Working with geometric constructs

The next trick I'd like to show you is how to use a combination of parenting and…null objects to quickly and easily create what would otherwise be complex…geometric structures.…This particular trick is not in the After Effects Apprentice book, but don't worry. [00:00:120.27] You can use any source for it.…I want to go up to Composition > New Composition. I'm going to pick some preset…that happens to have Square Pixels.…This just removes any pixel aspect distortion for what you see.…It's not required what I am doing and I'll give it a name such as…Parenting-construct and click OK.…

You can use the any layer for this trick.…I'm just going to use a text layer just for fun.…Now I'll type in any nonsense word such as geometric.…I can pick whatever font that I want, or in this case it may be fun to use a…symbol font such as say, look down further in the list here, Zapf Dingbats or one…of the Wingdings fonts.…That way you get all sorts of interesting strange looks.…I use the up and down cursor keys to quickly move between these choices. That's Zapf.…