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AUGUST 14, 2003 Swimming with the Fishes In a previous article, we created the shape of an object out of its name. In this After Effects exercise, we’ll take a 2D fish and make its tail thrash in a 3D environment. Of course there are a number of ways you can make a layer appear to undulate to give the illusion of swimming, but in this exercise, we’ll use a simple expression, multiple layers, and some masks to complete the illusion.[an error occurred while processing this directive]If you haven’t already read the exercise where we created the text object, you can read that article here.  Step 1: Once you have your fish object created, you will need to pre-compose (command+shift+c on the Mac or Control+Shift+C on the PC) the layer so we can add additional masks.  Step 2: Draw a rectangular mask around the first letter in the object.  Step 3: With the fish layer selected, press the A key to bring up the Anchor Point property. Position the Anchor Point along the X-axis so it lines up with the front of the mask. Position the Y-axis as well  Step 4: Press the P key on the keyboard to bring up the Position property for the layer. Reposition the letter toward the left side of the screen.  Step 5: Duplicate the layer by pressing Command+D on the Mac or Control+D on the PC. Reposition the Mask, Anchor Point, and Position similar to the following image. NOTE: One way you can make sure alignment is correct is to make sure the edges of the masks touch.  Step 6: Repeat the last step for the remaining letters in your layer. 
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