Adobe After Effects CS3 - Manual (Page 530)

AFTER EFFECTS CS3
User Guide
525
Note: The behavior of the Position point is affected by the Alignment setting in the Basic Text dialog box. The point
always positions the vertical center of the text relative to the layer. However, if the text is left aligned, the point positions
the left edge; if the text is center aligned, the point positions the center; and if the text is right aligned, the point positions
the right edge.
Numbers effect
The Numbers effect generates random or sequential numbers in different formats, such as decimal number, dates,
and timecode—even the current date and time (at render time). The maximum offset for sequential numbers is
30,000.
Use text layers for greater control over text formatting and text animation. (See “Examples of text animation” on
page 295.)
Apply the Current Time Format animation preset to a text layer to show the current time in the format corresponding
to the project’s time display style.
This effect works with 8-bpc color.
Original (top left); after applying the Numbers effect (bottom left); and after setting Type to Numbers, Time, and Hexadecimal on three
different layers (bottom right)
The following options and values are available in the Font Style dialog box: Font, Style, Direction, and Alignment.
To open this dialog box again, click Options at the top of the effect’s entry in the Effect Controls panel.
Type The numbering system:
• Number Decimal numbers.
• Number [Leading Zeros] Decimal numbers with five digits to the left of the decimal point.
• Timecode [30], Timecode [25], and Timecode [24] Standard non-drop-frame timecode formats (XX:XX:XX:XX)
using the stated frame rate. The timecode types use the layer’s current time as the base.
• Time Hours and minutes. If you also select Current Time/Date, the Value/Offset/Random Max value is ignored.
If you select Random, the time is bounded by 0 (12:00 AM) and the slider value.
• Numerical Date, Short Date, and Long Date If you don’t also select Current Time/Date, the Value/Offset/Random
Max is the number of days since January 1, 1995 (0 on the slider corresponds to January 1, 1995). If you do select
Current Time/Date, Value/Offset/Random Max is the number of days since the current date (0 on the slider corre-
sponds to the current date). If you select Random, the date is bounded by 0 (either the current date or January 1,
1995) and the slider value.