After Effects: Creating the “Ride Over” Effect
- First you need to open up After Effects and start a new composition. Import the video that you would like to have animated and the text file that will have the name. click
- Next drag the video clip into the composition and make sure that it is centered. Take the text file that you will be using and drop it into where you want the rider to go over it. Make sure that the text file is a separate track from the video. click
- What you are going to want to do is set the timeline marker to the very beginning of the film (Shortcut: Home Key). After this, select the layer of text and go to your menu Effect => Paint => Vector Paint. A small eraser tool should appear in the tool bar, click on it. click
- Go to the first instance in which the rider or subject is crossing over the text. This is where it gets tedious. Erase the bit that the subject should be cover. If you see black smudges everywhere, don’t panic, it is normal. A good tip is to zoom in as close as you can to get the most detail and accuracy. click
- If you click off of the eraser tool you will notice that the text you had selected is missing in areas. From here you can erase as much or as little as you want.
- After this, move the marker to the next frame, using the arrow key is an easy and accurate way. This whole process is frame by frame such just do exactly what you did before but with the next section. Keep on erasing until everything looks right when you drag back and forth with the timeline marker. click
- If you are comfortable with what you are doing, an easy way to bypass looking for every bit of text, you can turn down the opacity of the text and erase the sections on the subject where you wouldn’t want anything to show up. When you finish that, just turn the opacity back on. click
- The process can get very boring after a while but practice makes perfect. Check and recheck for errors every frame. When you are finished, go to File => Export and save your file like any other export. click
- A good piece of work is one that you spent a lot of time on. Be dedicated and don’t get frustrated. You will be happy with what you end up with.
