To Animate The Source Text; To Animate Text With Text Animator Groups - Adobe AFTER EFFECTS 7.0 Manual

To animate the source text

Use the Source Text property to change and animate the character and paragraph features of the text characters
themselves (for example, change the letter b to the letter c). Because you can mix and match formatting within a text
layer, you can easily create animations that transform every detail of a word or phrase. For example, you can set
keyframes for the Source Text property to change the letters in a word, text color, font family, style, or stroke width
at different intervals.
Sequential frames in which source text has been animated
1 In the Timeline panel, expand the text layer you want to animate, and then expand the Text property.
Click the Source Text stopwatch to create an initial keyframe; then move the current-time indicator to the point
2
in time where you want the first change to appear and change the text characters or any of the options in the
Character or Paragraph panel.
See also
"About animation and layer properties" on page 188

To animate text with text animator groups

Once you create and format your text layers, use text animator groups to quickly and easily create elaborate anima-
tions. A text animator group includes one or more selectors and one or more animator properties. A selector is like
a mask—it specifies which characters or section of a text layer you want an animator property to affect. Using a
selector, you can define a percentage of the text, specific characters in the text, or a specified range of text.
Using a combination of animator properties and selectors, you can create complex text animations that would
otherwise require painstaking keyframing. Most text animations require you to animate only the selector values—
not the property values. Consequently, text animators use a small number of keyframes even for complex anima-
tions. For example, to animate the opacity gradually from the first character to the last, set the Opacity value (in the
Animator group) to 0, and then set the End (Range Selector property) to 0% at 0 seconds and 100% at the end of the
animation.
Animating the opacity of a text layer using the Opacity animator and the End Range Selector property
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