Create Handwriting Animations With Adobe After Effects CC

AFTER EFFECTS TUTORIAL: Handwriting Effect Tutorial! | In this tutorial we’ll use a mask and a path to complete this self-writing type effect in After Effects.

In this After Effects tutorial, we’ll place some text, trace over it using the Pen Tool, adjust the path, use a simple Trim Path effect and animate it to build out a handwriting effect. Lastly, we’ll use a track matte to mask the handwriting effect to any type that we want. Thanks for watching!

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Tutorial Recording Notes:

Disclaimer: these are the actual notes I used to record this video and are written in a language you may or may not understand. Hopefully, you find them useful or cool.

1. Background of comp #FCF8F2
2. Type out the word “Savage” using the typeface “Blacksword” at 500px and center align.
3. Fill text with dark color.
4. Grab the Pen Tool and strip away both fill and stroke and trace the letters as if this was writing out the letters
5. Turn on a stroke and fill it with #F40024
6. Open up the shape layer and find Contents>Shape 1 and set the stroke width to 35px or so and set the Line Cap and Line Join to the rounded option
7. Add a Trims Paths to this and animate End from 0% to 100% over the course of 4 seconds or so
8. Easy Ease this animation
9. Drag the text above this stroke layer and then toggle switches at the bottom of the layers are until you see the drop down menu and choose to Matte the layer above this which will mask the animated line to the shape of the type
10. Now adjust the positioning of the path that we just drew to keep lines and intersection as clean as possible
11. The absolutely best way for clean edges is to create multiple animations and multiple layers and multiple masks