Seamless, infinitely scrolling text in After Effects

[@LinkDesigns]

I've landed here in 2024, wanted to say thank you, man! Your tutorial has not only taught me how to do an endless scroll, but so much more, as you actually explain what each thing does plus shortkeys while you go. I've been working in AE for a few years now, but being a graphic designer as well, I obviously didn't work intensively just with AE so I still have a lot to learn. I find your way of explaining things absolutely the most informative I've stumbled upon until now among tutorials here on YT

[@IanHaigh]

Wow! thank you for your kind words, much appreciated 🙏

[@VeterinarXP]

This is what I like about the tutorials - straight to the point and no messing around. Thank you!

[@IngameAsylum]

Quick helpful tip! 4:41 Instead of clicking the keyframe arrows to bounce from keyframe to keyframe, simply press J (left), or K (right) on the keyboard to do the same thing :D

[@samuelhodgson2686]

The most accurate and successful After Effects tutorial experience I've had so far. Thanks a lot!

[@IanHaigh]

Wow, thank you! You're most welcome

[@YaBoySL]

Straight forward and to the point without a bunch of nonsense, I love it! Thank you

[@ON-zr9rn]

thank you so so much! I was about to lose it since I couldn`t make this work on my project. You are a life savior

[@selinakehuanwu3941]

Best tutorial ever! Zero mistake, I can even just listen to your voice and complete everything in my AE without a problem.

[@SiobhanWhite]

This was the most helpful AE tutorial I found for this type of animation (and I sifted through plenty of them). So easy to follow and so well explained! Thank you so much!!

[@Clapsync]

This is the first video I found that was what I was looking for and clearly explained, thank you!

[@maddijackson_design]

this is exactly what i was looking for, thank you so much!

[@NollerReal]

Exactly what I was looking for! Thank you!

[@Fabitalism]

You can do it even faster, and use the expression loopOut() on the position of the null-object :)

[@IanHaigh]

It's true! Hadn't thought to do it like that, thank you :D

[@varvarapogodina6980]

@@IanHaigh hoW? on which stage? i have a problem, my video is 3 min and i have a trouble with key frames

[@JollyRoger183]

Great tutorial. I made two texts: One running on top for 4 sec and one for the bottom looping at 6 seconds. This gives a really nice shift effect.

[@leadavis1614]

thank you!! so so helpful, I couldn't find this anywhere else!! Just wanted to add that when I got to the loopOut expression AfterEffects didn't autocomplete the equation - if it doesn't come up, you can get it to work by typing in "loopOut(type = "cycle")"

[@IanHaigh]

Glad it helped, Lea! And thanks for letting me know about the autocomplete, I'll bear that in mind next time :)

[@allycaboard3387]

so helpfull

[@rafaelcordeiro3672]

Very well explained straight to the point like every tutorial should be. Thanks for sharing. Cheers!

[@BrainhackMusic]

"and I said Yes. I do." *smug smile* hahahaha, love it 🤣

[@marshadingle3550]

Bless you Mr. H.

[@Ikeneengameplays]

i was struggling with this until i watched your video much thanks.

[@MrSgrafix]

This is right what I've been looking for! Thank you so much! Straight to the point

[@victorberthoud]

Straight to the point, right speed to follow the steps ! Thanks !

[@JollyRoger183]

5:25 Can someone explain what this is all about? The adding and dropping of keyframes one frame to the left and then to the right?

[@dublinphotoart]

Time remapping adds the end keyframe a frame late (for looping purposes) which will appear as a blank frame when you go to loop... so you add a new keyframe just before it and remove that end one then the loop will be seamless 🤔😎

[@JollyRoger183]

@@dublinphotoart thank you very much. Good to know whats going on there in more detail

[@dublinphotoart]

@@JollyRoger183 Oh that fried my brain for a long while. I was very proud when i figured it out. 😌 This video is the clearest. kzbin.info/www/bejne/pH-qcmCHrrZnqM0

[@HSAAC]

Such a great tutorial! This is exactly what I need!

[@katiesavage785]

I'm so confused! I have followed it to the T 3 times and something is always going wrong in the time remapping section. The infinite loop never works and I can't see where it is going wrong.😳

[@3nvy_]

I can't thank you enough... hands down the best video for beginnners

[@violetbaggins]

Love the shortcuts you've mentioned!

[@ajaykumarbhandari2353]

Omg, you explained it very simply! It's really easy to understand. Thank you so much! I've always wanted to learn these.

[@brunoilex]

Great explanation and solution! Thank you Ian.

[@وانەپزیشکییەکان]

Your lesson helped a lot, after that i wrote my first lody. Thank you very much.

[@yuliiamishchenko6829]

Nice. Thank you, Ian! I used it for my client's project :) Your video was a great help!

