Wrapping Text Around a Circle in After Effects

Wrapping Text Around a Circle in After Effects

on Jan 6th 2011 with 7 comments

Angie Taylor posted a quick tip on Wrapping text around a circle in After Effects.

There’s another intro tutorial on the “newer” way to do path text here at AEtuts, Animating Text Along A Path In After Effects – AE Basix, and some addition details at the AE Help page Creating and animating text on a path. And Eran Stern posted a more complicated video tutorial, Tornado Text, that shows how to use per-character 3D text animation to animate text along a path in the shape of a 3D tornado.

The “old” way to do text-on-a-path was with the now defunct Path Text plug-in. It was very easy to use, and if you are working on a project that was created in an older version of After Effects and the Path Text effect was applied, CS5 lets you continue to use the Path Text effect. By the way, the first vertex of a closed mask affects control of mask paths.

More generally, Focal Press has free video intros to the AE text engine “Textacy” from After Effects Apprentice by Chris and Trish Meyer. Here’s a sample:

 
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Rich Young is a long-time After Effects user from the San Francisco Bay Area who tracks AE news at AE Portal.  

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  • SA HIMEL

    Thank………………its worth helpful

  • http://www.pixelfarm.it siza

    is Aetuts copying contents from http://aeportal.blogspot.com/ ? may be? or not?
    some news are very very similar…..someone note this?

  • http://www.angietaylor.co.uk Angie Taylor

    Hi Rich,

    Thanks for posting this.

    I just wanted to point out that the technique I use here is exactly the same as the technique used in Diana Hughes excellent tutorial.

    Diana took it further than I did by showing how to animate the text too but it is essentially the same technique – using Text Layers directly in the Timeline.

    So Diana’s technique isn’t actually a “newer way” of doing it, it just takes the same technique further.

    Thanks,

    Angie

  • http://aeportal.blogspot.com/ Rich Young
    Author

    By newer I mean using the “newer” AE text engine rather than the Path Text plug-in! A little rewording should clarify this.

    • http://www.angietaylor.co.uk Angie Taylor

      Ah, sorry, I thought it sounded as though I was recommending an out of date technique, I think I get it now . . doh! ;-) As long as folks understand that I didn’t use the Path Text plug-in in my tip, but that I used the AE Text engine too. Have you ever had that feeling when you wished you hadn’t opened your mouth! I’m having that feeling right now! Sorry Rich! ;-)

      • http://www.vimeo.com/everettoptions Adam Everett Miller

        Angie, you’re awesome! :)

  • http://aeportal.blogspot.com/ Rich Young
    Author

    Maybe it’s me calling the AE text engine “new.” It’s only been around since 2003!

    I was smitten by the Path Text filter until they pried it from my hands. Just add jitter, maybe to some audio, and turn on motion blur and I was in heaven.