Effects and Text Processing in After Effects

In this tutorial, you will learn about the various functions and options of the right side of the user interface in Adobe After Effects. The tabs for Effects, Paragraph, and Character are especially emphasized. These areas provide you with important tools to effectively design your projects and creatively edit text. Whether you want to create animations or achieve special text effects, after this tutorial you will be well acquainted with the most basic functions of the right side.

Main Takeaways

• The right side contains essential functions like Effects, Paragraph, and Character.
• You can easily add effects by dragging and dropping them into your composition.
• Text can be precisely aligned and formatted to achieve the desired look.
• The functions in the "Character" tab allow you to adjust fonts, sizes, and spacing.

Step-by-Step Guide

Exploring Effects in Detail

In the first step, we will look at the effects and presets. Among the effects, you can see a clear structure that helps you quickly find the appropriate effects for your projects. You will find similar parent categories, such as 3D Channels and Audio.

To add a specific effect, such as the Glow effect, follow these steps: Click on the desired effect and drag it by drag and drop into the preview window or directly onto the element layer of your choice in the composition window.

You will notice that the effect is immediately applied to your selected element. On the left side, you will find the effect settings that allow you to make fine adjustments.

If you wish to remove the effect, simply click "Remove" and the effect will be deleted. Another helpful function is browsing effects.

For example, if you type "Glow" in the search field, the results will be filtered and you can quickly find the desired effect.

Aligning Text

A particularly important part in After Effects is the ability to align text precisely. To do this, first select the text you want to edit. In the Alignment tab, you will find several options: You can align your text left, right, or center.

For example, clicking the left alignment button will align the text to the left side. Similarly, you can adjust the height of the text by aligning the text to the top, bottom, or center as well.

Experiment a bit with the positioning by moving the text to the desired location in the composition window.

Utilizing Paragraph and Character Functions

Now let's move on to the Paragraph and Character tabs, which offer functions you may already be familiar with from other word processing programs like Word. With the Paragraph functions, you can align the text as needed.

For example, if you expand the welcome text to a second line, you can see how your settings affect the text flow.

The Character functions in the next section offer even more customization. Here, you can change the font or style like bold/normal. Changing the text size is a simple drag-and-drop process, and you can also adjust the line spacing, increasing the gaps between lines.

These functions not only allow you to design the appearance of your text, but also amusingly adjust the tracking (the spacing between characters).

The ability to animate functions opens up completely new creative possibilities for you. For example, you could start with a specific tracking at the beginning of the composition and then dynamically expand it.

Special features of the drawing tools

In the drawing section, you have the flexibility to change the fill and outline of your text. For example, you can choose a red outline and adjust the thickness of the outline.

You can also easily determine which element (fill or outline) takes precedence. If you place the fill above the outline, the fill color becomes visible, whereas with the opposite setting, only the outline remains visible.

Try out this function to see how it changes the overall appearance of your text.

Summary

In this tutorial, you have learned the basics of the right user interface in Adobe After Effects. You can now add effects, align texts efficiently, and use drawing functions to enhance your projects. By skillfully using these tools, you are able to achieve professional and creative results.