Position text along a mask path, Text path properties, Examples and resources for text animation – Adobe After Effects CS4 User Manual
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USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4
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Last updated 12/21/2009
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Position text along a mask path
1
Create a text layer and enter text.
2
With the text layer selected, use the Pen tool or a mask tool to draw a mask in the Composition panel.
3
In the Timeline panel, expand the Path Options property group for the text layer and select the mask from the Path
menu. The text automatically uses the alignment specified in the Paragraph panel.
4
To reposition the text on the path, change the text margins using the First Margin and Last Margin properties in
the Timeline panel, or do one of the following in the Composition panel:
•
Drag the left margin control , center margin control , or right margin control to move text along the path.
•
Shift-drag any margin control to snap the control to the mask vertices.
Note: Select a property in the Text property group in the Timeline panel to see the margin controls in the Composition
panel. The text alignment determines which controls are available.
Changing the Last Margin of path text in the Composition panel
Text path properties
Use the Path Options properties to specify a path and alter the way that individual characters appear on the path—
perpendicular to the path, aligned to the left or right, reversed, and so on. Animating Path Options properties is an
easy way to animate text along a path.
Reverse Path
Reverses the direction of the path.
Perpendicular To Path
Rotates each character so that it is perpendicular to the path.
Force Alignment
Positions the first character at the beginning of the path (or at the specified First Margin location),
positions the last character at the end of the path (or at the specified Last Margin location), and evenly spaces the
remaining characters between the first and last characters.
First Margin
Specifies the position of the first character in pixels, relative to the start of the path. First Margin is
ignored when text is right-aligned and Force Alignment is Off.
Last Margin
Specifies the position of the last character in pixels, relative to the end of the path. Last Margin is ignored
when text is left-aligned and Force Alignment is Off.
Examples and resources for text animation
For a video tutorial on animating text, go to the Adobe website at
that uses three text animators and per-character 3D
text animation to create a text animation.