Making Text Editable in AE loses the effects from Photoshop.

Question

I have to animate text and have finally gotten that process down .. but one
problem left. The original text is made in Photoshop CS3 with shadow,
bevel/emboss effects on it. When I make the text editable in AE so I can
animate it, the Photoshop effects disappear.
Is there any way to retain the drop shadow and bevel/emboss and still make
text editable so it can be animated in AE?
Thanks!
Nancy

Answer 1

Thanks, Andrew .. I think I see what you mean and will try that.  If I <br />understand correctly, my importing the PSD as a composition means I only <br />imported the text and not the effects.  I did try importing as footage, but <br />that wasn't editable either.  I will follow your steps and see if I can get <br />this down.<br /><br />Many thanks!<br />Nancy<br /><br /><[email protected]> wrote in message <br />news:[email protected]...<br />> Hi Nancy,<br />><br />> While it sounds like you've achieved your objective - good news!- I'll <br />> point out a few things for future projects.<br />><br />> Your final solution means that you've dragged a Nested Composition into <br />> your main composition (meaning one composition inside another). The <br />> Transform parameters you see attached to that nested comp are NOT Text <br />> Editors, and effect the whole layer universally. That might be fine now, <br />> but it means you won't be able to change or edit individual text <br />> characters or lines. You also won't be able to edit your Photoshop Layer <br />> Styles (Drop Shadow, in your case).<br />><br />> When you import the PS document as a composition, AE creates a new <br />> composition with all the PS layers intact, positioned correctly and with <br />> Layer Styles applied. But they only exist INSIDE THE COMPOSITION - they're <br />> not attached to the layers that you can access in the Project window.<br />><br />> Try this to explain what I mean:<br />><br />> Open your project and import your PSD as a Composition.<br />><br />> Double-click on the new PSD composition in the footage window to open it. <br />> You should see your text layer with drop shadow applied. Select the layer <br />> and Copy.<br />><br />> Now go back to your main composition and choose Paste. The text layer <br />> should appear within your main comp, but still with layer styles etc. You <br />> can also choose "Convert To Editable Text" now, without affecting the Drop <br />> Shadow. Once the layer is a Text Layer you have much more control over it <br />> than just the standard Layer Transform settings.<br />><br />> The trick is to COPY the whole layer from the PSD comp, rather than drag <br />> the text layer from the footage window.