Recreate Superman title sequence style

[rickyj89135955]

What settings would you use to get that beam that comes off the letters to be smooth without using echo that can make them look choppy?  I'm talking about how the beam of light comes out towards the camera during the title credits.

Superman [1978] - Opening Titles/Credits Sequence (720p) - YouTube

[imeilfx · Accepted solution]

For stuff like that - Echo effect is the way to go - you have to set it up correctly and use with other settings/effects. Formula for me would be:
- transparent type (or shape) with only stroke visible - here- in character settings - also dependant on style that you wish to achieve you have to set the with of that stroke
- movement of your type in Z space (layer have to be in 3D
- echo effect (settings according to speed of movement that you have and exact style that you wish to achieve
- glow effect for building smoother effect and more "retro" style
- and (what is most important for hiding steps of echo - turn on motion blur for your ayer and comp

Bellow you can see effect with and without motion blur (as for settings of echo - those are just some random settings that gave me satisfying result, and default glow settings - I advice you to play around with those settings by yourselve.