[@Mo-mw4it]

everything worked perfectly and simple(for AE standards lol). Thanks!

[@Chr0mePisto1a]

And i said, "Yes, i do." hahaha love it

[@k8lovesjb]

Super easy to follow and exactly what I needed! Thanks so much :)

[@CringePanda]

This was very helpful, thank you so much! I wanted to do it in Resolve but the app isn't very capable for that kinda thing.

[@fyhrvideo2188]

Very helpful video, thanks alot

[@wildnoob24]

Super easy to follow. Exactly what I needed!

[@miguelangelgarciaruelas6194]

Thank you sooo much for this tutorial! Just what I needed.

[@jesuslemus6624]

Does anyone know how i could execute this method with text that is bigger than the width of the composition? Like getting text to seamless scrolls although the entire word isn't always being shown?

[@NewYears1978]

What if you want it to start off screen and if your text is larger than 1920x1080?

[@IanHaigh]

Just move the duplicate further, and then keyframe the null with the amount you moved it. So if your text is 3000 px wide, move the duplicate 3000 px to the right, then keyframe the null -3000 px, to pull it all back. The precomp can be any width (within AE’s limits), it doesn’t have to be the same size as your final comp. The important thing is that when you move between the two keyframes (in the precomp), the text should line up exactly. That will give you the seamless looping. Once the looping is happening, you can adjust where the text starts by changing the start time of your precomp. Hope this helps :)

[@bluecaban3855]

!! Great Tutorial !!

[@sh4rdz.]

Hey! Old video but still super useful. One question, how would you add a fade in to the text without it repeating every time the javascript loops? 🤔🤔

[@IanHaigh]

Hey! Sorry for not replying sooner. Just put the entire thing in ANOTHER precomp … and fade that 😄

[@sh4rdz.]

@@IanHaigh No worries and thanks, that does make a lot of sense!! 😄

[@AbdiIbrahim254]

Excellent explanation! Thank you so much

[@destinosdebel]

How can somebody be so funny teaching a tutorial? hahahaha 😂😂😂

[@sadie4833]

this video is amazing! very cool :)

[@nicoshield9316]

how to scrolling object ? is same method aas a text? thanks for your videos

[@IanHaigh]

It’s similar but there are some other tricks to scrolling objects … really depends on what the object looks like. When I get time I’ll make another vid with some more looping tricks :)

[@nicoshield9316]

@@IanHaigh naicee

[@jaceg8096]

this was super clear and easy to follow! thanks

[@RudiGallon]

thank you sir, for the very personalized tutorial XD

[@suddenslipinterspersed-the7847]

Thank you 😊. I like the tip where you showed how to move the text off screen with 26+1920. I'm wondering if I can do that with vertical scrolling text. Thank you again!

[@IanHaigh]

Yes it works with vertical text as well, just swap the X and Y axes. Or you can even build the subcomp horizontally, and then rotate it in your main comp 😄

[@suddenslipinterspersed-the7847]

@@IanHaigh Thank you Ian!

[@kitotoart]

Thank you! Exactly what i needed 😍

[@shafiqueahmed9981]

This is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you so much lan

[@alessandrogrima7413]

You saved my life, thank you so much!

[@laraza1598]

Nice tutorial!

[@nazimcontreras5125]

thanks for the tutorial! Woud you mind telling me wich was the short cut you use in Mac to change the timeline to show the seconds and not the frames? Thanks in advance!

[@IanHaigh]

You're welcome! Not sure if this is what you mean, but ⌘-clicking on the time (top left, in blue) in the timeline panel will toggle between frames and timecode.

[@nazimcontreras5125]

@@IanHaigh Yeah that's it. Thanks!

[@imonmobilelol]

Thanks bud! great video and instructions.

[@korosai6284]

Great video, Thanks a lot!

[@davidcoronado7198]

This is so helpful thank you!!!!

[@myrrorMMO]

great Tutorial! Very beginner friendly and straight to the point! thanks

[@1hitkill973]

Is there a method to scroll the text from right to left with another text properties, effects, or expressions without actually moving the x and y position of the text box?

[@IanHaigh]

You could scroll it using a Text Animator … just add “position” and animate that property. The layer’s position will remain unchanged, but the text will move. I made a vid about Text Animators, in case that’s helpful: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z3anY6qrhbxlq6c

[@Musicalofi1]

Nice tutorial

[@kyllianpeches2723]

great tutorial

[@chuckwu2063]

Very helpful! Thank you

[@RosieRoses]

Great tutorial! Super easy to understand!

[@niviykandivoyage]

You made it for 1090 by 1080 ..but what if i want to do inside a rectangle shape like in a restaurant board..how to create to from a particular point to another..?

