This is like my other lesson, but this one for animated writing is for PI/DIP that has the transparency tool. So lets make this tag

I am making this tag from scratch, with a simple frame and background. Once you do this one you can try other textured or a pictured tag.
I start by opening a new project

I then go to FORMAT/RESIZE CANVAS. I want this tag fairly big, so I choose 300x200 pixel

Now I INSERT/SHAPE/SQUARE.

Take the border off of the square by to

Click on the top option

And it should look like this

Now I resize the square to cover my 300x200 area by clicking and holding the corner sizer ball

I want to fill my tag with a color, you can choose any color you like. I go to EFFECTS/FILL WITH TEXTURE OR COLOR and choose a color

And it looks like this

To make the frame I click on the shape selection tool

I click on the dropdown menu and choose the square

I start on the upper left corner, click and hold the mouse button and move toward the bottom right corner

I make a square like this

I now go to the selection tool window and choose the ADJUST MARQUEE button, so that I can make it fit over the tag.

The selection will become milky looking and you can now grab the sizer ball and pull to make it fit the area you want.

Click DONE

And I now have this

I go back to the selection tool window and choose INVERT

This selection the "frame" part of your tag.

While the frame part is selected, you will click CTRL+d to duplicate the frame part. In my stack at the right I see this.

To bevel my frame I click on the bottom frame and fill it with a dark color. And then I click the top frame and apply EFFECTS/EDGES/SOFT EDGES

My tag now looks like this

To make less layers in my stack, at this time I click on the top layer frame click and gold down CTRL and click the bottom layer frame, then click the lock at the bottom of the frames in the work area. Now I go click on the background of my tag and I again click CTRL+d to make another copy of it.

I add text

Click on the dropdown menu to choose a font

And depending on the font, I choose the size that fits my tag

And I choose the color

The more fancy the font, the more frames you may have to make to animate your tag, so be careful of using very swirly fonts.

My tag that you see at the top, took 45 frames, that means I moved and saved my tag 45 times!! Ok, now for the frames for my animation. I choose a little butterfly, you can choose anything...flower, pencil, pen or hand. After you have your text added, you want to go to your stack and click your mouse button, hold it and drag your text down BETWEEN the layers the 2 backgrounds. I want to have a background for my tag and a coverup for my text, that matches the background.

Once I move the text under the top layer of the background, I have this

When you are going to use the transparency tool you MUST always make sure you are using it on the layer covering your text ONLY!

Once I have my tag, text and my "writer" I want to start. I want to figure out where to place the writer on my tag, usually at the bottom or top of a letter. Once I choose the spot, I then click FILE/SAVE AS, give my first frame a name... usually a litter and number like "bu1.png". That will be frame number one. Now I click on the top background layer in my stack and I go to EFFECTS/TRANSPARENCY/TRANSPARENCY BRUSH and I will use these settings everytime I use this tool...and you have to reset them everytime.

Now I use the tool and I uncover a little part of the letter

Then I move the writer down to the new uncovered part

Once I have done these 2 steps I again FILE/SAVE AS and name my next frame. You will repeat each of these steps, until you have uncovered your complete name.

Here are a few of my frames to make my tag

Once you get all of your frames made, you can move the writer off of the tag and save one last time. Now you will close what you have open. Open all your frames at in numbered order. And go to TOOLS/FLIPBOOK and follow along, the first 2 windows just click next. The 3rd, see if the 300x200 option it offered, if not then click the dropdown menu and choose CUSTOM, then type in 300 x 200 in the boxes. Then you will click next and choose a speed, then next will show you your aniation. If you don't like the speed, then click the little arror at the bottom and make it slower or faster!

Have fun, try different things!