Resizing text boxes in under a minute! | Learn After Effects

In this tutorial we jump into after effects to learn how to make boxes that follow the size of your text is super easy to do. This technique uses the expression sourceRectattime(). This expression is super useful and can be used in many different ways!
Expression used in this video:
s=thisComp.layer("name");
x=s.sourceRectAtTime().width;
y=s.sourceRectAtTime().height;
[x,y]
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[@RapidBlindfolds]

why tf dont after effects just make it easier

[@Erosphobic]

Literally i can do this capcut with one click😭

[@Lilqueen._]

ok, but how it works with animated text? :/

[@davehedric1543]

Hey! thanks for this tutorial! but what if I want like this to be a paragraph that has blocks behind the text and spaces between them? Not a solid box around all the text, but separated lines?

[@kukushkaua]

Thank you. Everything works. NOTE - you need to check, in the "Paragraph" section, the alignment of the text "Left align text", otherwise it will not work correctly.

[@Pieprucz]

Thank you so much!

[@Juliaaaaaaaa8]

If you remove the position expression, it also works for center aligned text :)

[@ilyasyakubov]

@@Juliaaaaaaaa8 ty dude!

[@lukasrezende123]

@@Juliaaaaaaaa8 tks!!

[@PrimeYT10]

@@Juliaaaaaaaa8 holy shit ur a genuis

[@maikamcnairy9545]

If you hold control while moving the text layer you can make it snap perfectly on top of the shape layer

[@shriefallam8866]

Thanks a lot, with some tweaking, I made it aligned to the center and with rounded corners, it's beatiful!

[@anurazizah90]

how to create a space between line 1, 2, and 3 like you do for each title in this video?

[@FormulaWon-]

Note: "/2" needs to be applied to the rectangle POSITION 🤟

[@bedyne]

Hi, I'd like to do the same text animation with automatic text boxes like in the video, did you do this with expressions?

[@lichtfalter7583]

he did. watch the video?

[@nicholasspiers8620]

didn't work for me

[@darkmxk]

It doesn't work correctly...

[@BSFord]

This is great--how do you get the boxes to animate and resize if adding a typewriter effect?

[@dualgam]

UPDATE: i found a solution :) The vide is very handy! But there is one thing that I dont know what to do with. Everything works as you've explained in the video, but when I change the text, centered by paragraph, the box starts to appear beyond on the left of the text. I know I just can move it manually, but is there a solution for it? Thank you in advance for any response!

[@ashinambrose]

What's the solution?

[@sevdacakir]

I stay at 51 seconds. What could be the reason why the rectangle is shifting to the left?

[@CrabappleKing]

Way too fast. Can barely tell what is happening. What does 'add padding to the stroke' mean?

[@Max70022]

That's great but unfortunately doesn't work with the typewriter effect. Any suggestions? Thanks

[@TheKeyframeAcademy]

Use scale text modifier, set scale to 0. Make sure you've added /2 to the end of the expression on your shape path position. to keep it align with the text, and make sure the paragraph on your text layer is set to left aligned.

[@Max70022]

@@TheKeyframeAcademy thank you

[@brandonh552]

@@TheKeyframeAcademy Could you elaborate on this?

[@TheKeyframeAcademy]

@@brandonh552 It doesn't work well with the type writer preset, so you have to go and make the typewriter effect by yourself from scratch using the scale text modifier. You also have to make sure your paragraph is in the right alignment. If you are center aligned, or right aligned, the box will not line up as it always scales from the left, so you have to have your paragraph set to left aligned. (there are ways to scale the box from the center or right, but that requires additional expressions) Hope that helps!

[@brandonh552]

@@TheKeyframeAcademy Thanks so much for getting back to me so quickly. This may be a stupid question, but how do I access the scale text modifier?

[@eldonmati]

For some reason if I move the layers involved in the timeline the effect won't work anymore what's up with that?

[@eldonmati]

Solved it! I just had to add this variable layerStart = thisLayer.startTime; and change the x variable into this x = s.sourceRectAtTime(time - layerStart).width;

[@khushiverma7732]

hey can anyone tell me, how to animate after? like how to animate text now

[@emmanuelebole325]

I like this tutorial. 👏

[@BrendonMarkering]

Hey! I really want to know how did you make this explanation text inside the video? It looks similar to this new one you created but is much much better and professional with animation and text in two lines. Can you make a video of how you make it?

[@TheKeyframeAcademy]

I think the only difference is that the box has a gradient fill instead of a color fill?

[@chris.literarische.reisen]

Works very well. Thank you for the fast tutorial.

[@jasonk9770]

I would be eternally (well, for a long time) grateful if someone would post a tutorial on how to do this with two layers of text and one text box so that it could be saved as a .mogrt for Premiere. I can't figure it out.

[@TheKeyframeAcademy]

So two lines of text, but one box surrounding the text?

[@antianime-pfp3291]

it worked, but I don't want to type the expression everytime. Is there a better way?

[@GuidoGautsch]

Copy and paste?

[@voltycclipz8384]

how you do the text at the beginning part where it slides and appears

[@gregv2821]

Short and sweet. Subscribed.

[@seggamsuman]

Sorry, its not working

[@jeremymather9689]

I feel like I'm missing a key step - this kinda works, but whenever I start changing my text, the corresponding shape moves to another area of the screen. It's re-sizing to the text I type in, but the shape itself isn't remaining in the same position. I've tried playing with anchor points but that doesn't seem to be the issue. Is there anything i can add to the expression to force the shape to always be aligned with the text, regardless of the length, etc? Specifically, i want the text and shape to be "growing" from left so the left side always is fixed and any changes to the length extend out to the right. Currently, my text is left justified, and shape underneath appears aligned until i start changing the text, then the shape moves and they're no longer aligned.

[@TheKeyframeAcademy]

Is your text center aligned?

[@jeremymather9689]

​@@TheKeyframeAcademy TBH I got it working, not quite sure what was happening but I chalk it up to not paying enough attention ha. Thanks for the response!

[@psychod74]

Thanks very useful ! i combine your expression with an other line expression and it's dope :)

[@TheKeyframeAcademy]

Perfect!

[@osamahislam]

all tutorials should be that compact

[@JayJacks0n]

Not work

[@TheKeyframeAcademy]

can you elaborate?

[@Wesleydssantos]

Thank you so much!

[@bookssummaries2023-mp3yy]

thank you great video.

[@TheKeyframeAcademy]

You are welcome!

[@eljuanhector]

ok, thanks. But, please, how it works with animated text ? for example.. the animator scale, position, typewritter, etc? Thank you

[@maikamcnairy9545]

precomp the text with the rectangle then apply the animation to the precomp

[@rheamalik8587]

@@maikamcnairy9545 I tried this but it didn't work

[@CmdrTigerKing]

I dont get it.. why not just use scale

[@TheKeyframeAcademy]

The box dynamically resizes according to the size of your text layer. It cuts out the process of having to manually scale up or scale down the box to fit your text. And when you're working on a project with a lot of text, that saves you a bunch of time.

[@FLUQMAN]

@@TheKeyframeAcademy true. Especially working with subtitles

[@meelhouda2928]

thank youuuuuuu

[@Pro100tv9]

This is a great tutorial! Thank you!

[@bayetaeshropshire3454]

After putting /2 on the rectangle shape it's not aligned with the text

[@gsi-news]

see full video and then paste the description text in size column !!

[@yurizafurizaki5574]

android apps can do better than this i swear

[@TheKeyframeAcademy]

Cool!

[@Make.Mooove]

The worst lesson I've ever seen