Need help understanding how to work with PSDs in After Effects

[bzareenk]

Hi, 

I'm trying to work with my Photoshop file in After Effects. When I import my PSD, I choose the following settings:

When I open the composition, all the layers show up as PSDs, which is expected I guess but correct me if I'm wrong. In order to animate the text, I choose the layer that I want to animate (the one that's selected in the screenshot below) and then go to Effects & Presets > Animation Presets and choose the effect that I want but nothing happens. 

Is it because I haven't converted my PSD to editable text in After Effects? 

I tried doing that too by selecting the layer and choosing Create > Convert to Editable text but I lose the warp effect on my text that I'd applied in Photoshop. Why is that? Is it mendatory to convert to editable text every time I work with PSDs? If so, what are the limitations of doing this? Can anyone suggest the best practices or point me in the right direction while working with PSD's in After Effects? 

This is what happens to the text. It loses the warp when I convert it to editable layer

After Effects 17.5.1

Photoshop 22.0.0

macOS Catalina

Thanks.

[Mohammad.Harb]

You are right! This is because of converting Ps text layer to AE editable text.

Try text on a path in AE to simulate this effect

[bzareenk]

Thanks for responding! This makes applying effects in Photoshop useless, doesn't it? 

Should I not apply any effects if I plan to animate text in After Effects? 

[Guest]

Hi

This is the a solution I suggest you.

You can convert the text layer to editable text and create a mask path on it like below.

and in the layer perpertis >  Path Options, select your mask.

Excuse me, My english is a little weak 🙂

[bzareenk]

Thanks for the suggestion. That's what I thought I've to do. 

[bzareenk]

@Rick Gerard I wonder if you have any other suggestions. 

Thanks!

[Rick Gerard]

It is always best to finish any layer you want to animate in After Effects in After Effects. That goes for layer styles in Photoshop. Just do the plain text as a placeholder, then convert to editable text if you need to edit the text in AE or just leave the layer alone. 

The same thing goes for Vector artwork in Illustrator. You either need to finalize the effects, custom strokes, gradients, layer masks, blends, and other effects in Illustrator and then edit the layers or you need to keep everything in Illustrator basic, no brushes, no gradients, then you can convert the vector layers to shape layers and animate the paths or use Shape Layer animators. 

[bzareenk]

Thanks for your suggestions.