How To Draw On After Effects

Create authentic-looking text that writes itself onto the screen by post-obit this After Furnishings tutorial.

A hand-fatigued blueprint aesthetic tin make your video text appear trustworthy and personal. If you lot're creating a YouTube video introduction, making an animated version of an existing logo, or simply hoping to turn your signature into a name that writes itself, information technology'south handy to know how to create text that writes on in Later on Effects.

In this case, we'll be applying the result to text in a handwritten-manner typeface. Even so, once you lot know how to follow these steps, you can hands use the aforementioned procedure to draw on whatsoever element in a video. Y'all can use it on any font or any doodle with a consequent line width.

Create your text.
This tutorial volition work with any sort of text. You tin can begin by typing your words in any font, but a typeface reminiscent of handwriting volition give the near authentic terminal consequence. To do this, click on the text tool (), draw on a big box, and adjust the settings in the character window until yous accept the desired font, size, and spacing.

For this tutorial, I am using a font chosen "Rockness" with a size of 200 on a blue canvas that is 540 past 360 px.

You can also use an image of your own handwriting, if you've created an illustration or signature in Illustrator, Photoshop, or even a piece of paper. For this choice, a .png with a transparent background volition probably work best.

In one case your text is created, it's fourth dimension to get started.
Apply an effect called "stroke".
In the effects and presets panel, select an effect from the "generate" folder called "stroke." Elevate it to the text layer y'all created in Footstep Ane. (You tin learn more about stroke, and the other generate effects, past checking this handy guide.)
Type "stroke" into the search bar to find it faster.
Using the pen tool, create masks in the shape of each letter.
With this same layer selected, click the pen tool and begin drawing lines that follow each segment of the text. If your text is in cursive, information technology is okay to use one line/mask for the entire word. Piece of work in club from the beginning of the discussion to the end, making sure to make separate lines for the crosses on T's and dots on I'south.
Hold down your cursor to create a curved line, like I did for well-nigh of the messages above.
If you accidentally draw your masks in not-sequential order, elevate the mask layers in the timeline window to put them back in society. This will be important subsequently.
Suit the stroke thickness until the font is covered.
Open the issue panel to see the settings for the stroke effect nosotros applied in Pace Two. In this console, brand sure the "all masks" and "stroke sequentially" boxes are checked. Then, select a crazy colour for your stroke—this will be invisible, then but choose something that makes information technology easy to see.
To brand information technology easier to see, I am using this lime green color as my stroke.
Now begin increasing your stroke width until all of your text is covered. Y'all want it to exist as thin as possible while still concealing every letter. You lot may accept to arrange your masks using the arrow tool.
Increase the stroke width until the text is completely covered.
Set the paint manner to "reveal original epitome". And then, add together your keyframes.
One time your mask path looks practiced, modify this setting in the upshot window. In the timeline, prepare "Cease" to 0 and hit the stopwatch. So, move the playhead to the point in your composition where you would like the text to have completed drawing on. Type "100" into End.
In this example, the drawing begins at the showtime of the composition and finishes effectually 4 seconds later.
Optional: Edit the paths to remove any unwanted "limbs".
Y'all may observe that letters with intersecting pieces that create tiny bumps I like to call "limbs". Sometimes, this problem can exist fixed by using more authentic masks and a thinner stroke width.

If the trouble persists, it might be helpful to break problematic letters into split up segments. Catechumen your text to a .png and save the main stem of the letter from the limb part—for example, separating the cross from the stem of the T or breaking a B into a stick and ii bumps. It might be deadening, but for curt words that only contain a few letters, the divergence is worth the added fourth dimension.
You're done! Write on!
After following these quick steps, you lot should take completed the tutorial. Elevate your playhead to the beginning of the timeline and printing the spacebar to preview the blitheness.

You can create a clean transition by having the text write off, too. If you would like the text to draw off from left to right, use "start" keyframes from 0 to 100. If you would like the text to depict off from right to left, like I do below, use "end" keyframes again in reverse, from 100 to 0.