"Good work always takes effort." This. This is lost on so many people in so many aspects of life. Your tutorials are great and I always learn more than I was looking for. Thanks for always being amazing.
A line that almost got cut for time. :) I'm glad you're enjoying the tutorials. I'm always hopeful that I can get more than techniques across in the tutorial.
Thank you for this! It's great how you really break down your process and the tools you use without becoming too basic. Many of us understand the basic tools but sometimes just can't think of a good approach on how to solve a certain problem. Seeing what you do here is such an eye opener. Your tutorials are always helpful and inspiring. Many of your ideas stick with me and bring me to develop my own technique further because they keep generating and connecting even more ideas. I appreciate your work!
Amazing!!! I wish I had seen this video 2 months ago! But it's never too late. I just clicked that bell so I don't miss this treasure chests! Thank you!!! ♥
This tutorial was so helpful and very clear! I had been using generate stroke but was having trouble with those thick/thin lines and it would look wonky and I didn't know how to fix it until this video. Thank you!
OMG. I've been using Illustrator daily for 6 years and have never known about the shape builder tool..... These small nuggets are my favorite part about your tutorials.
Yeah, you can still do it with phatfinder window, but it will take more time. This is the first time I see the shape builder tool and I'm loving it. Thanks!
It's really depressing that this is as time consuming and complicated as 15 years ago. Good job Adobe! @ECAbrams thanks for the great tutorial that helps to tackle this frustrating (at times) task especially for novices.
Well, we only had masks and effects back them. At least the shape layer is an improvement ;) But seriously, we need to get more votes on features at the Adobe user forum if we want to see some change!
D'oh! I needed the second method last Thursday on a job.. :'( I couldn't hack it with the trim paths method and ended up with a messy draw on effect. Thanks for this! I'll remember it for the next job that requires it.
just discovered your channel today, you make awesome tutorials and your way of talking and explaining is just so calming and nice to follow, keep it up :D
Very nice! This is similar to the technique I've been using for a while which everyone says takes longer than using the write-on effect (and it does) but it looks SO MUCH better.
@@sebastianfischer1753 Im sure you could do it both ways but here he plots all his anchor points, masking it all and then keyframing the end and then just moving the end handles backward and keyframing each stop.
I think it's dope seeing that you have Overlord installed. I like using it to import vectors as native shape layers instead of using images or Illustrator layers as a comp.
I'm familiar with the echo method. It's mildly accurate and machine intensive. Still doesn't do much to clean up overlapping regions though. But it's not a bad or wrong thing. There are many ways to do many things. If echo works for you, maybe that's best for how you work. But, if we use a single path, even a variable width path made of echos, we'll still be fiddling about in the knots of the font.
Nice video! Couple little good tips I didn't think about in there. But you could break apart the logo the same way within after effects with masks and precomps
also for "describing the curve" dont make your anchor points right on the intersection you need but follow through, start and end your path ontop of the curve thats already there if that makes sense
Hey Evan. How would you compare this method against the built-in Write-On effect? Been using that for a minute, but this method seems like it gives more control, which I like a lot. Thanks for the informative videos you keep putting out!
Well, the write on, being an effect, is limited in how you can add or subtract from it. I don't find it very flexible or clean. Once shape layers came around I really stopped using it at all.
Sigh, turns out, no matter how you cut it, writing on scripty fonts is just work. Thanks for the extra tips, @ECAbrams! I do write-on animations a lot for text, so any extra advise is helpful. What are your thoughts about the "Generate Stoke" effect? It's similar to the trim paths, and is usually my go to, but it seems like you have a bit more control with the matting technique
I don't care much for the stroke effect. But that's my subjective opinion on it. It doesn't scale super well for my needs and it cant give me control in areas of significant complexity. After shape layers showed up in the app I kind of left the stroke effect in the bin tbh.
@@ECAbrams I agree. It seems like the technique you are using with matting does essentially the same kind of thing with more control. Thanks again for making this video, playing some catchup on your channel and REALLY looking forward to the style frames vid. Keep up the great work!
If masking each letter individually, how on earth do you control the overall speed of the write-on? (the speed changes from the start to end, or start to mid to end of the overall effect) That seems very complex because you don't have the overall control of say a trim path animation with an easy eay. It's a bunch of keyframes spread out over many letters.
There are a few ways. You might precompose and Time remap that recomposition. That's maybe the simplest method as it will treat the elements as footage while allowing sub frame retiming. If you want to do bulk changes to many keyframes, I recommend jumping into the graph editor with the bounding box on and using the various opt+click options. You can also stretch and compress groups of keyframes with this shortcut as well. I hope that helps.
