May 16, 2012 - Using the built-in CC Light Sweep effect in After Effects you can change the parameters of this effect – making it big and bold, or more classy.

Create dramatic text in After Effects with this easy to create light sweep effect! VinhSon Nguyen over at shares his technique for creating a unique light effect in After Effects.

In the following tutorial you’ll discover how to add depth and movement to text elements, and then finish it off with a light sweep for dramatic effect. Using the built-in CC Light Sweep effect in After Effects you can change the parameters of this effect – making it big and bold, or more classy and subtle. The tutorial shows how to modify each of the light sweep settings, including direction, shape, intensity and blending mode.

Finally, you’ll learn how to add keyframes to animate the speed and direction of the light sweep. Check out this clean After Effects light effect to add flair to your project’s titles or credits!

Hey all- I just finished a super complex project, and noticed a big problem. I used CC light sweep on some AI files that had Collapse transformations/Continuously Rasterize on. These layers were flying through 3d space, sometimes sliding close to the camera.

Where these layers filled the composition, CC Light Sweep added some edge thickness to the edge of the frame. At those points the edges of my composition has a shiny bevel on it. I can't turn off Continuously Rasterize.

I've been trying to do some magic by precomping everything, and making the nested comp 5% larger (to hide this edge), but this screws up my camera's perspective. I also tried to alpha mask out the edge, to no avail. My last idea is to render out 1 comp with edge thickness at desired specs, and one with edge thickness dialed to 0. This has been a long proj and this is a final note on top of hundreds the client provided, so i'm unwilling to change much. Thanks for any suggestions. Rich http://www.richrama.com.

It's probably a characteristic of the filter and can't be helped, but I have no idea what you think you're seeing. You could try to contact Cycore, they're cool guys, might have a suggestions for you. I just ran CC Light Sweep on a text layer and a simple solid. I cannot figure out any way to remove the edge, it's inherent in the filter and is desirable in most applications.

There are innumerable other ways to get a light sweep. Suggest you pursue one of those since the output of CC Light Sweep cannot be changed. What happens if you use the CUTOUT reception option on a duplicate of your layer? In the olden days, we'd use a simple solid line (or a masked layer) and some blur and a blend mode. Bogiesan This is my standard sigfile so do not take it personally: 'For crying out loud, read the freakin' manual.'