Give Your Type Some Ball Action

May 4th in Motion Graphics by Adam Everett Miller

We get a lot of requests for tutorials that don't require 3rd party plugins, and since we like to make our readers happy whenever possible, Adam is back breaking down the rarely used "CC Ball Action" built-in plugin to make some very cool type transitions.

PG

Author: Adam Everett Miller

I am the editor of Aetuts+. Originally from Minnesota, I moved to Virginia in 2004 where I am the media director of a marketing company.

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Adam's Ball Action Presets

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User Comments

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  1. PG

    santosh May 4th

    thats coool………..very handy

    ( Reply )
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    MikeW May 4th

    Amazing tutorial.
    What is the music?

    ( Reply )
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    luantran May 4th

    Thank……………….

    ( Reply )
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    Frank May 4th

    Ok, now i really need the name of that song! :)

    ( Reply )
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      Tiffany June 23rd

      It’s called “Share it with me” by Family Force 5 on their Dance or Die album… great band. He added some other sound fx to it too.

      ( Reply )
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    Kevin May 4th

    Wow, this looks really awesome. When I first went in here I actually thought it was gonna be a step-by-step-tutorial. I watched about the half, and I realised that it wasnt going to be a step-by-step-tutorial. Well, I thought, I dont think im going to be able to achieve this by own. However, at the last part, you showed the Presets! I got excited, it’s so easy to do and I can probably come up with some new effects by my own. You can do whatever you want with it. It’s awesome!
    Thank you very much!

    ( Reply )
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    CgBaran Tuts May 4th

    Very good tutorial and effect thanks

    ( Reply )
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    Ghost May 4th

    Wow, another ‘tutorial’ that isn’t a ‘tutorial’ of the ‘preview’. Will this site get renamed to ‘AEcompositionkindofexplained+’ ?

    Negative of me, I know, but none-the-less true. Cool effect to a degree, would have been better to show the effect and your process rather than run people through your composition.

    My 2 cents.

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      Rafi May 5th

      i disagree because he explained what he did. what use is it for us to know EVERY single step? I mean if you work on a project it is bad to recreate stuff 100% the way it was shown. That’s just shows a lack of inspiration and individual thoughts and creativity. If you don’t have that you shouldn’t use After Effects or any other creative program.

      ( Reply )
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        Aléxandre June 16th

        Not at all, we’re not talking about creative projects here are we? We’re talking about learning to use a program.

        Don’t give anyone on the site the whole spiel about “yeah, but i’m creative enough to do my own thing” if that were the case, you wouldn’t be here.

        Ghost is correct, this ‘tutorial’ doesn’t actually provide an in-depth look at techniques within the program and by definition, that’s what a tutorial should do, making his original statement right: This is not a tutorial, it’s a run through.

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    NINJTSO May 4th

    nice one Very good

    ( Reply )
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    Diego SA May 4th

    Cool! It’d be awesome if the ball transformation were faster. But it’s great! Thanks!

    ( Reply )
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    Sal May 4th

    Adam,

    You da man! I love this tutorial. You’re not spoonfeeding us. You’re just showing us what tools we got at hand and letting our imagination do the rest. I love it.

    It’s only been two months I’ve been playing with AE (I was a total Adobe illiterate) and between this site, Kramer’s & Creative Cow’s, I’ve accomplished more than if I took three years worth of courses.

    I thank you! Keep up the great work.

    ( Reply )
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    Ahmed Dashti May 4th

    Thanks for this Great Tut!

    ( Reply )
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    Alex McCabe May 4th

    that effect is awesome good work =]

    the song is: Share it with me – Family Force 5
    youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCRS-3jV7uQ

    just throwing that out there for anyone who wants to know

    ( Reply )
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      lawrence77 May 4th

      wow nice song…..

      You’ve already broken my heart
      I’d like to keep at least one piece
      You can take all that you want
      But you’re gonna have to
      share it with me

      Cute lyrics! :)
      i love the song like this tutorial :mrgreen:

      ( Reply )
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    David Wood May 4th

    Funny non-tutorial. Thanks Adam! :)

    ( Reply )
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    Bossmimo May 4th

    WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW

    Enough said..:)

    ( Reply )
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    Steve May 4th

    Thats awesome!!

    I came up with my own little preset, kinda cool.

    Nice tutorial ! :D

    ( Reply )
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      Adam Everett May 4th

      I’d love to see any presets that you guys come up with.

      ( Reply )
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        Steve May 4th

        Im not as good as you are, im just getting started with ae! But if you want, ill show you? how do I send it?

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        Adam Everett May 4th

        save the preset and mail it to me, everettoptions@gmail.com

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    sohail May 4th

    coool!

    thanks man God bless you.

