… for Apple Motion

Tip #447: Move Text Along an Unusual Path

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

Any shape can form a path for text to travel around the screen.

This article is an excerpt from an Apple KnowledgeBase article.

Most of the time, we want text in Motion to travel in a straight line. But, when you want that text to take strange shapes, Motion makes it easy. Here’s how to use a shape as a path for text.

1. In Motion, import or draw the shape you want to use as the path source.
2. Select text in the Layers list, canvas, or Timeline.
3. In the Layout pane of the Text Inspector, click the Layout Method pop-up menu, then choose Path.
4. In the Path Options section of the Layout pane, click the Path Shape pop-up menu, then choose Geometry. The Shape Source well appears in the Inspector.
5. From the Layers list, drag the shape into the Shape Source well.
6. When the pointer becomes a curved arrow, release the mouse button.
7. A thumbnail of the shape appears in the well and the shape is used as the source shape for the text path.

NOTE: You might want to disable (deselect) the original source shape in the Layers list so it’s not visible in your project.