need help with auto trace

[spencer5FCA]

I'm trying to add the simple saber glow effect to some text on transparent background. I wanna animate the first letter with a red glow that outlines it. I have been able to do it a million times before but now when i "autotrace" it literally just autotraces a circle. Any help? Could it be because I'm using autotrace on a precomped layer?

[ShiveringCactus]

In the twooo.png, that looks right Rotobrush to me and not Auto-Trace. 

Perhaps a better solution to either would be to use Layer > Create > Create Masks from Text or can you just add Saber to another layer in the precomp and choose Text Layer as a the Core type?

If you have to stick with Auto-Trace, see what happens if you adjust the channel from Alpha to another one.  That might shed some light.  If you still have no luck, try duplicating your text layer, solo the copy, remove any colouring and then run auto-trace.  Once traced, you can delete the duplicate.

[spencer5FCA]

aight thanks lemme try. u think the issue could be cuz its a its a transparent background?

[spencer5FCA]

oh also its not text i made in after fx. i copied the official text and logo from the website then photoshopped it to make it transparent to bring into after fx to add to an intro clip

[spencer5FCA]

so its an image not text so i'm guessing that removes the "from text" option right?

[ShiveringCactus]

Hmm, so in theory the auto-trace with Alpha channel should have worked.  Are you able to share the logo here and I can take a look later today?