Tutorial: Using Shape Layers to Create Animated Lower-Thirds in Adobe After Effects CC
In this tutorial we'll look at using shape layers to create, customize, and animate lower-third graphics with Adobe After Effects CC 2015.
Choose Another Shape
Let's say that you don't want to use a rectangle. Maybe you're looking for another shape or style. Create a new composition. This time, select the Polygon tool (Figure 10, below).
Figure 10. Select the Polygon tool.
Draw the new polygon by clicking and dragging to the right (Figure 11, below). Now you can adjust the color, stroke, and other options just like we did for our rectangle earlier.
Figure 11. Our new polygon
Let’s turn this polygon into a triangle. To begin, ppen the drop-down options from the Shape Layer and then choose Contents > Polystar 1 > Polystar Path. Change the points value from 5 to 3 (Figure 12, below).
Figure 12. Changing the points value from 5 to 3 to create the triangle
Now, we have a triangle that we’ll use for our lower-third (Figure 13, below).
Figure 13. Changing from 5 points to 3 makes a triangle.
Let's reposition the triangle by choosing the Selection tool and moving it to our final on-screen location. Once we have our position, we can adjust the Rotation value by pressing the R key on the layer and then adjusting the value to 90. We can also adjust the dimensions of our shape by dragging the bounding box points around it. Now, let's add a stroke like we did in the earlier example. Open the Stroke drop-down options and change the width to 10.
Add Some Text to the Triangle
Finally, let's add some text to this lower-third. You can add the text here in After Effects or you can do this later on in your editing system after you've imported your lower- third. For the sake of time, I'll add some quick text in After Effects (Figure 14, below).
Figure 14. Text added.
Animate the Lower-Third
I'm designing this lower-third for a cooking show. I'm writing a step that is part of the recipe. The last thing I'll do is animate this entire lower-third. The nice part about keeping all of your assets in Adobe After Effects is that you can easily test and control different looks you're trying to achieve.
With the shape layer selected, I'll open the Position properties by pressing the P key, then I'll add a keyframe at 10 frames into my timeline. Once you're at 10 frames, click the stopwatch icon next to the Position values (Figure 15, below). Now, take your CTI and move it back to the beginning of the timeline. Adjust the Y value, so that the shape starts below the screen. You can move your CTI back and forth in the timeline to see the animation you've just applied.
Figure 15. Click the stopwatch icon to set a keyframe.
Let's go to 15 frames in our timeline. Now, let's animate our text. Select the text layer and press P. Press the stopwatch button to add a keyframe at this point. Next, move the CTI to around the 7th frame in area. Now, drag your X property value to the left until it goes off-screen. Move the CTI back and forth to see the animation you've created. You can see this animation at the 5:48 mark in the video below.
You can continue to adjust all of these parameters to your liking. The cool thing about creating lower-thirds out of Shape Layers is that you have complete control over your shapes, colors, sizes, movement that can all help you create a customized look for your videos.
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