Creating streaming glow effect with Livetype
If you are a Final Cut Studio 2.0 owner, don't forget that you still have the power of using LiveType.
Livetype is often overlooked, because all of the LiveFonts, objects and backgrounds are now readily available in Apple's Motion 3.0
It is important that LiveType handles text differently than Apple Motion. Perhaps in a future release, Motion will incorporate all of LiveType's features.
For the time being, here is an easy tutorial on how to use Livetype to create a streaming glow effect.
First, change the Canvas background to black. Otherwise it will be difficult to see the actual glow over a transparent background. Navigate to the 'edit menu' and select 'project properties'. The default value is 0% for the opacity slider. Slide the background to 100% and choose black as the background color.
Navigate over to the LiveType 'inspector' window, and type the name 'sweeping glow'. This will automatically create a yellow text track within the LiveType timeline. Slide the color % slider to 100% so your text turns blue.
Now you need to add an effects track. To do this, navigate to the 'track menu' and select 'add new effect'.
You should now see a purple effects track located underneath your yellow text track. Click on the purple effects track and place your yellow position indicator in the center of it.
The next step is to add the actual glow to the letters. You do this by clicking on the 'style' tab within the Inspector window. Then click on the 'glow' tab. Then enable the glow. Make sure you set the glow to be 'behind' the text layer.
Crank up the glow 'opacity' slider to around 300%. Then add some some blur to it. You should notice that the title now has a white glow around the letters. You should also notice a key-frame has automatically been created in the middle of the purple effects track.
*There is one more tricky step. The glow is currently only behind the letters at that particular (middle) keyframe. You need to make the glow so it appears 'behind' the letters for the beginning and ending keyframes. To do this, hold down the (option key) and click on the small purple LED next to the pull down menu where you chose 'behind'.
The last step is to add some 'timing' to the effect, so the glow doesn't pulse through the characters all at the same time. To do this, click on the 'timing' tab within the inspector window. Then slide the 'sequence' timing slider to around 8%. Adjust the speed slightly to around 120% to make the glow move faster through the letters.
*You can also play around with the Random slider, which would make the letters glow in a random pattern, instead of travelling through the letters from the left to the right.
