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Adding Text

To work with text in Autograph, you'll need to add a Text Generator which will be used as the layer source.

One way of adding this Generator is to click on the "+" button at the top of the Timeline and select Text.

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We'll see later that there are other ways of creating a layer that produces text with the Text Tool.

Text Panel

When this text layer is added, a new panel will appear that is located as a tab, next to the Project Panel by default.

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If this panel isn't visible, you can locate it in the Panels menu, and like any panel, it can be moved around the Workspace, for example, to place it under the Project Panel.

If it were hidden or closed, it would also automatically reappear when a text is selected.

The content of this Text Panel is updated according to the current selection, as explained in more detail in this section

Differences with Text Layers in After Effects

To keep things simple, here we'll use the term Text Layer. But unlike After Effects, where a Text Layer is a very specific type of layer, in Autograph it's no different from any other layer using a Generator.

Like all Generators, it is designed so that its quality does not diminish with multiple transformations.

You can also substitute its source with any other Generator or connection to a reader.

Using the Text Tool in the Viewer

Another way of creating a Text Layer is to use the Text Tool, available on the left of the Viewer.

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By clicking on this tool, then in the composition space, a new Text Layer will be added to the composition, based on the parameters defined in the Text Panel.

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Note

To quickly switch to the Text Tool, place the mouse cursor over the Viewer and press W.

Selecting a Text Layer

There are several ways of selecting a Text Layer:

  • Using the Select and Transform Tool, press T with the mouse over the Viewer
  • Using the Text Tool, press W with the mouse over the Viewer.
  • By selecting the layer in the Timeline.

When using fine fonts, the Select and Transform Tool can make text selection difficult, forcing you to click on an area in which the Alpha value is greater than 0.5. It is therefore recommended to choose a selection method based on Bounding Boxes.

When using the Text Tool, the text Bounding Box is used for selection. Simply hover over a text to see it appear.