Alphabet Soup
A Suite of Custom AfterEffects Presets
Alphabet Soup
Alphabet Soup explores text preset possibilities within the array of AfterEffects text animators, inspired by the expressive movements of ordinary things and the natural world.
The spinning circular movement of stirring soup. The swirling of cream in a steaming cup of coffee. The flitting of fireflies at night. Rain dripping into a puddle. The rhythmic, soothing movement of water. The subtle cadence of a mind in meditation.
Custom Presets Demos
Coffee With Cream . The swirling of cream in a steaming cup of coffee.
Firefly The flitting of fireflies at night.
Water. The rhythmic, soothing movement of water.
Raindrops. Rain dripping into a puddle.
Zen. The subtle cadence of a mind in meditation.
Behind the Scenes: Designing the Animation
From my observations I make sketches of the characteristics of a movement, the path it takes, its speed and variations. Then I refine the lines, patterns and paths into animating possibilities, combining action with timing and position.
Bringing It Into AfterEffects
The first step is setting everything up. Adding layers of text to a timeline, choosing typeface, scale, color, background and timing settings and importing assets.
Then I lay out a basic motion path. I adjust it as I go along by trying out combinations of properties and selectors.
Properties include position, scale, skew, rotation, spacing, offset, value, range, and blur.
Selectors include mode, amount, units, range selection, start/end, offset, shape, amount of smoothness, ease high or low, random order, max/min variations, revolutions and degrees, correlations, and wiggles.
The key is to recombine properties and vary selectors in multiple configurations.
Workspace panel in AfterEffects showing text animators and selections for Firefly
Creating Demo Videos
To create a demo video of each completed preset, I use PremierePro to layer the animated text over a background video.
Each demo becomes part of a library of movements I can apply to any project.
Creating the demo video in PremierPro.
Applying the preset to other projects
The movement of letters in the alphabet pasta of Alphabet Soup worked perfectly to simulate the movement of swirling cream in the Coffee With Cream title animation.
Applying Alphabet Soup preset to Coffee With Cream animation.