@@ECAbrams Thanks, but I feel like I might be missing something with the last part there. I'm not entirely sure what the bounding box option is on the speed graph. When animating I've only ever used speed graph and then manipulating the handles. Is there something massive I'm missing here?
Amazing video! Excuse me, how do you reduce the vertex in the mask. 12:20 The first keyframe of the mask has less vertex than the others. I'm trying to do it, but I cant erase any vertex. How do you do it? Thanks for your help!!!!
You can remove points with the pen tool. But remember, the points need to exist to be animated. If we make new points on an already animated path, they tend to collapse to where they "might" have been animated to and from on subsequent keyframes. Generally I'm just bunching up points instead of trying to remove them as they become unnecessary in these animations.
I think Papyrus is going to be tricky because of how rough the edges are already. You may need to use a matte and boil up the edges with some displacement so it doesn't have a smooth leading edge? It is a tricky one to deal with in general though. For display fonts with lots of texture to them we really need to work more brush like methods I think.
@@msgraphicscientist5863 Do you mean "roved" or "roving" keyframes? As in the keyframes that rove or move across time based on their neighbouring keyframes? You would right-click a keyframe and choose "Rove Across Time". If that option is greyed out, that keyframe cannot rove. To ease only some selected keyframes make sure only some keyframes are selected when you easy ease them. You might also ease them with auto-bezier handles for smoother transitions of value. I recommend becoming familiar with the graph editor to better fine-tune the movement you want.
What is a good way to add some stretchiness to those letters as they write on? Like this Craft Fig logo animation: dribbble.com/shots/2354342-Craft-Fig-Studio
Ah the old stroke effect. It was one of few methods available to us till the mid 2000s. You may find it doesn't help you much in areas of overlap in a font, like the bar of a "t" for example. These methods here are meant to overcome the limitations of simpler methods such as poor scaling quality, overlapping regions, variable widths, and edge shape control. There are many ways to do just about anything in Ae. Ultimately, no one way is the best for all people in all cases.
Hands down the best AE tutorials on the internet. For YEARS. Shouts to the master
"Good work always takes effort." This. This is lost on so many people in so many aspects of life. Your tutorials are great and I always learn more than I was looking for. Thanks for always being amazing.
A line that almost got cut for time. :) I'm glad you're enjoying the tutorials. I'm always hopeful that I can get more than techniques across in the tutorial.
Breaking it up and the timing layer are the golden points.
I've been learning a lot from your tutorials, thank you for such elaborate and easy to follow videos!
Thank you for this! It's great how you really break down your process and the tools you use without becoming too basic. Many of us understand the basic tools but sometimes just can't think of a good approach on how to solve a certain problem. Seeing what you do here is such an eye opener. Your tutorials are always helpful and inspiring. Many of your ideas stick with me and bring me to develop my own technique further because they keep generating and connecting even more ideas. I appreciate your work!
Thank you so much! It's comments like these that really power me to keep the channel going :)
It's not just the depth of knowledge and mad professor skills... I could listen to this voice all day. (Especially the sound effects.)
Amazing!!! I wish I had seen this video 2 months ago! But it's never too late. I just clicked that bell so I don't miss this treasure chests! Thank you!!! ♥
What a smooth way to introduce your sponsor! Love your tutorials as always
This tutorial was so helpful and very clear! I had been using generate stroke but was having trouble with those thick/thin lines and it would look wonky and I didn't know how to fix it until this video. Thank you!
Finally... I was thinking the same thing with Illustrator, but you made it a lot more clear. Nice tutorial thanks!!
OMG. I've been using Illustrator daily for 6 years and have never known about the shape builder tool..... These small nuggets are my favorite part about your tutorials.
Ryan, shape builder is going to change your life! Put that pathfinder window in the trash because it is shape builders only from here on out!
Yeah, you can still do it with phatfinder window, but it will take more time. This is the first time I see the shape builder tool and I'm loving it. Thanks!
Now if we could only get clients to understand how in depth a "write-on" effect can be!! Hahaa!
I've wondered how people did this but didn't even know where to start to learn how. Nice one. :)
11:55 That backwards tip is gold!
Thank you, Evan! You're my ⭐
oh god that's all that I need for this technique thanks a lot
oh my gOD I've been struggling with this for 2 days and this tutorial is perfect!!! Thank you!!!!!
Glad it helped!
thank you so much for this especially the illustrator shape version. i had no idea i could do that! i love it
Love the guide layer for timing the whole piece 👍 Great idea.
