Animate text in After Effects

Animated text is everywhere, from commercials on television, film title sequences and corporate presentations to adverts on the London Underground.

In this tutorial I'll show you how to take text that's been lovingly laid out in Photoshop and import it into After Effects for animating. The beauty is that you can apply the techniques in this tutorial to pretty much any project: maybe your boss has asked you to quickly spruce up the annual reports or you'd just like to add an extra level to your short film's credit sequence. You can link animated pieces of text by using 3D cameras to go from one word to the next, creating a nice, flowing animation.

One of the great things about this technique is that if you need to alter your text (and, let's face it, clients love to change their minds), you can do this quickly and easily without affecting your animation. You'll also learn how to create the much-used (and abused) macro photography effect. By adding textures and quick lighting, you can make your type look as if it's being physically printed. The only limits are your imagination!

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