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1. Fit and Align Text

“Fit and Align Text” is a script included in the

Author Tools⁠

, which helps you create dynamic/responsive text that always fits inside the parent comp.

If the user inserts a text that takes up more space than the width of the comp, the expression will automatically lower the scale of text to fit. The same applies for height.

In order for the template to work in the online editor, every text layer must utilize either ‘Fit and Align Text’ or ‘

Sticky Text⁠

‘ (see below).

How to use:

Select text layer in the active comp;

Open

Author Tools⁠

;

Go to “Videobolt Text” tab;

Select “Fit and Align Text”;

Click the Run button in the Action Bar to execute the script;

In the ensuing dialog, choose the

Anchor Align⁠

, which should correspond to the placement of your text in the comp;

Click Apply.

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2. Sticky Text

“Sticky Text” is a script included in

Author Tools⁠

which helps you create a text layer which can “stick” onto another text layer that has

Text Fit and Align⁠

applied.

How to use:

Select text layer in the active comp;

Open Author Tools;

Go to Text tab;

Select Sticky Text;

Click the Run button in the Action Bar to execute the script. After Effects will report an expression error until you complete the next step;

Go to the Effects panel for the selected text layer, look under the “VB Text Stick” effect and change the ‘Parent’ to the text layer that you wish the current layer to stick to. Remember the parent layer must have Text Fit and Align applied;

In order to choose the placement of sticky text, choose a position from the ‘Stick’ dropdown (found in the same panel as the ‘Parent’ setting).

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3. Point Text ✅ vs Paragraph Text ⛔

In After Effects, there are two types of text:

Point text - created whenever you double click the text tool, or select the text tool and then click inside the composition.

Paragraph text - created when you select the text tool and drag an area inside your composition. Paragraph text has a box around the text which moves words to new lines and limits more text lines visibility which is useless when using

Author Tools⁠

All scripts which work with text found in

Author Tools⁠

are intended for use with point texts. Paragraph text is not supported.

In order to convert paragraph text to point text:

Select your text layer, then right-click on the highlighted text field inside the composition and select “Convert to Point Text”.

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4. Text Max Width & Max Height (Fit and Align & Sticky Text property)

Max Width & Max Height is a property present in both “Text Fit and Align” and “

Sticky Text⁠

” effects. The goal is to ensure text will never leave the screen.

By default max width/height is set to ‘Automatic’, which means that expressions will automatically resize the text to make sure it doesn’t leave the screen. Automatic will not account for overlap with other text layers.

NOTE: Automatic calculates the Max Width and Height values based on the size of the composition. It will not account for the placement of any other

Fit and Align⁠

Sticky Text⁠

layer found in that composition.

If you turn off ‘Automatic’, the boundary of the text layer will be defined by the values you put into Max Width and Height.

This can prove useful when you have multiple text layers inside a single composition (and want to make sure they don’t overlap) or there is a

Sticky Text⁠

layer attached to a

Fit and Align⁠

layer.

In order to make sure both multiple text layers always remain within the boundaries of the composition and/or avoid overlap, please turn off automatic and manually define the Max Width and Height parameters so that both layers display properly.

The default Max Width/Height values are 90%. This means that if text was to cover over 90% of the composition size, it will automatically shrink to fit.

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5. Anchor Align (Fit and Align property)

The anchor alignment defines where in the composition the text is placed, so that it is correspondingly expanded when the user input requires it.

For proper usage, simply make sure to select the anchor point corresponding to the text layer’s position in the composition.

If your text is on the left, we want the center-left to be the “anchor” point, so that text will grow to the right when this is required due to user input.

If your text is in the bottom left part of the comp, your anchor align should be set to bottom left.

If your text is in the top right part of the comp, your anchor align should be set to top right.

And so on...

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6. Text Paragraph Justification

Text justification (found in the Paragraph panel) is crucial to ensuring your text displays correctly in terms of it’s intended placement and purpose.

Justification can be set to left, center or right. These settings control which side of the text will be aligned.

Text justified to the left will display text in a straight vertical line along the left side of the text box, while the right side is jagged. The opposite is true for text justified to the right. Center will be jagged on both sides, and aligned down the middle.

Basic rules for choosing proper justification are:

If your text is in the middle of the comp (like a Tagline should be), set alignment to center.

If your text is in the left part of the comp, set alignment to left.

If your text is in the right part of the comp, set alignment to right.

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7. Text Leading

Text Leading is the vertical space between lines of text.

If you set it to be too narrow or too wide, the

Templater⁠

will warn you about the problem.

You can usually leave this on “Auto”, otherwise please make sure to adjust it properly.

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8. Font Size ✅ vs Text Layer Scale ⛔

The Scale property of the Text Layer must be set to 100% because some of the scripts use expressions which utilize the Scale Transform property.

In order to change the font size, please use the font size setting found in the Character panel.

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