It's really depressing that this is as time consuming and complicated as 15 years ago. Good job Adobe!
@ECAbrams thanks for the great tutorial that helps to tackle this frustrating (at times) task especially for novices.
Well, we only had masks and effects back them. At least the shape layer is an improvement ;) But seriously, we need to get more votes on features at the Adobe user forum if we want to see some change!
D'oh! I needed the second method last Thursday on a job.. :'( I couldn't hack it with the trim paths method and ended up with a messy draw on effect.
Thanks for this! I'll remember it for the next job that requires it.
Dang! Just a few days late. At least here's always a next time for write on effects ;)
just discovered your channel today, you make awesome tutorials and your way of talking and explaining is just so calming and nice to follow, keep it up :D
wow one of the best tutorial i've ever seen seriouly !
Very nice! This is similar to the technique I've been using for a while which everyone says takes longer than using the write-on effect (and it does) but it looks SO MUCH better.
Usually things that take longer, also look nicer. It's a crazy phenomenon right?
Been struggling with this for a couple of days. Thanks for the vid!!!
You’re welcome. Glad it helps.
Awesome video and great tip at the end, starting at the end keyframe and working backward. Thanks!
Sorry, but i do not get it! How is it easier to draw a bunch of handles backwards?! Please light me up - i would love to learn how...
@@sebastianfischer1753 Im sure you could do it both ways but here he plots all his anchor points, masking it all and then keyframing the end and then just moving the end handles backward and keyframing each stop.
@@iamtommyok Cool, thanx! I gave it a shot - and hell yeah you're right.
Love it, I was proceeding the same but you had me on chewing things up on Illustrator. Thank you for sharing !
I think it's dope seeing that you have Overlord installed. I like using it to import vectors as native shape layers instead of using images or Illustrator layers as a comp.
Thank you! Always willing to learn
Great tip! I've always hated writing on in AE, but this technique is solid and should alleviate some of the pain! thx for sharing!
That is great to hear! How were you doing your handwriting animations before? More cel style in Animate or Ps?
What a fantastic tutorial. Thank you!
Bingin with Abrams
This method is cumbersome. I saw another tutorial on UA-cam that did this exact thing with the help of echo effect. It was easy to follow.
I'm familiar with the echo method. It's mildly accurate and machine intensive. Still doesn't do much to clean up overlapping regions though. But it's not a bad or wrong thing. There are many ways to do many things. If echo works for you, maybe that's best for how you work. But, if we use a single path, even a variable width path made of echos, we'll still be fiddling about in the knots of the font.
allways useful insights your are aweosome man!
Great tutorial! I wish it didnt take me so long to do anything on ae, and most people dont even notice the effort...
Nice video! Couple little good tips I didn't think about in there. But you could break apart the logo the same way within after effects with masks and precomps
also for "describing the curve" dont make your anchor points right on the intersection you need but follow through, start and end your path ontop of the curve thats already there if that makes sense
Thank you for this tip. Makes it cleaner result.
Very informative, sir. The second method is really interesting. Thanks for the great work!
It's definitely worth the time to carve up the letters. It is amazing how that little prep time before animating can make a huge difference.
you save many lives ! Thank you sosooso much master! and im a big fans of your voice !^++^
AMAZING tutorial. :)
Always incredible.
Watching this video now and subscribing!
Hey Evan. How would you compare this method against the built-in Write-On effect? Been using that for a minute, but this method seems like it gives more control, which I like a lot. Thanks for the informative videos you keep putting out!
Well, the write on, being an effect, is limited in how you can add or subtract from it. I don't find it very flexible or clean. Once shape layers came around I really stopped using it at all.
thank you!
you are very welcome.
Thank you 🙏 so much teacher
You are very welcome.
Sigh, turns out, no matter how you cut it, writing on scripty fonts is just work. Thanks for the extra tips, @ECAbrams! I do write-on animations a lot for text, so any extra advise is helpful. What are your thoughts about the "Generate Stoke" effect? It's similar to the trim paths, and is usually my go to, but it seems like you have a bit more control with the matting technique
I don't care much for the stroke effect. But that's my subjective opinion on it. It doesn't scale super well for my needs and it cant give me control in areas of significant complexity. After shape layers showed up in the app I kind of left the stroke effect in the bin tbh.
@@ECAbrams I agree. It seems like the technique you are using with matting does essentially the same kind of thing with more control. Thanks again for making this video, playing some catchup on your channel and REALLY looking forward to the style frames vid. Keep up the great work!