    ( Reply )
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    Kevin Richards May 4th

    Thanks, Adam! I appreciate your helping us think bigger than just a cookbook effect.

    ( Reply )
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    Srihari May 4th

    You are the next andrew Kramer !!!
    Really cool man.

    ( Reply )
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    Robbie Stewart May 4th

    adam you’re tuts are phat!

    as in cool and tempting…not thick….

    ( Reply )
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      Robbie Stewart May 4th

      i meant pretty hot and tempting =P

      ( Reply )
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    David_97 May 4th

    Adam, make more tuts!

    You make me laugh in every one… Really like the ones you do.

    ( Reply )
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    Billy May 4th

    Andrew Kramer does excellent tutorials….Adam’s ideas are excellent but his descriptions are erradic and haphazard…and this isn’t a “tutorial.” Great preset would like to see a “tutorial” on how to use it to its full potential.

    ( Reply )
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    Chip May 4th

    Please keep these non-step-by-step tutorials coming. I like to learn the application, not just a cookie-cutter type of design. Props to everybody here at AETuts+. Amazing place to learn.

    ( Reply )
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      Rafi May 7th

      WORD

      ( Reply )
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    brandon May 4th

    i love you

    ( Reply )
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    Joel May 4th

    I agree with Chip. These tutorials are great and it makes us explore the power of AE.

    ( Reply )
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    youssef sarhan May 4th

    I think this is a great presentation for someone who already has an idea about AE but would like some sort of open discussion on it. It’s not to see a ‘tut’ thats not so linear.

    ( Reply )
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    A3 May 4th

    Great video! I inspires us to try and have fun with AE while creating cool new stuff. I never saw the potential in that plugin till now. It does n´t have to be just an image or text solid, it works also with video files. I applied it to a video I made and it works great.

    And yes, I really like this kind of videos, maybe even more than just a step by step tutorial to achieve a specific effect.

    ( Reply )
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    vijay May 4th

    once again proved u r genius good work Adam

    ( Reply )
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    Loay May 5th

    Amazing !

    ( Reply )
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    Branden May 5th

    Nice work Adam :D Love the effect!

    ( Reply )
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    Duh May 5th

    Its nice, but failed due the reason that this isnt a tutorial. Whats wrong with this page recently? … gotta cancel my plus.

    ( Reply )
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    Jim Hines May 5th

    On the one hand your “toots” are little hard to watch because you go off on tangents quite a bit. On the other I appreciate the fact that you’re not a robot and neither am I. Sometimes you want something explained step by step and other times it’s nice to have your imagination sparked by some solid conceptualizing. On top of which you are very talented and come up with some really cool stuff that I would like to emulate. I’ve watched all of your tutorials on AE Tuts + and I can say you are steadily moving towards finding your voice. Keep ‘em coming bro! You’re all right. Thank you and all the others on this site including those who comment. This is how knowledge and creativity grows and morphs.

    P.S. When adding a preset while AE is open I think you can use the drop down menu in the upper right hand corner of the Effects and Presets Pallet to refresh it. That way you don’t have to restart the app to see it.

    ( Reply )
  32. PG

    Jim May 5th

    I like getting an overview of the effects in AE. The “cookie cutter” effects are great too but they are a little too focused for me. So I like your approach in that aspect of the tutorial.

    On the other hand, I shut it down after about 15 minutes. In that 15 minutes there was maybe 5 minutes of actual content. The rest was just rambling, undirected and unfocused. Honestly? I just don’t have time to listen to 18 minutes of nothing to get 7 minutes of tips. Tips I can use, certainly, but from what I have seen in the first 15 minutes, I am certain I can get the rest on my own.

    Anyway, thanks for the shove in the right direction. And try working off an outline. It might help.

    ( Reply )
  33. PG

    Khalil May 5th

    Love the animation.

    However, I always find it hard to find sounds and music that works.

    Would be nice if some of these tutorials could also show some ways of creating some cool sound design. After all, the sound helps to make them so much more engaging.

    I know it’s not quite in the field of visual effects but adding a few tips every now and again would be cool.

    Thanks for the tutorial. Great work as always :D

    ( Reply )
  34. PG

    Rafi May 5th

    pure amazingness! thank you a lot for the time and the effort!

    ( Reply )
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    Media Designer May 5th

    People are asking for the name of the tune? I never have that problem. I make my own music. Being a trained classical musician, recording artist, fine artist and graphic designer sure is handy …

    ( Reply )
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    Sam May 5th

    I KNOW THAT SONG! Its by Family Force 5

    ( Reply )
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    ck May 5th

    adam always stunning me !!~~~~

    ( Reply )
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    Tio Dave May 5th

    I never thought I’d be having so much fun with ball action.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAmbVbWhxFo

    ( Reply )
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    Chuck May 6th

    What font was that he used?

