Create dynamic title animations in After Effects using techniques like Linear Wipe and multiple text animators. Learn how to structure your project with imported elements, shape layers, and track mattes for professional motion graphics results.
Key Insights
- The animation uses the Linear Wipe effect with a -90° angle to animate a line drawing on screen over a 10-frame span, serving as a visual guide for accompanying text.
- Text animation is executed with two separate animators: one moves text vertically into position, while another sequences the appearance word by word using the Range Selector set to "Words."
- The project combines elements created in After Effects with imported Illustrator assets, and leverages track mattes to create smooth text reveals in a structured starter file provided by Noble Desktop.
Note: These materials offer prospective students a preview of how our classes are structured. Students enrolled in this course will receive access to the full set of materials, including video lectures, project-based assignments, and instructor feedback.
We're going to go to 4B. Okay. So this is the title animation folder.
It has a starter file that will open where basically things are just already built, by the way. And the preview movie for this title animation is that. Now, by the way, in the Premiere class, this is actually, we import this file in Premiere so you can see that you can import an After Effects composition.
Basically, I don't care about the city in the background, the street in the background. I care about this, that line appearing. That line is just a line.
It appears by animating the linear wipe effect. We use the effect before we didn't animate it, okay? The text is text that animates up with a Animator. It's kind of cool, by the way.
But there's a little settling overshoot animation with this, if you notice it. So it bounces up a little bit. But I think I want to make it bounce up.
And then Accuse Me kind of writes itself on like it's being drawn on. So what did it, and then the background is animating up. Okay, so the background animating up, by the way, is just a position animation in the background.
That's all it is, okay? It fades in and basically moves up. The line is linear wipe. The text before you is two animators.
I said you could have multiple animators. Accuse Me is an effect called Write On, which we'll do tomorrow. Okay, if I want to do the line, I want to do that before you.
I don't have enough time for this. If I open that starter file, the projects, it just has everything laid out so it's less trouble. That's why it was there.
Because the things in here, they're not like straight imports. They're like different places. So it was the title animation, starter file there.
Okay, I'm going to save as my name title, okay? So that's a shape layer. It's literally made by taking the pen tool, turning off the fill, click, click, straight line. The mat is a solid like we did, and it's going to be used to reveal before you.
Okay, it becomes a track mat for that. Before and use text layer for space you, okay? And the letters are actually imported from Illustrator. So it's a starter file because typically it's from a different place.
Some of the stuff is made here. Some of the stuff is like literally imported from Illustrator. So that's awesome, okay? Now, the linear wipe, this is part one.
Okay, animating with the linear wipe effect. So all it is, is effects and presets, linear wipe, not in presets, in transition, apply to the layer, okay? Its direction is set to negative 90. Am I lying? No, it's negative 90, I'm right.
Because you want the line to appear 100% completion. Line is hidden. And then you would basically just animate it.
It's, oh, sorry, one second. Yeah, the other timeline. So basically key frame, I'll press U to show the key frames.
And it's just 10 frame animation. So it draws stuff on. That's all it is.
Okay, that's all it is. Now, animating text with multiple animators. The next part of this, before you.
So by the way, before you, it's gonna basically animate up past the line. And then it's gonna animate into the position of the mat. By the way, if you notice, it's designed to overlap it like that.
So it'll basically look like it's appeared when you turn on the track mat feature. Okay, to animate this, it basically adds an Animator for position, like that. I'm gonna rename the Animator.
Right click, rename, text enters. So I'm gonna need two of them. So calling Animator one, Animator two would be confusing to me.
So I'm gonna call it text enters. Okay, I'm gonna take the position and push it so it's down below the line, like that. Okay, the instructions say 150, but I mean, whatever, it's down below the line, it's fine.
Okay, what it then wants you to do is animate from 10 frames. So the line comes in, the text is gonna come out, the range selector. So animate start, okay.
And it basically gives you like a, up to one second to end, okay. It's always nice. And then this is what happens.
Okay, and again, it's not hitting me yet because there's no track mat effect. If you wanna add the track mat effect, you could, but then you wouldn't be able to see it as you're building it. So maybe you probably don't wanna do that, okay.
Now, it's supposed to be word by word. Word or line by line, I'm sorry, won't say. Range selector, start, start, start, start, start.
And here's different, here's, environments. Okay, I'm actually adding a second one. Wait, I'm just checking something.
It's supposed to be based on the words. Okay, so by the way, I'm just gonna change the range selector to words, events, so it's words. It tells you to do that later, but I'm gonna do it first.
Now it pops up word by word. Okay, it's not bad. Okay, here's what I'm gonna do.