If masking each letter individually, how on earth do you control the overall speed of the write-on? (the speed changes from the start to end, or start to mid to end of the overall effect) That seems very complex because you don't have the overall control of say a trim path animation with an easy eay. It's a bunch of keyframes spread out over many letters.
There are a few ways. You might precompose and Time remap that recomposition. That's maybe the simplest method as it will treat the elements as footage while allowing sub frame retiming. If you want to do bulk changes to many keyframes, I recommend jumping into the graph editor with the bounding box on and using the various opt+click options. You can also stretch and compress groups of keyframes with this shortcut as well. I hope that helps.
@@ECAbrams Thanks, but I feel like I might be missing something with the last part there. I'm not entirely sure what the bounding box option is on the speed graph. When animating I've only ever used speed graph and then manipulating the handles. Is there something massive I'm missing here?
Thank you!! This is awesome :)
After Effects ASMR!
Great content once again :)
Channelling my inner Bob Ross up in here.
Amazing video! Excuse me, how do you reduce the vertex in the mask. 12:20 The first keyframe of the mask has less vertex than the others. I'm trying to do it, but I cant erase any vertex. How do you do it? Thanks for your help!!!!
You can remove points with the pen tool. But remember, the points need to exist to be animated. If we make new points on an already animated path, they tend to collapse to where they "might" have been animated to and from on subsequent keyframes. Generally I'm just bunching up points instead of trying to remove them as they become unnecessary in these animations.
Great!
what about using the stroke effect?
I may have covered that in another video and people wanted more options so I did this one. It is a viable approach, yes.
I'd much prefer the second method. Comes out a lot more cleaner and organic.
Absolutely! Some people dislike opening illustrator though.
Hey Evan, as usually, great tutorial! Thank you very much for sharing!❤
Thanks for watching! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
It's the same way I made my Animate Logo. You can check the movement of his appearance in my channel
i thought you could do it with expression or trim paths right to the font or something
I would like to see such an expression. I would weep first for my many lost hours, then for joy at the hours I would not have to spend again.
btw the dot on the I is called a tittle
Everyone's a... diacritic? I could not resist an incredibly niche typography pun.
ECAbrams 😂
Hey Evan, would this work too for more detailed display fonts such as Papyrus? I've gotten it to work with Lobster, which is really nice!
I think Papyrus is going to be tricky because of how rough the edges are already. You may need to use a matte and boil up the edges with some displacement so it doesn't have a smooth leading edge? It is a tricky one to deal with in general though. For display fonts with lots of texture to them we really need to work more brush like methods I think.
@@ECAbrams thanks! That'll greatly help with this little gig I landed for the Avatar 2 title sequence
@@paulvansommeren Lol. Paaaapyruuuuus!
but, how to easy easy those keyframe? because its can't use rover cross.
You can ease any keyframe with F9 or through the menus. You might want to get into the graph editor and adjust the value curves.
@@ECAbrams but it will easy ease all keyframe. I need easy ease like rover cross. how can i do it?
@@msgraphicscientist5863 Do you mean "roved" or "roving" keyframes? As in the keyframes that rove or move across time based on their neighbouring keyframes? You would right-click a keyframe and choose "Rove Across Time". If that option is greyed out, that keyframe cannot rove.
To ease only some selected keyframes make sure only some keyframes are selected when you easy ease them. You might also ease them with auto-bezier handles for smoother transitions of value. I recommend becoming familiar with the graph editor to better fine-tune the movement you want.
@@ECAbrams thanks a lot, its work.
Why they still didn't introduce variable width strokes, having variable mask feathering, is beyond me. Thanks for the tutorial
While many times adding features nobody asked for...
What is a good way to add some stretchiness to those letters as they write on? Like this Craft Fig logo animation: dribbble.com/shots/2354342-Craft-Fig-Studio
Standart Effect - Generate - Write On - more productively than many-many masks
it is unusable and takes a lot of time, very difficult
Sorry you're having difficulty. Where are you getting stuck?
@@ECAbrams just watched. there is more easy way
. You can use a stroke effect. I think it's easier.
Ah the old stroke effect. It was one of few methods available to us till the mid 2000s. You may find it doesn't help you much in areas of overlap in a font, like the bar of a "t" for example. These methods here are meant to overcome the limitations of simpler methods such as poor scaling quality, overlapping regions, variable widths, and edge shape control. There are many ways to do just about anything in Ae. Ultimately, no one way is the best for all people in all cases.
Advise... Avoid "write Ons"
Why?
@@francofx I find it so confusing to do in AE. I just cant seem to get it the way a person would right. I am going to keep trying though