Adobe AFTER EFFECTS CS3 PROFESSIONAL User Manual page 529

AFTER EFFECTS CS3 523
User Guide
Specifies the use of a fill or stroke or a combination of both on the text. Fill Only fills the characters
Display Options
with a color. Stroke Only strokes the edges of the characters with a color. Fill Over Stroke overlaps the fill color onto
the stroke color. Stroke Over Fill overlaps the stroke color onto the fill color.
Size of the characters.
Size
Average distance between characters.
Tracking
Numbers use proportional spacing instead of monospacing.
Proportional Spacing
Text is composited on top of the original image. If Composite On Original isn't selected, the
Composite On Original
original image isn't visible.
Path Text effect
The Path Text effect lets you animate text along a path. You can define a path as a straight line, a circle of any
diameter, or a Bezier curve. You can also import a path created in another application, such as Adobe Photoshop or
Adobe Illustrator. The Path Text effect can work with nonsquare pixels, adjusting both character shape and path
shape accordingly.
Use text layers for greater control over text formatting and text animation. (See "Text" on page 272.)
This effect works with 8-bpc color.
Original (top left), after Path Text effect is applied (bottom left), and with Shape Type set to Bezier and Baseline Jitter and Scale Jitter values
increased (bottom right)
Note: If you use Adobe Type Manager (ATM) and large text looks blocky or doesn't otherwise render properly, increase
the Character Cache Size in the ATM control column.
When changing the shape of a Bezier path over time, make sure to create initial keyframes for all four path control
points; moving a control point without an initial keyframe doesn't move it over time. You may find it easier to
animate a path by modifying the motion paths of individual control points in the Layer panel.
Note: Handles appear in the Composition panel only if the effect is selected in the Effect Controls panel and if you aren't
animating text along a mask or path.
If you want to move a Bezier path across the composition, and you don't want to change its shape, animate the layer
rather than the path. If you want to stretch, shrink, or wag one side of the Bezier path while keeping the other half
in the same position, move a tangent-vertex pair together. To do so, create keyframes for both by dragging the outer
circle of the appropriate vertex.