[@IanHaigh]

It will work with any dimensions, just substitute the size you need. So if I mentioned “1920” in the video, change it to the size you want, and offset the layer that amount. Once you’ve completed the looping, you can then put that entire comp into another comp and adjust it how you like (scale it, use corner pin to distort etc.)

[@swashy8933]

Hi This is great many thanks I need to take it to the next level... track it with footage so the camera pans onto the scrolling text then back out again. How do I track the text?

[@IanHaigh]

You’re welcome! I’m not sure I understand what you’re trying to do … is it more of a camera tracking related question?

[@swashy8933]

It's OK I used the text tacker tool for this purpose thanks

[@lmzn500]

amazing tutorial!! thank u!

[@lifeofdarshit]

Thanks Ian, exactly what I was looking forward for as well. However, I have one issue, if the text size is greater than the frame size then it seems like to create a smooth transition without gaps, I need to introduce more duplicated. Please correct me if there is a better way for this.

[@IanHaigh]

Hi Darshit, glad this is helpful! Actually you can make the subcomp any size up to 30,000 pixels. So: figure out the size of the text that you want, let's say it's 5000 pixels wide. Make the subcomp (or "nested" comp) 5000 pixels wide, then duplicate your text just like in the tutorial, but moving it 5000 pixels off the stage. When you drop the very wide comp into the main comp (which is only 1920 pixels wide, say), then it will scroll like before, but your text will be greater than the frame size. I'll put together a mini-tutorial so show what I mean, watch this space :) - Ian

[@AVincentDesign]

@@IanHaigh I am looking for this exact same thing! Thank you ahead of time!

[@OwaisIN]

I think it can be easily done by parenting one text layer to another and then looping out it's position.

[@IanHaigh]

Yeah that sounds like it would work! I used to do something similar back in my old Flash programming days.

[@Diana-sl6tx]

before I try it, maybe you know the answer: Can I do this with a png file? I want a purple solid background and on top of that my logo (spread out in tiny logo's) going from top to bottem in a loop. But I'm confused in how to do that

[@IanHaigh]

Yep you can do it with anything. There are a couple of tricks to it - the first and last frame should be *identical*, and the motion needs to be the same as well, otherwise it will jump when it loops. Let me know if you think a tutorial about this would be helpful

[@24KitchJaan]

@@IanHaigh Yes I would love a tutorial!

[@Diana-sl6tx]

@@IanHaigh Yes please!

[@24KitchJaan]

@@IanHaigh yes please

[@CringePanda]

Also, I used your tutorial to create the scrolling copyright disclaimer in my latest work.

[@IanHaigh]

Nice one, thanks Cringe Panda!

[@sunilchheda430]

Great you solved one headache for me, thanks

[@ethanos1637]

this is what I need but can you make it vertical?

[@IanHaigh]

Yep it will work vertically, just substitute x for y and width for height. Alternatively you could follow along with the tutorial and just rotate the precomp 90° in the main comp.

[@ethanos1637]

@@IanHaigh thank toy so much, I dunno why I couldn't figure that out xD

[@sebs247]

Galaxy quest quote snuck in there!

[@IanHaigh]

Hahaaaha I don't even know I'm doing it. LOVE that film

[@SofiMoscarda]

6:56 The moment I thought I'd be rick-rolled. On 2020. Amazing video!!! thank you so much, it was exactly what I needed and you explained it super clearly! New subscriber!!

[@IanHaigh]

Ha! Don't worry, I'm never gonna let you down

[@AnnaHamilton-bi7ri]

Thank you! Great tutorial!

[@edilsoncampos7019]

Thank you very much for the tutorial, a question, how can I have a smoother movement, because when I put the video on my website, the movement is not smooth and it seems that the text does not scroll but skips spaces.

[@IanHaigh]

Does it play back smoothly from your hard drive? If so, you could try encoding the file differently (such as a lower bit rate) to see if that makes a difference. Check that the frame rate is consistent in each timeline, too.

[@zlatafruhling1948]

Огромное спасибо!❤

[@Kevin-nc7ct]

What shorcut 1 frame to the left, anybody know?

[@IanHaigh]

Just moving the playhead? Page Up! Or ⌘← on the Mac (either alt-left or ctrl-left on Windows)

[@krgr1449]

nice tutorial, thanks. But.. what if text is several screens wide, several sentences?

[@IanHaigh]

I think the easiest thing to do is just make the subcomp the width that you need. So, rather than 1920 pixels, make it 5760 wide (for example). Then follow along in the tutorial, but substitute 5760 in place of 1920. Your main comp will still be 1920, but the nested comp will be much wider, so you will only see a portion of it. That way your sentence can be way, way wider. Hope that makes sense!

[@richardgoone3438]

Thank you for the great tutorial

[@claudiacastro5084]

What if I want to export a gif that loops infinitely?

