I'm looking for the best way to animate a line that needs to match a text box length

[yash-lucid]

I'm trying to automate thousands of names to animate as if they were being typed in MS Word with a red underline under the name as if it were a typo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzWoEhqkYds

[Roland Kahlenberg · Accepted solution]

Here's a highly customizable effect I created; for creating a typing effect.

http://www.broadcastGEMs.com/typeonGEMs

As for the underline effect, you'll have to look into using either the sourceRectAtTime Expression Method or the newer Create Nulls from Path Script - but even then I'm not certain if it's the most efficient method, on its own. You'll have to combine the effect with the Type Tool's Text Animator, to ascertain which word in the text layer will be underlined. There is also the case of more than one word in a single text string having to be underlined.

You'll need to specify clearly what you want because scripting or writing Expressions works best when the problem is clearly and correctly stated - you've not provided sufficient details, to this extent.

I suggest you post your question in the After Effects Scripting Forum, after thinking more clearly what you want; especially in terms of what the line looks like and how you want the words to be identified, to be underlined and how frequent this underlining will occur..

After Effects Scripting

[Byron Cortez]

Hi bash-lucid, try this:

Go to the Animation menu / Apply Animation Preset...

Follow this folder path and choose this preset: Typewriter.ffx

Then go to the Animator 1, in Start you have to play with keyframes to set the timing that you want.

And go on with others text layers with the same steps.

I hope this helps you to do your project as fast that it can be.

Regards!

[Roland Kahlenberg]

The Typewriter Text Animation Preset does not have a cursor. The Wordprocessor Text Animation Preset does have a cursor but it's not very well put together because the cursor is mostly off - there is a timing issue with the code. Use the effect I suggested earlier for a more functional and accurate solution to the problem. BTW, my code is based on something I picked up on the Net, or it could possibly even be based on the WordProcessor Text Animation Preset code - can't recall cos it's been years since.