Known Participant

Question

Problem with "Create Mask from Text" - Text isn't completely filled out

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
March 10, 2022
5 replies
3061 views

Hi there,
I have a problem with "Create Mask from Text", as can be seen in the first picture, the text is not completely filled out. As can be seen in the second picture, this is what it looks like when I enter the text normally. I need the mask from the text to be able to apply a pattern/texture from Photoshop to an animated text.

The mode in the mask for each letter is set to "Difference" by default, so it doesn't always work that the letters are displayed correctly when the mode is changed. But either way, that wouldn't be the solution, because I don't want to change each letter individually in a long text.
Does anyone know any helpful advice to make the mask look like the second picture?

Thanks

This topic has been closed for replies.

Kyle Hamrick

Community Expert

When you say "animated text," are you meaning that each individual character is animated separately? If the full word is moving as a single object, you're definitely making this more complicated than it needs to be. If you are animating individual characters, converting these to masks certainly doesn't seem like it will make things easier.

From my reading of your original question, simply spending a little time learning what the different Mask modes do is really your answer here. Using Auto-Trace is adding an unnecessary step (and messing up your outlines, as you've seen). Using a combination of Add and Subtract modes, and possibly rearranging the order of the masks slightly, seems like it should get you where you're wanting to be.

If these suggestions don't seem like they're the answer for you, providing more context - like showing us the actual pattern you're trying to include, the movement you're trying to create with your text, and describing exactly what you're trying to achieve - would probably help us give you better solutions.

R

raffaelac17385560Author

Known Participant

Thanks very much!
Yes, I'll explain, so I created a "style" in Photoshop, a "medieval" text. (see screenshot) So that I don't have to save each text I need as an image in Photoshop (and I also need text animation), I have to move the whole thing to After Effects. Then I came across the already mentioned video, which I already linked, which helped me on how to import and use this created "style" on a text in After Effects as well. The layer style is imported, but not the pattern overlay. So, as he says in the video, I need to create a shape layer in Photoshop first, with the "style" on it. Then save it, import it into After Effects, then I create a text. He does “Create Mask from Text”, in my case I have to do “Create Shapes from text”, otherwise there will be overlaps in the words again. Then this mask of the text is copied onto the Shape Layer Photoshop file. That's why I need the mask after I've converted the text to "Create Shapes from Text". So that the pattern overlay is also on the text.
Since the pattern is not fixed on the text, the solution would be the Auto-Trace method, as mentioned in his video, where a mask of the animated text is then created, and this mask is then copied to the PSD layer, where that pattern is on it.
I hope I was able to describe it clearly. I just need a simple, fast workflow. Since I also want to apply the Text Effect Typewriter, and I don't want the pattern overlay to be unfixed to the animated text, because there is also scaling involved. So I mean whole words, of course, not individual letters that are animated. Since I need a lot of text layers that are displayed for my Premiere Pro project, I want to keep the process as simple as possible, maybe there's a way?
Thank you very much in advance!

Kyle Hamrick

Community Expert

Gotcha.

There are a couple After Effects features that will help you do this while keeping fully-editable text. The short version is that you sometimes have to think about structuring things differently when they're going to be animated. We can utilize a handful of After Effects features to get what I think you're after, several of which I've conveniently already made videos about!
Track Mattes (as suggested above), Blending Modes, and Parenting

To learn more about the PS-to-AE aspects of this workflow, what carries over and what doesn't. Pattern Overlay is one of the few aspects of layer styles that doesn't carry over properly.
Prepping Photoshop Files for After Effects
Importing Photoshop Layers into After Effects

Here comes another post with my suggestion of how I would build this.

R

raffaelac17385560Author

Known Participant

Auto-Trace seemed to be the easiest option, but unfortunately Auto-Trace does not directly trace the same writing and “swallows“ curves and other things, as I was able to determine afterwards. Maybe someone knows what other options there are to convert a text shape layer to a mask..
Thank you very much in advance!

R

raffaelac17385560Author

Known Participant

Got the solution, after applying "Convert Shapes from Text" then to "Auto-Trace", then a mask is also created and there are no overlaps in the text, thanks for the help here! 🙂

Kyle Hamrick

Community Expert

This isn't directly an answer to your question, but what you wrote above makes me wonder if there's actually a different solution to what you're actually asking.

You can use the live/native text as a track matte for any other layer, saving you the step of converting it to masks (and thus losing the ability to edit it easily).

Here's a video (of me) explaining how this feature works: https://youtu.be/IV0UQNnOUm4

R

raffaelac17385560Author

Known Participant

Thanks very much!
However, I have already created "styles" via Photoshop, which simplifies the workflow for me when I do text animations.
At around minute 4.30 in this video, this is well explained:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNIgdXrp_i8

There really aren't that many tutorials about “Importing Photoshop Layer Styles” with text animation.
But my problem is that there are no overlaps/intersections in the text. Maybe after using "Convert Shapes from Text" you can make a mask out of it like "Create Mask from Text"?

Really a bit complicated, but maybe there is a solution?
Many thanks!

R

raffaelac17385560Author

Known Participant

For example, if I change the mode of the letter "l" to "add", then it works, then it is filled out normally. So when selecting a letter individually, it usually works (see image 1), but if I want the workflow to be faster, with a long text for example, and select "Add" for all letters, then it looks like the second image ... unfortunately I don't know how to simplify this...

Jose Panadero

Community Expert

You can try to use the "Convert shapes from text" command. This way, you will get a similar result. Then add a Merge Paths operator to the shape layer and change the mode to Exclude Intersection. See attached image