Learn how to quickly make animated motion titles in Adobe After Effects CC. This tutorial doesn’t require any expert knowledge and is explained step-by-step.
Below are the written instruction of the video tutorial above:
The first one is minimalistic but a classic one. It animates the spacing between the characters and words.
First select the “text tool” and type your title in the composition. Click on the “arrow” icon of the text layer to unfold all settings. Click on “Animate” and then “Tracking”.
Now all I need to do is change the number in “Tracking Amount”. Make sure to hit the “stop watch” icon to activate the keyframe function. In the beginning of the timeline I set the “Tracking Amount” to 65 and at the end to 25. If I hit playback now, I can already see the spacing effect working.
If the text is moving in from only one side, make sure to go to the “Paragraph” tab and click on “Center text”.
The second title is more advanced and can be useful to create a mysterious mood.
Go to “Effect”, “Stylize” and select “CC Burn Film”. By changing the “Burn” value, parts of the text disappear. At the beginning I am going to change the “Burn” amount to 55 and at the end to 35. I will also change the “Center” of the effect to have more motion on the text.
Because some parts are now completely burned out and not visible at all, I am duplicating the text layer and removing the “CC Burn Film” effect. Make sure it’s placed under the original title layer. I am changing the color of the text to a dark blue so it’s only a little bit noticeable. Additionally, it can look good to add a shadow effect which can be applied by right-clicking on the text layer, going to “Layer Styles” and then to “Inner Shadow”.
The third title is abstract and works best with a thin font rather than a bold one.
Go to “Effect”, “Simulation” and choose “CC Scatterize”. This effect splits the text in small particles.
Change the “Scatter” value to a low number like 5. Go to the end of the timeline and change it to an even smaller number like 1 or 0.5. Next, duplicate the text layer and place it under the original text. Remove the “CC Scatterize” effect and apply “CC Starbust”. Change the “Scatter” value to 5. At the end of the clip you can change it to 0.5. Deactivate the “Speed” effect by changing the value to 0. The “Grid Spacing” amount can be adjusted to change the size appearance of the particles.
All three title animations can be further animated and customized or even combined to get more unique results.
Written by filmmaker Moritz Janisch on November 23, 2020