text:
1 Enter several lines of text onto a new track, using the Return key to create line breaks in
the text-entry box.
2 Format the text, paying particular attention to any parameter affecting the total vertical
length of the lines of text—font, size, leading, and so on.
3 Apply a scroll effect from the Scrolls and Crawls category in the Effects tab of the
Media Browser.
4 Adjust the speed of the scroll, which is now visible in the Live Wireframe preview, by
dragging the right edge of the effect bar in the Timeline, or by changing the Speed
setting in the Timing tab of the Inspector.
5 In the Timeline, drag the right edge of the track to match the duration of the effect.
6 Move the text to its starting position.
a Make sure the playhead is over the first frame in the Timeline.
b Set the Canvas zoom to 25 percent, to see outside the boundaries of the Canvas.
c Drag the track in the Canvas to set the starting position of the scrolling text. (Text
that is beyond the edge of the Canvas is represented by blue bounding boxes.) Hold
down the Shift key as you drag to constrain the horizontal position of the track.
If you are using the Scroll Up effect, for example, you might want to set the starting
position of the first line of text just below the bottom edge of the Canvas.