Hi and welcome to Just the Tip, no waffle, just that one trick you need.
I need a break from the longer form tutorials and this tip is a perfect quick resolution
to a long-standing problem. Adding a background to text.
Adobe have come up with their own solution and I’m in the planning stages of some tutorials
showing how to use Essential Graphics, but this option gives you a simple effects preset.
So, first thing we need is some text.
Go to the Text tool, click into the Comp window and type
Something
Now go to Effects ... Blur and Sharpen ... Fast Box Blur.
Set the Amount to 20.
Then go to Effect ... Channels ... Shift Channels.
And set Take Alpha from to Full On.
So the Blur is giving us an expanded edge and the Shift Channels fills in the whole
space.
The blur’s radius controls the size the of box.
But.. we’re not done yet. Obviously.
Go to Effect ... Generate ... Fill
And this gives us the coloured background for our text.
But to see our text, go to Effect ... Channels ... CC Composite
Which is a really cool way of bringing back a layer’s original look so that effects
appear on top. No wonder Chris and Trish Meyer describe it as “Instant Sex”.
OK - almost done. Go to Effect ... Matte ... Simple Choker
And use the Choke Matte to create a rounded radius - ~I’m setting it to 50.
And that’s it in the simplest form. Make sure all the effects are selected, and go
to Animation ... Save Animation Preset
But… here’s a couple of extra things you can do first.
I quite like a drop shadow, so my saved version includes that.
And I also like a Gradient instead of a simple fill.
So go to Effect ... Generate ... Gradient Ramp
And turn off Fill and drag Gradient Ramp into its place.
It’s good, but the Gradient Ramp is linked to the Comp’s coordinates, so if i move
the layer to the top of the screen it’s different to the bottom. Which is a cute effect,
but it wouldn’t be consistent.
So let’s use an expression to fix the ramp to the Text layer’s coordinates and width
and height.
Hold ALT and click on the Start of Ramp stopwatch.
And in the Expressions area type:
Y = transform.position
square brackets… 1
That gives us the layer’s Y position.
Then add
Plus
thisLayer.sourceRectAtTime().top;
Note the capital letters.
This gives us the top of the Text layer.
Then on a new line
Square brackets
Zero
Comma
Y
Which set the Start of Ramp’s position to the layer’s vertical position and as it’s
a linear ramp, I’ve left X to the side.
Now for the End of Ramp.
Hold ALT and click on the stopwatch.
And type
Y =
And use the Expressions pickwhip to link it to the Y value of the Start of ramp
Then type
Plus
And as before:
thisLayer.sourceRectAtTime().
But instead of top add height after the dot.
And don’t forget the
Square brackets… zero… comma Y
So we’re basing the endof the gradient’s coordinates on the start of the gradient plus
the height of the text.
And once you’ve saved that preset, all you ever need to do is add it to a text layer
and ta-da!
And if you’d prefer an image background, drag in your image t be underneath your text
Set it to use the Text layer as an Alpha Matte.
Turn your text layer back-on and set it’s mode to Add.
Now if that last step seems like too much faff - I get it. And that’s where Adobe’s
Essential Graphics come into use.
I’m currently working on a special batch of tutorials which includes Essential Graphics.
So you know… watch this space.
I mean, not exactly this space - this space will always only show how to make text boxes,
but you know… oh I’ve got it - click on this link.
Or that one…