… for Apple Motion

Tip #840: Simple – But Eye-catching – Text

Larry Jordan – LarryJordan.com

The Stencil Alpha blend mode fills text with whatever is below it in the same group.

I was playing in Motion the other day and discovered a fast way to add an eye-catching effect to text – in just a few steps.

In the screen shot, I placed an animated line (Library > Content > Lines > Bar 27) below some text in the same group.

NOTE: The text in this screen shot uses the Giza font.

To get the lines inside the text, select the text in the Layers panel. Then, apply Inspector > Properties > Blend mode > Stencil Alpha.

The Stencil Alpha blend mode fills text, or any object with an alpha channel, with whatever is below it in the same group.

Because many of the lines in Motion’s library are animated, this effect can create a variety of ways to fill text with animated lines and colors. Each more interesting than the next.

Simple to create, but eye-catching in the result.

EXTRA CREDIT

One you have the text filled, you can animate it further using text behaviors.