Animation using the Path Horizontil and Vertical Deform tool!!

Supplies needed

Free 30 day Trail copy pf PhotoImpact Here and GA 5 for the animation Here

I used PhotoImpact 12, however I also have PI X3 and there is not that much difference.

I used the font Britannic Bold for the Hello! his I think can be found in your Windows Font folder already.

The font I used to make this text animation is called KA Horrible and can been found HERE

You can use just about any font to do this tutorial, so experimentation is the name of the game :-))

OK , Open your PhotoImpact Programme.

Open a new image (I used 400 x 200) size up to you.

Grab your text tool and click on the new image.

Place a tick in the Kerning button and a

4 in the Character spacing drop down list in the Tool Settings - Text.

Type your name, (I used size 82) the colour you choose is entirely up to you. If you are unhappy with your text size, resize it only by using the text size drop down list. You can type your own size in the list.

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Warning!!

Try not to resize your text with the transform tool!

It has been bought to my attention that if you re-size your text with the Transform resize tool, the H & V Deform tool will not appear in the bevel mode drop down list.

There is a solution to this problem............rofl.

Right click on your text and choose Convert Object Type/Reset Text/Path Object.

You will have to at this point click on the Path Drawing Tool. You will then once again have the H & V Deform in the bevel mode drop down list. The only thing that you won't be able to do is change the font.

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Give it a bevel of

width: 3

Depth: 5

A border of 2 in a contrasting colour.

Right-click and choose the all round shadow option with the settings below.

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NOTE: I work in what I call a layer stack. Saving each frame as a separate image is just too time consuming and tedious!!

Example Below

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OK hold down your Shift key and hit the D key 3 times. That will give you 4 name layers.

click on your top name layer and then choose Horizontal Deform from the bevel mode drop down list.

1. Click on the node on the left-hand side and pull the node up a bit.

2. Then click on the node on the arm of the left-hand side and give that a bit of a pull up as well.

3. Click on 3D round in the bevel mode drop down list and your name will be like it was before but this time with the Horizontal Deform applied to it.

Click on the next name layer down and repeat the instructions above, only this time apply it to the right-hand side.

Click on the next name layer down, (one up from the bottom) and once again choose Horizontal Deform from the bevel mode drop down list.

Click on the end nodes to make them active.

Now this time we will only be pulling up the nodes on the end of the arms.

See Example Below.

As before Choose 3D Round from the bevel mode drop down list.

If you have added a border, then you will have to right-click on each name layer and Convert Object Type/From Test/Path to Image.

If you don't do this step, then you will lose the border when you take it to GA to animate.

There is now one thing left to do before we take it to GA 5 to animate

Save your image as a UFO file!!

Animate the text in GA 5

Open your UFO file in GA 5 and it should look like the example below but with one frame in the storyboard.

Hit the Duplicate Frame button underneath the storyboard.

In frame 2 shut the open eye and open one of the other eyes in the layers that are available.

Repeat twice more.

You should have 4 frames on your storyboard.

When you save your animation just check the kb size, you may have to lower it it a smaller preset from the drop down list of Presets.

I used Photo 128

Examples of kb size on a white matte, custom colour matte and with my webpage background.

Well that is it, I do hope that you enjoyed my tutorial.

INDEX

Please feel free to print this tutorial out for your own personal use,

but do not copy it in any way to put on-line, pass out, or re-write and claim as your own.

Any resemblance to any other tutorial like this is purely coincidental and not intentional.

This tutorial was written on the 12th September 2008 and is therefore

Website and web set is also

Designed by and therefore