Creating a preset to make text look like a Twitter post - including the logo

[ShiveringCactus]

Hi everyone,

I thought I'd post my next tutorial, after the last one was so well recieved.  I've prepared 4 tutorials (releasing one a week in November) showing different ways you can use text in After Effects recreate the look of Tweets, YouTube Comments and Text Messages, as well as some social media buttons.  Each tutorial has downloads, so if people aren't interested in learning how to do it, they can just grab the files and get started.

If you watch them in sequence, I also use the tutorials as a way of introducing Essential Graphics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_eTZPy64fI

[Rameez_Khan]

Nice tutorial!

I really like your idea of releasing them weekly and having downloadable assets. Awesome work!!

Keep it up, ShiveringCactus.

Rameez

[Rick Gerard]

This is a fairly good approach but it could stand some improvements. The mask position expression needs some work, Curves should probably be replaced with Set Channels, and Find Edges needs to be above Simple Choker to work. 

When you explain expressions it is always a really good idea to spend a little time explaining what each line is doing and why you are using it. For example, when you talk about sourceRectAtTime() it would be helpful if you said something like this:

"If you look at the Expression Language Menu available in the timeline you'll find source ourceRectAtTime() in the Layer/Sub Objects panel. This function will return any layer's height, width, height, and on text, Top will give you the height from the baseline of the first line of text or the left edge of the first character. We can use this function to accurately position any other object on any other layer. If you take into account the Anchor Point, scale, and position properties of a layer you can line up any two objects perfectly no matter what the position or scale. Let's use the sourceRectAtTime() function on this text layer to position the rectangle." Include the use of the Expression Language Menu so new users can find this incredibly useful tool.

Your animation preset should also tie in the text layer scale, anchor point, and position to make it bulletproof.

I hope these suggestions help. All in all, I'd give the workflow a C+ and the tutorial a B -. I'm a tough grader. Your tutorial is above average. Work on the preset to fix the problems and clean it up and I'd give it a B.