Adobe After Effects - Manual (Page 556)

Display Options
Size
Tracking
Proportional Spacing
Composite On Original
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Display Format
Time Source (CS5.5 and later)
Time Units
Drop Frame
Specifies the use of a fill or stroke or a combination of both on the text. Fill Only fills the characters with a color. Stroke Only
strokes the edges of the characters with a color. Fill Over Stroke overlaps the fill color onto the stroke color. Stroke Over Fill overlaps the stroke
color onto the fill color.
Size of the characters.
Average distance between characters.
Numbers use proportional spacing instead of monospacing.
Text is composited on top of the original image. If Composite On Original isn’t selected, the original image isn’t visible.
Alternatives to using the Numbers effect
Use text layers for greater control over text formatting and text animation. (See Creating and editing text layers.)
Apply the Current Time Format animation preset to a text layer to show the current time in the format corresponding to the time display setting
for the project.
Colin Braley provides a tutorial and example project on his website that show how to use an expression on the Source Text property to animate
text to overcome some of the limitations of the Numbers effect.
For a similar example, see Example: Animate text as a timecode display.
Timecode effect
The Timecode effect creates a text overlay that displays timecode or frame number information on a layer. This effect doesn’t modify timecode
embedded from external sources, such as QuickTime.
Use text layers for greater control over text formatting and text animation. (See Creating and editing text layers.)
Apply the Current Time Format animation preset to a text layer to show the current time in the format corresponding to the time display setting
for the project. (See Example: Animate text as a timecode display.)
This effect works with 8-bpc color.
For details, tutorials, and resources about source timecode and Timecode effect changes in After Effects CS5.5, see this post on the After Effects
Region of Interest blog .
Specifies whether timecode is displayed in the SMPTE format, in frame numbers, or in feet and frames of 35mm or 16mm film.
The source used for the effect.
Layer Source
Timecode is displayed according to the timecode from the source footage of the layer.
Composition
Timecode is displayed according to the timecode from the composition.
Custom
Allows access to the settings in the Custom section, the previous behavior of the effect. These are Time Units, Drop Frame and Starting Frame.
Frame rate in frames per second (fps) to be used by this instance of the Timecode effect. This setting affects only the numbers
displayed by the Timecode effect; it has no influence on composition frame rate or the frame rate of the source footage item for the layer.
Select Drop Frame to generate drop-frame timecode or deselect it to generate non-drop-frame timecode.
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