[@IanHaigh]

You can export from After Effects and then upload the movie to a gif converter site … have a search for “gif converter” and you’ll get lots of results. You can also get a plugin for After Effects called GifGun (aescripts.com/gifgun/), but I think it costs money. Personally I use a free tool called “ffmpeg" for gifs - but it’s quite technical and not for everyone :)

[@rayseven5859]

super dope... thanks

[@nur57634]

thank you! very help full video

[@FightWeekShowcase]

LEGEND!

[@matric8130]

How can we add a number counter to a website which is not ours , example a news website where covid cases are 1200 , I want it change to 1201, 1202 , 1203 changing like this . I know its complicated but if u can help me I can also be paying as it's a hard process

[@IanHaigh]

If it’s for the web you’d probably be better off using JavaScript (perhaps a framework like Vue or React) rather than After Effects. With AE you have to render out the files, but with JavaScript it updates in real time.

[@matric8130]

@@IanHaigh can you do that for me I have API access to that site

[@IanHaigh]

@@matric8130 sorry I didn’t see this reply, KZbin marked it as “like spam” for some reason!? I can’t help you with that one unfortunately, you’d be better off finding a front end developer who’s handy with JavaScript.

[@paulamongelos5117]

THANK YOU IAN

[@coloured_wings]

But sir it is not working on different text layer.(question - if we have different length text layers then how we create loop scrolling text?)

[@IanHaigh]

Not sure I understand. Do you mean multiple text layers in the same comp? If so, you can use this technique to make several looping subcomps (of any width) and drop them into the main timeline.

[@coloured_wings]

@@IanHaigh yes yes. I mean to say like news channel headlines loop.. and please make one video on timer and timer expression.. like this -> (00:00)

[@SethMindCast]

there is one on andrew tates emergency meeting on rumble. it keeps scrolling but has a gradient effect on it. looks great but cannot find a templete. and cannot even make one. can you please help ?

[@IanHaigh]

Hey, might be possible but it's hard to say without seeing it. Is there a link or an example you can share?

[@ThapeloPilusaThePoet]

nice tuto Thank you!

[@rachidsparo8863]

Thank you so much!

[@dynamicdivinereadings6520]

Hi, how do you make it scroll vertically?

[@IanHaigh]

Hey, I answered this in another comment … check out the highlighted comment in this link: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qGW1ZWp_nduSqJY&lc=Ugz1RLB2A_Xt1dlUXid4AaABAg

[@shideception3614]

That helped me a lot, thank you!

[@ourownprettyways]

My text blinks on 4s instead now when I deleted that 4.01 keyframe. I've followed everything, I don't know what I'm doing wrong :( help plzzz

[@IanHaigh]

Sounds like you’re adding a keyframe to the RIGHT, when you should be adding one to the LEFT. Time remapping has automatically added a keyframe at 04:00. Next, you add one at 03:24 (if you’re in 25 fps), i.e. just before 04:00. Finally, delete the keyframe at 04:00. Your final time remapping keyframes will be at 00:00 and 03:24. Hope this helps!

[@princemutuc6522]

So perfect

[@alonsosandoval5175]

Perfect tutorial !!

[@paulcowdroynon-noxiouschan3971]

Hi Ian. Would you also know how to make a single line of infinitely scrolling text, but dropping from the top of the screen to the bottom, or from the bottom of the screen to top please? As example; “Many East Asian scripts can be written horizontally or vertically. Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese Chữ Nôm and Korean scripts can be oriented along either axis, as they consist mainly of disconnected logographic or syllabic units, each occupying a square block of space, thus allowing for flexibility for which direction texts can be written, be it horizontally from left-to-right, horizontally from right-to-left, vertically from top-to-bottom, and even vertically from bottom-to-top” But I want to see if a similar thing can be done with English words?

[@IanHaigh]

Hi Paul, yep the principle works on anything. If you run through the tutorial but flip it all mentally (from horizontal to vertical), that should work. Any time I mention width, just change that to height - and any time I mention the x axis, change that to the y axis. Alternatively follow along with the video, then rotate the final nested comp 90° in your main one. You can right click on the text - with the text tool selected - and choose “Vertical” to change its orientation. Hope that helps :D

[@paulcowdroynon-noxiouschan3971]

@@IanHaigh , superb. Many thanks Ian 🙏

[@esmh]

hi Ian!, quick question. can you tell me the font's name?

[@IanHaigh]

Hi! It’s Basic Commercial Bold. It’s great hey?

[@erictko85]

Great video. Thank you. Subscribed.

[@nataliepuentesp3231]

Thank you!!!

[@adriancarvalho7883]

thank you so much , it worked

[@deepdig8502]

Too chuppy motion, can you make it smooter?

[@IanHaigh]

Check frame rate in the main comp and nested comp, might need to increase

[@poppy5427]

Wow! This really helped!