Outline for the workshops on 1/29-1/30

Note there is no new homework from this workshop, but see the assignment given week 3 for what is due during week 5.

1. Work in Progress discussion

2. Hands On Session

Introduction to the Type Tool.

1. Launch AE. Make a new composition HDTV 1080 29.97, 10 seconds duration.  Label it “Relativity”.
2. Select Type tool (cmd + t). If you press and hold on this tool, you’ll see a choice between horizontal and vertical. Note character and paragraph panels on right.  Note “Auto Open Panels” that opens the appropriate panel when you select a particular tool. To keep the Timeline as wide as the screen, go to the workspace menu (upper right) and select “text”. To make use of the dual screen, undock some of the panels by clicking on the tiny menu at the upper right of a panel and dragging down to “undock panel”. Arrange the panels in a way that you think will be most comfortable for you.
3. Click in the comp window and type the words “The Principle of Relativity”. Click “enter” (not “return”) to complete the text. See that there is a new layer in the timeline labeled.  You can rename this by clicking on it, typing return, and entering something new (like “main title”).
4. Layer Mode: solid handles define the bounding box of the text, and any changes you make in the character panel will affect the entire layer.
5. Edit Mode: click inside the text to get editing mode to select specific letters or add new ones to the line. Single click on the layer in the timeline to enter layer mode. Double click to enter edit mode.
6. In layer mode, click in the font field and use the arrow keys to step through different fonts to find one you want to use.  Manipulate font style the same way.  Find a point size and color you like. (Note continuous rasterization).
7. g.     If you double click the type tool, the cursor will move to the center of the comp. In the paragraph panel you can click on align center to enter centered text. You can also use the type tool to create a bounding box in which to write a block of text, and use controls in the Paragraph panel to format it.  Note the Action/Title Safe guidelines.
8. Adding a Stroke:  Enable by clicking on stroke box. Adjust size of stroke and select “All fills over all strokes”. Toggle between the options to see what happens to the type. Go back to “All fills over all strokes”. Go to Character panel options and scroll down to “Line Join”. Select Round and Bevel to see what they do. Return to Miter. You can turn off the fill so that all that shows is the stroke. Bring the fill box forward and click on the little box with the stripe across it to do that.
9.  Creating a Text animator: see the After Effects Apprentice 06 “Creating a Text Animator”
10. Animation Presets:  Go to Effects and Presets panel. Twirl open the Animation Presets folder and focus on the text folder. Twirl open the Animate In folder and choose one of the presets, clicking and dragging it over the text in the composition window. RAM preview.
11. Select the layer in the timeline and type “u” to reveal keyframes. Modify the keyframes by adding eases in/out, and then RAM preview.
12. Undo until you have no preset on the text.  We’re going to preview a lot of different presets. To do this, duplicate the text layer 4 times, so you have five layers.  For each one, try a different Animate In text preset.  (Turn off the eye balls on the ones you are not looking at). RAM preview each one.
13. For each one, navigate to the last keyframe of the preset, and then select an Animate Out preset. RAM preview each one, then manipulate the keyframes to alter the timing.
14. For the presets you like the best, twirl open the attributes to see what operations are affecting them and whether or not you can manipulate them. Note any effect add-ons to the presets. To Delete an Animator Preset, use cmd z, “undo” to make sure you’ve gotten rid of all artifacts and effects of the preset.

Animating text Along a Path: see After Effects Apprentice 06: “Flowing Text”