Adobe After Effects CS4 - Manual (Page 601)

595 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4
Effects and animation presets
Last updated 12/21/2009
Value/Offset/Random Max Varies based on the chosen type and whether Random Values is selected.
Decimal Places Specifies the number of places to the right of the decimal point.
Current Time/Date Select for time and date numbers to be based on the current time and date.
Position The position of the numbers on the layer.
Display Options 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 Size of the characters.
Tracking Average distance between characters.
Proportional Spacing Numbers use proportional spacing instead of monospacing.
Composite On Original 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 ” on
page 341.)
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 ” on page 371.
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 ” on
page 341.)
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 ” on page 371.)
This effect works with 8-bpc color.
Display Format Specifies whether timecode is displayed in the SMPTE format, in frame numbers, or in feet and frames
of 35mm or 16mm film.
Time Units 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.
Drop Frame Select Drop Frame to generate drop-frame timecode or deselect it to generate non-drop-frame timecode.
Starting Frame The frame number assigned to the first frame of the layer.
Text Position The position of the text overlay, in composition space.
Text Size The size of text, in points.