    Thanks

    ( Reply )
  40. hey very nice Tutorial……….NICE JOB

    ( Reply )
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    Sam May 7th

    THE MUSIC, for those of you who are asking is:
    Share It With Me by Family Force 5

    But as for the actual tutorial:
    DUDE! NICE!

    Gotta be honest, I have never even touched this plugin before now.

    And also awesome addition of Family Force 5 music! Gotta love them! Can’t wait to see them this summer at Creation!

    ( Reply )
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    Suzanne May 8th

    I love your tutorials!!!!!

    ( Reply )
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    Dave May 8th

    Great tutorial. I messed around with the settings as you suggested and came up with a transition effect that I like.

    http://www.vimeo.com/4542394

    ( Reply )
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    Victor May 12th

    Very nice project. I like it.

    ( Reply )
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    Josh May 13th

    When i try to use the presets they are really slow, dont fit on the comp. and they are all gray. Does anybody know what i did wrong?

    ( Reply )
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    kuunami May 14th

    Great tutorial. I understand exactly what you were saying at the end. When I was first learning from books, everything in them was step by step. They had a bunch of values for you to plug in but never explained what was going on or what any of the values meant. It was frustrating to complete an entire project but still not understand what I had done. It wasn’t until I discovered video tutorials and from practice on my own that things began to make sense.

    ( Reply )
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      Adam Everett May 14th

      You rock!

      ( Reply )
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    floral May 17th

    OHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! crazy Effect !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WWoWWoWWooooooooooooooooooooooooo;0 thanks :)

    ( Reply )
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    floral May 17th

    Really thanx…..

    ( Reply )
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    Evan Riley May 17th

    I absolutely love tutorials that don’t involve long periods of shooting footage. In fact I love making typographic videos and I love tutorials on them. I find them more fun to make, mainly because you can let your imagination do its work and do what you want.

    I would love to see more like this.

    ( Reply )
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    /// May 21st

    I don’t get it.. AT ALL.

    ( Reply )
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    vik May 23rd

    LOL so funny tutorial hahahha baLLS HAHAHHA BALLS nice video btw very educative

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    Mancunian May 28th

    Great job, thanks a lot. A bit long and philosophical for such an easy procedure but useful nonetheless.

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    brian May 28th

    cool tut…so dope u used family force five..they put on an amazing show

    ( Reply )
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    Johnny May 29th

    mate you are hilarious haha
    awesome tutorial aswell
    cheers hahaaa cant stop cracking up

    ( Reply )
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    domdel June 3rd

    Cool effect!

    ( Reply )
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    Pam June 6th

    Like this very much, however, your video stopped about halfway through, just after you were showing the camera. I am just starting AE and like that fact that you show us something, and let us recreat it in our own way.
    Don’t know if it was me or your video, I down loaded the tut, and watched it online and it stopped in the same spot both ways.

    Thanks for providing much needed information.

    ( Reply )
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    Nicholas June 16th

    How do i get that cc ball action please someone tell me….

    ( Reply )
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      Tiffany June 23rd

      It comes with every purchased copy of AE. It does not come with trial versions.

      ( Reply )
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    Tiffany June 23rd

    I love these tuts in discovering what the basic kit in after effects can do. Great work! Keep ‘em coming!

    ( Reply )
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    Sebastian July 1st

    I’ve used this one on a video for my graduation ball. Nice Effect…..

    ( Reply )
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      Sebastian July 1st

      well I’ve uploaded it for you guys and forgot to post the link…sorry :S

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTkkxLsMuTA

      ( Reply )
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    Micheal July 26th

    explanation = really confusing

    ( Reply )
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    Oscar Pires August 5th

    from portugal…..very nice and creative tutorial…thanks

    ( Reply )
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    Sara September 8th

    Amazing! and really funny too:)
    ahahah
    thanks Adam
    sara

    ( Reply )
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    Lauren October 7th

    great tut, i just have a quick question. how do i get the controller layer that he’s talking about? is that just a new solid? i’m not really understanding that part as i’m new to AE and he just quickly mentions that he’s controlling the rotation of the other layers with that layer. can anyone help me with that? big thanks to anyone that has a moment.

    ( Reply )
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      Adam Everett Miller October 7th

      Yeah, you create a null object, make it 3d. Then create your camera, if you don’t already have a camera. Before moving the camera at all, just parent it to that null object. Use that Null to control the movement of your camera. The null should be in the middle of your scene, so when it rotates, the camera (attached to it) should perfectly rotate with it.

      ( Reply )
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        Lauren October 7th

        Thank you for replying Adam. I really appreciate it. So just to be clear, did you rename the layer to Controller?

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