Text Animation | The Odyssey Online
Start writing a post
Student Life

Text Animation

One of favorite projects from my Graphics & Moving Image class!

27
Holly Dechant

Recently in my Graphics and Moving Image class at DCAD, we had to do a text animation project. Simply put, we had to animate words! Furthermore, how we animated the word(s) had to represent or show the meaning of the word(s). How we did so was up to us to decide. The programs we could use were adobe Photoshop and After Effects. The only required must-use tool was the puppet pin tool in After Effects. Personally, I love abstract art. So naturally I wanted to try to doing something abstract in my text animation. I started to sketch up some ideas and storyboards right away.

At first, I planned to do a short simple animation of the word “darkness” where once I formed the word in the middle of a moving colorful frame the edges of each letter would spread out and expand to cover the entire frame in complete darkness. Fortunately, my teacher loved my idea! Unfortunately, he thought I should push myself to do more and somehow create a cohesive story with a beginning, middle, and end. I ended up thinking long and hard about this and eventually a light bulb went off.

I extended my idea of darkness by adding two more words into the mix. I decided I would start off with the word “light,” in which it would be fading in and out on a calm delicate white(ish) background for a short period. Next, I would have the word “color” form and spread out onto the frame in a unique and loud abrupt fashion, not to mention different bright colors for each letter. Color would flicker or sparkle for a longer time then light before pinwheeling and blending together. Lastly, the original idea of the word “darkness” would form in the middle of the blurred colorful background before each letter would suddenly start spiking out in many directions until it filled the frame with complete darkness. I was very excited about my idea and my teacher was on board too. My next step was to start drawing up on my frames in Photoshop!

In Photoshop, I prepared most of my frames that I would need before moving onto After Effects. The frames I did in Photoshop were different “sparkles” for the background of light, the letters of color, and the letters of darkness. In addition, I did each frame of the letters for color as they would form on screen. Doing so took an extremely long painful time to do but it would be worth it in the end! Technically speaking, I also did the forming of darkness but it was shorter as I just had dots very quickly condense into the letters. After spending about a week on my Photoshop files, next up was throwing them into After Effects.

Once I had all my files in After Effects, it was somewhat smooth sailing despite being absolutely time consuming. The easy part was simply dragging all my files onto the time line in After Effects and organizing them when and where they would appear; in addition, there was adding the text of the word light and darkness in appropriate fonts. The next step which would be a longer process — the adding of different key-frames for the change of opacity in the word light as well as all the different “sparkles” throughout the animation. Sometimes it was as easy as copying and pasting key-frames I had already done, but other times I had to switch it up and redo the frames for different parts. Following this step, I then tried out different blurring effects for the word color until I found the perfect spinning blur. Afterwards I started to use the puppet pin tool on the word darkness. I put about 8 to 15 pins into the edges of each letter. Then I had After Effects help me in adding automatic key-frames as I dragged the edges of each letter out across the frame in various directions making sure by the end the entire frame would be consumed with darkness. My last step would be editing, cleaning up, and trimming my work area to where I want it to end. When I was done and I played it back I was so relieved and happy to see that it turned out just how I wanted it to and then some. I couldn’t wait for everyone to see it!

On the day of critique, I was astonished to hear all good things with very few, if not any, bad remarks at all! I was tinkled pink with everyone’s praise but so excited to hear that they loved my project just as much as I did. After three to four long hard weeks of work, it was worth it to see the result. Honestly, I couldn’t even believe that I managed to pull it off. However, here it is! Done to near perfection if I do say so myself! I have chosen to share with you my silent version of this project, as my teacher and I both agreed it is the best version with more impact. I hope you enjoy my eight second text animation as it has become one of my favorites so far in my animation journey.

Report this Content
This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
Entertainment

Every Girl Needs To Listen To 'She Used To Be Mine' By Sara Bareilles

These powerful lyrics remind us how much good is inside each of us and that sometimes we are too blinded by our imperfections to see the other side of the coin, to see all of that good.

143415
Every Girl Needs To Listen To 'She Used To Be Mine' By Sara Bareilles

The song was sent to me late in the middle of the night. I was still awake enough to plug in my headphones and listen to it immediately. I always did this when my best friend sent me songs, never wasting a moment. She had sent a message with this one too, telling me it reminded her so much of both of us and what we have each been through in the past couple of months.

Keep Reading...Show less
Zodiac wheel with signs and symbols surrounding a central sun against a starry sky.

What's your sign? It's one of the first questions some of us are asked when approached by someone in a bar, at a party or even when having lunch with some of our friends. Astrology, for centuries, has been one of the largest phenomenons out there. There's a reason why many magazines and newspapers have a horoscope page, and there's also a reason why almost every bookstore or library has a section dedicated completely to astrology. Many of us could just be curious about why some of us act differently than others and whom we will get along with best, and others may just want to see if their sign does, in fact, match their personality.

Keep Reading...Show less
Entertainment

20 Song Lyrics To Put A Spring Into Your Instagram Captions

"On an island in the sun, We'll be playing and having fun"

35047
Person in front of neon musical instruments; glowing red and white lights.
Photo by Spencer Imbrock on Unsplash

Whenever I post a picture to Instagram, it takes me so long to come up with a caption. I want to be funny, clever, cute and direct all at the same time. It can be frustrating! So I just look for some online. I really like to find a song lyric that goes with my picture, I just feel like it gives the picture a certain vibe.

Here's a list of song lyrics that can go with any picture you want to post!

Keep Reading...Show less
Chalk drawing of scales weighing "good" and "bad" on a blackboard.
WP content

Being a good person does not depend on your religion or status in life, your race or skin color, political views or culture. It depends on how good you treat others.

We are all born to do something great. Whether that be to grow up and become a doctor and save the lives of thousands of people, run a marathon, win the Noble Peace Prize, or be the greatest mother or father for your own future children one day. Regardless, we are all born with a purpose. But in between birth and death lies a path that life paves for us; a path that we must fill with something that gives our lives meaning.

Keep Reading...Show less
Health and Wellness

10 Hygiene Tips For All College Athletes

College athletes, it's time we talk about sports hygiene.

31276
Woman doing pull-ups on bars with sun shining behind her.

I got a request to talk about college athletes hygiene so here it is.

College athletes, I get it, you are busy! From class, to morning workouts, to study table, to practice, and more. But that does not excuse the fact that your hygiene comes first! Here are some tips when it comes to taking care of your self.

Keep Reading...Show less

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Facebook Comments