Text Ramp
This quick tip will show you how to apply a Ramp effect to Text Layers while avoiding common problems that appear when doing so.
For those of you who didn’t face the ramp-on-text problem before here’s a brief description. After creating a new Text Layer we get all those handles and layer controls that suggest that the size of the layer is the same as the text itself. The truth is that it isn’t. It seems like After Effects is treating the text as a mask on a solid layer. Therefore when you apply the Ramp effect all the effects controls are relative to your comp size rather than the size of the text. The start and end of the ramp points appear on the top and bottom of the comp instead of on the top and bottom of the text.
Unless you’re planning to do more than one ramped text layer this may not be that much of a trouble. Simply reposition the points to suit your needs. On the other hand if you have a few ramped text layers you need to reposition the ramp points separately for each layer. This can be very annoying, not to mention how messy it gets when you start to animate the Text Layers position.
This quick tip shows you how to build a small preset that will not only fix that problem, but will also allow you to create complex ramps that consist of more than only two colors.
If you may think that using Layer Styles is the right solution than you’re probably right. It works, but it works only in CS3, not to mention the rendering time that is much longer than using the Ramp effect.
This is not a bulletproof solution, but it will get the job done for most of the cases. At least it worked for me more than a couple of times, and that’s why I found this worth sharing.
The font used in this tutorial is called Viper Nora. If you want you can download it from DaFont.com. Click here.
Download project file: TextRamp.zip (After Effects CS3 Professional)
Thanks, Maltaannon. What a great and useful effect. This tutorial has just given me an inspiration on a specific project. Keep these types of tutorials coming.
Frank C. said this April 30th, 2008 at 3:08
Thans Maltaannon.
Best tutoruial!!!
i from Brazil
Guilherme said this April 30th, 2008 at 3:26
Is nice to see you again Maltanoon, it`s hard work with expression, but at the end something works well…
from costa rica
CR Chis said this April 30th, 2008 at 5:27
so nice to find out another two exciting tutorials!
Keep on good work Maltanoon!
Cheers!
iori said this April 30th, 2008 at 10:45
terima kasih banget mas…..tutorialnya muanteeb tenan….
salam dari bali - indonesia
adi resana said this April 30th, 2008 at 11:42
Great tip, I’ve always had problems with ramps. Oh man, you just saved me so many pre-comps :D
Thanks alot. Great Tut…
Janus said this April 30th, 2008 at 14:17
sleek
Seth said this April 30th, 2008 at 16:35
He, this is relay great!!! Thanks a lot.
Rob said this May 1st, 2008 at 10:37
thanks,Maltaannon
i always wanted to apply the gradient to my text,but i had the same problem lie always
CalvinWood said this May 1st, 2008 at 20:04
I’m so fed up.. of these brilliant tutorials, so I felt I had to donate. Have a beer or two on me Maltaannon.
JPeacock said this May 2nd, 2008 at 9:23
woooooooo what a tut Genius-M, when more of these types will come, gr8 help for the ramp prob. Thnx a ton.
take care, mark
Mark said this May 2nd, 2008 at 18:23
Wo0o0o0ow Good job !!
hadif said this May 5th, 2008 at 9:40
i am studying
Dileep said this May 6th, 2008 at 15:39
very nice
Dileep said this May 6th, 2008 at 15:40
Awesome.. I’ve been wanting to figure out how to do this for years. Thank you!!
Jeff said this May 9th, 2008 at 6:20
may i just say AWSOME
brandon said this May 11th, 2008 at 6:37
Simplesmente demais!!!
Muito Obrigado, Bom trabalho.
Obrigado
RC Flash said this May 12th, 2008 at 0:26
hi plz help me where can i find your tutorial video ???
youness said this May 13th, 2008 at 15:24
Just click on the image.
Maltaannon said this May 13th, 2008 at 15:52
malt for president
LifesShort said this May 14th, 2008 at 2:26
[...] Text Ramp [...]
TGD said this May 26th, 2008 at 20:39
This link is bad. Anychance at a fix?
Thanks!
C said this June 5th, 2008 at 19:32
It should be working now. Sorry for the trouble. It’s because I just moved the site to a new server. Something got lost on the way.
Maltaannon said this June 6th, 2008 at 2:30
You can also just apply the ramp to the text and precompose it. Then you can move the new precomp around just fine without the ramp movng.
warriortree said this June 26th, 2008 at 20:08
Seems like you’ve missed the point of the tutorial, which was avoiding precomping. If you have just one or two text layers thats probably easier, but imagine having ten.
Maltaannon said this June 26th, 2008 at 21:14
I like your tutorials, but can you do it a bit slowly so we can exactly see whats happening? Sorry, but I don’t get some of those parts too. Can you find a way for my problems?
Sakthis said this July 10th, 2008 at 20:26