Gleam 2: Gleam Behind Words
 |
|
This effect creates the appearance of light shining behind text (or an object), giving it a genuine faux 3D look. You've seen this one before too, now you can create it.
Note: You can do this with even faster with CC LightSweep, part of Cycore FX and included in Adobe After Effects Professional.
Instructions
- Create a new comp - 320x240, 2 seconds long, 30 fps.
- Create a solid in the comp (Layer>New Solid) and call it "Text Layer". Make this new solid 320x240.
- Use the basic text filter to create your text on the "Text Layer". (If you decide to use text that you have imported from another program, make sure that your text file has an alpha channel).
- Duplicate your text layer. The layer on bottom will be your alpha matte layer for the glow, the top layer is your text that you will see. You can rename the bottom layer "Text Alpha" to make things easier.
- You can add a nice bevel or drop shadow or anything you like to your bottom text layer. Make it pretty! Move the position of this layer a pixel or two to the left and two pixels up.
- Create a new solid and make it white, about 80 pixels wide and 200 pixels tall. Call it "Glow". Make sure the "Glow" layer will be the bottom layer in your comp, so drag it to the bottom..
- Double click the "Glow" layer and the mask comes up. Use the rectangle tool in the tools palette to draw a mask. You want the left and right sides to be cropped.
- With the "Glow" layer selected, hit the F key - the shortcut to feather your mask. Set it to 30. You only need to feather the horizontal.
- Go to frame 1 of your comp and drag the "Glow" layer's position to the left of your text. Set a keyframe. Go to the last frame of your comp and drag the glow layer position to the right of your text. A keyframe will automatically set.
- Set the track matte (TrkMat) of the "Glow Layer" to Alpha Matte "Text". As soon as you change the track matte settings, the top text layer will no longer be visible (the eye will turn off).