Just curious but I have someone typing at a computer and just curious if anyone knows a way to animate type on, I realize I could gmask it but it would be nice to just auto type say this sentence over 60 frames anyone know of anything like that? I dont always use text but all I see is roll crawl which isnt what I am after.
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Yes - After Effects!
Haven’t checked since the last text module update in the late 20th century, but I’m pretty sure there isn’t such a function.
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In Action load the animated text preset called something like typewriter.
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Yeah. If you can. I find wrangling these presets to be more effort than just doing a gmask wipe 
I did once make a gradient with a full range of linear values. I made it blocky (dots matchbox) to the equivalent of the type size and then exposed it up and down, clamped, as a matte to reveal the type.
For a lot of text being revealed reasonably fast it worked quite well.
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I just loaded this up and its laughable how complicated this is, seems like a good idea for a matchbox which would be computer type , always a couple of times a year where I have to compose someone writing something on a computer and its always way more complicated than it needs to be.
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I feel like the type FX ship has sailed, which is why it got some cursory love when all the particle preset were built, but nothing was retooled to add new features, meanwhile Adobe improved nearly nothing else in the core version of AE for years, but they made that text module sing.
So yeah, Flame sucks for these sorts of things, but at least you aren’t trying to comp in AE.
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You could use 3D text and then animate the transparency of the first letter and then offset all the others with that handy offset animation thing that I can’t remember what it’s called but it’s definitely in there somewhere!
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thanks for the suggestions and I appreciate it all but as its always likely you can do it the question remains at what speed, the flame text tool in my mind something akin to the greyhound of travel sure you could take it cross country but its much nicer in a private jet that take 1/100 the time , so flames text node is the greyhound of text tools in my mind.
Flame is the Swiss Army knife.
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while that maybe true this tool in the swiss army knife opens really really slowly.
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Yeah. I think the analogy works. Have you ever tried to use the saw on one of those things to cut a branch?
well I wouldn’t want to get in a knife fight with one of those things when someone else brings a switch blade.
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Command-X to cut
You can create a type on with either text, or with action text. Action text is a bit more friendly and the animation menu is klunky in regular text.
- Type the string of text
- On frame 1, set the transparency to 100. On frame 2, set to 0.
- Split the string
- In the animation menu, set the filter to Animated>Expand Only>Hide All. This will display all the transparency channels of each letter
- Starting with the first individual transparency channel, ctl-select each one.
- Enter the expression if(frame>SelectionOrder,0,100)
The type will now appear one letter at a time as you jog through. You can play with timing using a mod to selection order (SelectionOrder*2, for instance will type 1 letter every 2 frames) but I usually just put it through a timewarp node and adjust to taste.
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Slow day . . .
Here’s an even better way.
- Type out your string of text
- Go to Transform
- Set the scale on frame 1 to 0
- Set scale on frame 2 to 100
- Set animation curve to Constant
- Navigate to the frame you want the write on to end.
- Adjust Time Offset to the negative until the last letter appears. Hold down space bar for fine adjustment
- Bob’s yer Uncle.
That’s a trick I wish I’d taught myself sooner.
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Hi Tim, Trying to do this. Where is the time-offset?
sorry i was doing this in text not 3d text