Hi there, I'm fairly new to Motion animation, however after some pretty thorough internet searching, there doesn't seem to be a way to add a gradient to a full word, only to the individual letters. I am looking for a horizontal gradient. Is there a way to do this? Im looking for a pretty detailed description as I'm not super familiar with all the lingo yet, teaching myself! Thanks in advance!!
MacBook Pro
Well... one way to go about this is to just overlay a gradient on the text. My recommendation would be to create a Rectangle shape and use the Fill Mode set to Gradient. Create the gradient you need to fill the rectangle. This is not as easy as it is with text Face gradients. You will need to set the Start X and End X parameters so that the gradient spreads out evenly across the Rectangle. Set the Start Y and End Y parameters to 0.
Fitting the Rectangle to the text:
Go into the Rectangle > Shape > Geometry tab and right click on Size > Add Parameter Behavior > Link. In the Link Source Object well, drag the Text object and drop it in there. For the Source Parameter, click on Compatible Parameters and select > Object Attributes > Size > All. This will make the Rectangle shape the same size as the Text object. Next, go to Behaviors > Basic Motion and select Align To. In the Align To Object well, drag the Text and drop it in. The Rectangle should align exactly and cover the Text object.
Now, for one of the slickest tricks in all of Motion:
Make sure the Rectangle is **over** the text (higher in the layers list) and in the same Group. Go to the Properties tab of the inspector, and down in the Blending section, click on the checkbox option to Preserve Opacity. (Stunning, isn't it?)
OK - that's one way.
Here's another a little more simple, but not quite as obvious.
Convert your Text to 3D Text. In the Substance section, change the Substance to Generic. For the Surface, select Gradient. Design your gradient.
To make the text appear 2D, under 3D Text at the top of the inspector, set the Depth to 0 and the Front Edge Size to 0 (or set the Front Edge to Square).
There is a difference between the two methods. The 2D Preserve Opacity method will leave a "tell-tale" (very thin) outline on some of the characters (this is due to anti-aliasing to help smooth the appearance of text edges). The 3D version will not display the anti-aliasing outlining.
Well... one way to go about this is to just overlay a gradient on the text. My recommendation would be to create a Rectangle shape and use the Fill Mode set to Gradient. Create the gradient you need to fill the rectangle. This is not as easy as it is with text Face gradients. You will need to set the Start X and End X parameters so that the gradient spreads out evenly across the Rectangle. Set the Start Y and End Y parameters to 0.
Fitting the Rectangle to the text:
Go into the Rectangle > Shape > Geometry tab and right click on Size > Add Parameter Behavior > Link. In the Link Source Object well, drag the Text object and drop it in there. For the Source Parameter, click on Compatible Parameters and select > Object Attributes > Size > All. This will make the Rectangle shape the same size as the Text object. Next, go to Behaviors > Basic Motion and select Align To. In the Align To Object well, drag the Text and drop it in. The Rectangle should align exactly and cover the Text object.
Now, for one of the slickest tricks in all of Motion:
Make sure the Rectangle is **over** the text (higher in the layers list) and in the same Group. Go to the Properties tab of the inspector, and down in the Blending section, click on the checkbox option to Preserve Opacity. (Stunning, isn't it?)
OK - that's one way.
Here's another a little more simple, but not quite as obvious.
Convert your Text to 3D Text. In the Substance section, change the Substance to Generic. For the Surface, select Gradient. Design your gradient.
To make the text appear 2D, under 3D Text at the top of the inspector, set the Depth to 0 and the Front Edge Size to 0 (or set the Front Edge to Square).
There is a difference between the two methods. The 2D Preserve Opacity method will leave a "tell-tale" (very thin) outline on some of the characters (this is due to anti-aliasing to help smooth the appearance of text edges). The 3D version will not display the anti-aliasing outlining.
Hi armd
I'll contribute here with another option. In the filters menu, look in the 'stylize' category you'll find the 'fill' filter.
You can use this fill filter to apply a solid or gradient fill to any layer or group.
But - the gradient fill will not adjust or change with the text - so, if you scale the text up, or adjust text size - the gradient will remain static.
That is why the advice from Fox_m is the best way to add a gradient to the text, because if you link a gradient layer to the text by size and align it - then the gradient will adjust to match the changes in the text. It all depends on the plans you have for the text in the project - especially if you intend for this to be in an FCPX template where the end user would have the ability to adjust the text parameters.
I might suggest that you could use image mask to apply the gradient to the text rather than the preserve opacity - that should produce less noticeable anti-alias lines. (at least on my system) I'm not sure if there is any real difference between using the preserve opacity and applying image mask - I think they are just the same thing (fox_m is that right?)..but I get less noticeable anti-alias lines when using image masks.
Motion 5 Gradient on a word, not by letters
