Customizing a Text Sequence Behavior
In this section, the Flare In behavior (from the Glow group) is used to show how to modify
a Text Sequence behavior.
The following steps begin at the first frame of the text.
To modify the Flare In behavior
1
Select the text object to be animated, then choose Text-Glow > Flare In from the Add
Behavior pop-up menu in the toolbar.
At the first frame, the text is not visible because Face opacity and Glow opacity are
animating from 0% to 100%.
2
Click Play (or press the Space bar).
The text characters fade in from 0% to 100% percent opacity, and sharpen from a blur
value of 10. A glow rides the effect in as the text appears.
3
With the Flare In behavior selected, open the Behaviors Inspector (if it is not open).
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The Inspector lists the specific text parameters used to create the animation (above the
Add and Remove pop-up menus). The sequence Controls are not disclosed by default.
Although most sequence Controls appear in the Flare In HUD, the Add and Remove
pop-up menus (and the parameters they affect) do not.
Note: In the Canvas, an editable animation path appears with the selected text. This is
because Sequencing is set to Custom. For more information, see
Using the Custom
Sequencing Option
.
4
In the Parameter row of the Behaviors Inspector, choose Format > Rotation from the Add
pop-up menu.
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A Rotation parameter is added to the sequence.
Rotation parameter
is added.
Tip: Because most preset text sequence behaviors are keyframed, it is often helpful to
see where the keyframes occur when customizing. In the Timeline, click the Show/Hide
Keyframes button. The keyframes appear on the behavior’s bar.
Keyframes
Show Keyframes button
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5
Move the playhead to frame 1, then click Record to turn on keyframing.
6
In the Behaviors Inspector, set the Rotation dial to 90.
7
Play the project (press the Space bar).
Because the Rotation parameter has only a single keyframe, the text remains static at
90 degrees.
8
Move the playhead to frame 30, and set Rotation to 0.
Now that you’ve set a second keyframe value, the sequence is animated.
Note: You can edit the keyframes in the Keyframe Editor. For more information, see
Keyframes and Curves
.
9
Return the playhead to frame 1 and play the project (press the Space bar).
As the project plays, the text rotates from 90 degrees to 0 degrees.
You can change the color or other attributes of the text glow by using the Glow controls
in the Style pane of the Text Inspector.