Expression selectors in After Effects Text Animators is simple at the surface, but it can be kind of a dark art. If you are not carful, Expression Selectors can get complex really quickly.

The text layer in After Effects will allow you to add a special kind of selector. One that can accept an expression. You can use the Expression selector to tell After Effects “how much” you want a property to affect the characters in a string of text. Like other selectors, you can add as many expression-selectors as you like. So one or more Expression selectors can be applied to an animator group, and that animator group can contain one or more properties.

So you see, it can get out of hand pretty quickly. Here to demystify the black hole that these selectors can be, is  motion graphics artist and designer Joe Clay. Joe walks through a few examples that can hopefully help explain how to use Expression Selectors effectively, in your next project.

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