What style of animation is the text?

[Team Castle]

I am learning about looping and came across this video where it shows the text, "looping/dynamic background" enters from the right, animated letter by letter, pauses as it comes together, then exits left, each letter moving independetly. How do I animate text like the intro and what is the style called? Is it a script or use of a pick whip? Thank you for your input.

Video:

Looping Dynamic Background animation After Effects Tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATPNytywDa4

[Rick Gerard]

You can do that by simply adding a tracking animator and then animating the layer position. Something like this:

[Team Castle]

Hey Rick, I appreciate the response, as simple as I would like to think it is to just add a tracking animator, I did just that…but seems like there is more to it, I’m not a pro, so bear with me. I started a new composition and placed text on the canvas. I animated the position with four keyframes. The first position keyframe, offscreen right (0 sec mark). The second position keyframe, center screen (1 sec mark). The third position keyframe, center screen but two seconds later on the timeline (3 sec mark). The fourth position keyframe, offscreen to the left (4 sec mark). This creates an off screen, to center screen and hold, and back off screen to the left, animation, just like the example YouTube video. However, I noticed you had a fifth position keyframe, what keyframe am I missing regarding the position? I only have four keyframes for position.

I then selected “Animate” and chose “Tracking” under the options. I noticed you had changed a few of the advanced options in the screenshot, so I mirrored those options; changed Based on “Characters Excluding Spaces”, Shape is Ramp Up, Randomize Order is On, Tracking Type is After. You had four Offset keyframes. I placed the first Offset keyframe at 0% (0 sec mark), the second at 100% (1 sec), the third at 100% (3 sec), and the fifth at 0% (4 sec). I was not sure what % you had the keyframes at, starting, ending or the middles keyframes. I switched the % around but nothing worked for me. I could see the range selector moving around, but the letters have not changed at all, just the same position animation, from right to left. Reproducing it over and over, staring at your screenshot, but no effect for me. It appears I missed something small in the details. I also noticed, you had the “Random Shuffle In” effect on the right-hand side, did you add that to? I could follow a quick screengrab video of you doing it, but a screenshot is tough to reproduce, I hope you understand, and thank you. I also dropped in my AE test file.

[Ali Jaber]

I've adjusted some parameters within your ae file:

[Team Castle]

Thank you for taking a look at it, however it's not quite what I am looking to do. It appears the beginning of the letters are not spreading apart, just the back end. Also, I still don't know how to actually do it myself regarding the parameters you changed or how to reproduce it myself. You know of a YouTube video or where to find an explanation on how to do this style?... it's almost like a secret.