Preview
Method Three: Using Shrinkwrap Modifier
Step 1
In a new scene or file press 1 in number pad to get into front view. Press Shift-A and add a Text.
Step 2
With the text selected, press Tab to edit it. Type in whatever you want. Press Tab again to exit edit mode.
Step 3
Press Shift-A and add a Mesh > Plane.
Step 4
With the Plane selected, press R and then Z and then 90 to to rotate the plane 90 degrees. Press G or use the arrow widget to move it to the side of the text.
Step 5
Secondary-click on the text to select it. Click on the modifiers button in the properties editor. Click on Add Modifier button and select Shrinkwrap.
Step 6
In the modifier settings,
- Choose the Plane as Target.
- Select Project for Mode.
- Select X for Axis.
- Select Negative for Direction as the text is on the left side of the plane.
Secondary-click on the plane to select it. Use the arrow widget to move it along the X axis to see the effect.
Step 7
Instead of adding another Text, I'll duplicate the first text.
Secondary-click on the Text and press Shift-D to make a duplicate. Move the mouse down and then left click to confirm. The modifier will also get copied with same settings for the new object.
Step 8
Secondary-click on the second text and press Tab to edit it. Type in what ever you want. Press Tab again to exit edit mode.
Step 9
With the new text object selected, click on the modifiers button in the properties editor. You will see the modifier is also duplicated with the same settings.
Change the Direction form Negative to Positive as this text will be placed on the right side.
Step 10
Press G to move the new text. Place it to the right side of the plane.
Step 11
Secondary-click on the plane and press G and then X to move it along the X axis. You'll notice the effect.
You can also rotate the plane and then move along the X axis. Press R to rotate and then primary-click to confirm.
Step 12
Secondary-click on the text object to select it. Click on the Materials button in the properties editor and add a new material.
In the Diffuse panel set the colour to white. In the Shading panel tick the Shadeless check box. Assign the same material to the other text.
Secondary-click on the second text and then in material dropdown list select the material you just created, unless you want to create a different material for it.
Step 13
Secondary-click on the plane to select it. In the outliner window, click on the camera icon next to the plane. This will prevent the plane to render.
Step 14
I'll animate it in reverse order. Go to frame number 41 by dragging the green marker in the timeline or by manually typing in the frame counter.
Step 15
Secondary-click on the text object to select it.
Press the I key and select Location. This inserts the keyframe for the selected text object. Select the other text and then insert keyframe for its location also at this frame.
Step 16
With the same object selected, go to frame number 21.
Press G and then X and then move the mouse to move the object towards the plane until it is completely invisible.
Step 17
Press I in the keyboard to insert keyframe. In the pop up select Location.
Step 18
Do the same for the other text object. Secondary-click on it to select it. Move it towards the plane until it disappears. Press I and select Location to insert keyframe. Go back to first frame and press Alt-A to preview the animation.
Step 19
Switch to Animation layout. Click on the layout button located on the header and select Animation.
Step 20
In the Dope Sheet, hold Shift and then secondary-click on the keyframes of any one text object and press G to move them.
Primary-click to confirm. Offset them so that the objects animated one by one. Press Alt-A to preview the animation.
Applying Animation on a Video
Step 1
In the same file, in which you have created the animation using any one of the above technique, click on the layout button on the header and select Video Editing from the list.
Step 2
Move the mouse over to the sequence editor. Press Shift-A and add a Movie. Browse for the video file. I have downloaded a video from https://videos.pexels.com/
Step 3
If your video has sound then it will appear as green strip. If you want to import different sound then press Shift-A and click on Sound. Browse for the file.
Step 4
Press Shift-A and add Scene. This is the scene or the animation you just created in Blender.
Step 5
Right now if you render any one frame you wont be able to see the video. You have to make the scene strip transparent and change the blend mode.
- Go to the Default layout. You can also split the video preview window into two and make one properties editor there itself. In the properties editor click on the camera button which is for render settings
- In the Shading panel, choose Transparent for Alpha
- In the Video Editor layout, secondary-click on the scene strip to select it.
- Secondary-click on the scene strip to select it. Press N and the properties editor will appear in the right side. In the Edit Strip panel and in the Blend mode choose Alpha Over
Go to any in between frame and press F12 to render that frame. The scene is now perfectly over the video.
Step 6
Set the End frame for the video. Primary-click on the counter and enter the value.
Switch back to Default layout. Click on the camera button to open render settings. In the Output panel, type in the path and filename for the output result.
You can either type in directly or click on the folder button to browse for the directory. In the Encoding panel, select MPEG-4 for Format and MPEG-4 (divx) for Codec. Select MP3 for Audio Codec.
Step 7
Check for the dimensions in the Dimensions panel. In the Post Processing panel make sure that the Sequencer check box is selected.
Press the Animation button to render the video.
Conclusion
In this two part tutorial series, I showed you how to create a text reveal motion graphic in Blender. This is an effective and modern technique that you can use in your projects.
