Resize a text bounding box, Move a text layer, Convert point or paragraph text – Adobe After Effects CS4 User Manual
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USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4
Text
Last updated 12/21/2009
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To select a range of text, click, move the pointer, and then Shift-click.
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To select a word, double-click it. To select a line, triple-click it. To select a paragraph, quadruple-click it. To select
all text in a layer, quintuple-click anywhere in the text.
•
To use the arrow keys to select text, hold down Shift and press the Right Arrow or Left Arrow key. To use the arrow
keys to select words, hold down Shift+Ctrl (Windows) or Shift+Command (Mac OS) and press the Right Arrow or
Left Arrow key.
Online resources for selecting and editing text in text layers
Jeff Almasol provides a script on his
Jeff Almasol provides a script on his
that converts various plain text punctuation into their “smart”
typographical representations (for example, (c) is converted to the copyright symbol, ©).
Jeff Almasol provides a script on his
and sets the values to text from a text file; the keyframes are placed at times specified by layer markers on the text layer.
Resize a text bounding box
1
With a type tool active, select the text layer in the Composition panel to display the bounding box handles.
2
Position the pointer over a handle—the pointer turns into a double arrow
—and do one of the following:
•
Drag to resize in one direction.
•
Shift-drag to maintain the proportion of the bounding box.
•
Ctrl-drag (Windows) or Command-drag (Mac OS) to scale from the center.
Move a text layer
You can drag with the move pointer
in the Composition panel to move a text layer. To activate the move pointer
without leaving text editing mode, move the type tool away from the text in the Composition panel; when you see the
move pointer
, drag to move the text. You can also hold down the Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac OS) key to
momentarily activate the move pointer.
Convert point or paragraph text
Note: When you convert paragraph text to point text, all characters outside the bounding box are deleted. To avoid losing
text, resize the bounding box so that all text is visible before conversion.
1
Using the Selection tool
, select the text layer.
Note: You can’t convert the text layer if it’s in text-editing mode.
2
Using a type tool, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) anywhere in the Composition panel, and
choose Convert To Paragraph Text or Convert To Point Text.
When you convert from paragraph text to point text, a carriage return is added at the end of each line of text, except
the last line.
To display the bounding box of paragraph text and automatically select a type tool, double-click the text layer in the
Timeline panel.