Adobe After Effects CS4 - Manual (Page 624)

618 USING AFTER EFFECTS CS4
Effects and animation presets
Last updated 12/21/2009
of Visible Characters increases between whole numbers. The exact opacity of the character is equal to the fractional
part of the Visible Characters value. For example, the eighth character is displayed at 10% opacity if the value of Visible
Characters is 7.10 and Fade Time is 100%; the same character is displayed at 60% opacity if the value of Visible
Characters is 7.60, and so on.
For Fade Time values between 0% and 100%, the opacity of the character is defined as a range across the halfway point
between whole-number values of Visible Characters. For example, if Fade Time is 20%, the eighth character begins to
appear at a Visible Character value of 7.40 and is fully opaque at 7.60. If Fade Time is set to 60%, the same character
begins to appear at a value of 7.20 and is fully opaque at 7.80.
Mode The blending mode used if characters overlap.
Jitter Settings Specify the maximum amount of deviation added randomly to baseline, kerning, rotation, or scale.
Higher values produce greater deviations. Positive values produce smooth motion; negative values produce jumpy
motion. Movement is created without keyframes or expressions, although you can use keyframes or expressions to
change the maximum values.
A specific jitter value generates the same seemingly random motion for identical text and settings. If a composition
contains duplicate animated text, you can generate different motion for each instance of the text by changing a setting
but making the change invisible. For example, you could add a space to a second instance of text, and then adjust the
kerning so that the space isn’t visible. This method creates an invisible change that generates different motion.
You can specify the following Jitter options:
• Baseline Jitter Max Sets a maximum distance, in pixels, that characters are randomly moved above or below the
path after Baseline Shift is applied.
• Kerning Jitter Max Sets a maximum distance, in pixels, that characters are randomly moved apart from one
another along the horizontal axis after kerning and tracking are applied.
• Rotation Jitter Max Sets a maximum amount, in degrees, that characters are randomly rotated after Character
Rotation is applied.
• Scale Jitter Max Sets a maximum amount, as a percentage, that characters are randomly scaled after Horizontal
Scale and Vertical Scale are applied. For best results, characters should not scale greater than 100%.
Move vertices, circle centers, and tangents
• To move the Vertex 1/Circle Center and the Tangent 1/Circle Point together, drag the outer circle of the Vertex
1/Circle Center.
• To move only the Vertex 1/Circle Center, drag its cross hair.
• To automatically snap the Tangent 1/Circle Point on top of the Vertex 1/Circle Center, select the Pen tool and then
click the outer circle of Tangent 1 (Windows) or Command-click the outer circle (not the cross hair) of Tangent 1
(Mac OS).
• To snap the Tangent 1/Circle Point to increments of 45° from the Vertex 1/Circle Center, Shift-drag the outer circle
of Tangent 1.
• To move Vertex 2 and Tangent 2 together, drag the outer circle of Vertex 2.
• To move only Vertex 2, drag its cross hair.