Text Reveal Behind Mask Problem

[Gutbucket62]

I'm trying to reveal text behind a moving object using a keyframed mask as seen in this tutorial: Text Behind Mask Effect | Adobe After Effects Tutorial - YouTube

The problem I'm having is that text reveals early, outside the mask. It spills over about a character and a half. See screenshot.

Any idea what I'm doing wrong and how to make the text reveal conform to the mask parameters?

Thanks!

[Rick Gerard · Accepted solution]

Rendering is happening in the order you see it in the timeline.

First, the source text is created, then the grouping is set, then fill and stroke are applied then Animator 1 is added, but we don't know what is going on there, then Animator 2 is added and it looks like it is controlling opacity, then the mask is applied, then some kind of effect has been added. I'm not sure what is going on but if you select the text layer and press the U key twice to reveal all modified properties on the layer you should see something that is causing the text to fade in. You can find it by turning things off or resetting values.

If you simply add a text layer, then add a text animator for opacity, then add a mask the text should be hidden behind the mask. I don't have time to experiment with a bunch of animators or effects to discover what may have caused your problem but I think you are making it much too complicated if all you want to do is reveal the text layer behind the red dress.

I probably would have placed a solid layer above the footage, set the blend mode to overlay and adjusted the color to give me a really good look at the edges of the red dress like this.

Then I would have animated my masks and used them for a track matte for the text layer like this:

I find it a lot easier to do roto by hand if you use colored solids with blend modes because you can very easily see the edges you need to work on and make adjustments with greater accuracy then you can any other way. The track matte can then be applied either to the text layer or used on a copy of the footage placed above the text layer. The best composite can and any light wrap or other enhancement can be handled in a more efficient way than trying to do the masking on the text layer. This also allows you to position the text layer or move it around without worrying about how the mask is going to have to be adjusted.

[Gutbucket62]

Thanks all. Being new to AE, I had completely over complicated the process.

[OussK]

It look like it's a mask feather issue, try to set mask feather to zero

[Roland Kahlenberg]

Disable the Text Animators and Effect(s) - then see if the issue persists. Let us know the purpose of the Text Animator.

Separately, you've enabled pixel aspect ratio correction when there isn't a need for the feature - disable it.