Text Layout controls in Motion

Use the Layout Controls group to set basic layout options for a text object:

Layout Method: A pop-up menu to set any of five kinds of text layouts:
- Type: The default method, creates a single line of text. As text is added, the string of text continues off the canvas. (If you need text to wrap to multiple lines, use the Paragraph layout method instead, described below.)
- Paragraph: Creates text with margins and line wrapping. When Layout Method is set to Paragraph, Margins controls become available in the lower area of the Layout pane. Double-click the text in the canvas when Layout Method is set to Paragraph to display a bounding box, ruler, and scroll control around the text-entry field. When you delete text from a paragraph text-entry field, paragraph margins do not change. For information on modifying or creating paragraph-style text, see Add text in Motion.
- Path: Creates text on a path and makes the Path Options controls available. The path can be an open or closed spline, a circle, a rectangle, a wave, or based on a geometry shape. See Create text on a path in Motion.
- Scroll: Positions the margins of the text-entry field to match the project’s safe zones in preparation for a scrolling animation. Double-click the text in the canvas to display a ruler and an enhanced scroll control showing a preview of the text. Drag in the scroll bar to navigate through large amounts of text. Scroll does not animate the text—text is only positioned and formatted in preparation for you to create scrolling animation using keyframes or behaviors. For more information on animating text, see Intro to animated text in Motion. When Layout Method is set to Scroll, the following occurs: The Transform Glyph tool is not available; the Offset, Rotation, and Affects Layout controls in the Format pane are not available; and the text is flattened, so the Flatten, Render Text, and Face Camera controls are not available. (See the Flatten checkbox description in Text Rendering controls in Motion.)
- Crawl: Positions the text in a single string (within project safe zones) along the bottom of the project in preparation for a crawl or ticker-type animation. Double-click the text in the canvas to display a scroll control below the text-entry field. Crawl does not animate the text—text is only positioned and formatted in preparation for you to create an animation using keyframes or behaviors. For more information on animating text, see Intro to animated text in Motion. When Layout Method is set to Crawl, the following occurs: Tabs are not available; the Transform Glyph tool is not available; the Offset, Rotation, and Affects Layout controls in the Format pane are not available; and the text is flattened. As a result, the Flatten, Render Text, and Face Camera controls are not available. (See the Flatten checkbox description in Text Rendering controls in Motion.)
Direction: A pop-up menu to set the direction for the flow of letters. Choose Horizontal or Vertical.
Auto-Shrink: A pop-up menu (available when Layout Method is set to Paragraph, Scroll, or Crawl) to decrease the vertical or horizontal scale of selected letters to ensure that text fits within the margins of the text object. Choose one of the following options:
- Off: No scaling occurs. Text exceeding the width or height of the text object extends beyond the visible edges of the screen for scrolling or crawling text, or wraps to the next line for paragraph text.
- Left and Right: Proportionally scales the text to fit within the left and right margins of the text object.
- Left and Right Stretch: Stretches the text to fit within the left and right margins of the text object. This setting is primarily used with scrolling text, to ensure that no characters are cut off. However, it can be applied to other text objects.
- Top and Bottom Stretch: Stretches the text to fit within the top and bottom margins of the text object. This setting is primarily used for crawling text, to ensure that no characters are cut off. However, it can be applied to other text objects.
- To All Margins: Proportionally scales the text to fit within the left, right, top, and bottom margins of the text object.
Crop At Margins: A checkbox that, when selected, crops text that extends past the margins of the text object. This control is disabled when Auto-Shrink (described above) is enabled.
Note: For Crop At Margins to be active, Layout Method must be set to Paragraph, and the text object must be flattened. For more information about flattening text, see Text Rendering controls in Motion.

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Motion User Guide

Text Layout controls in Motion