How do I move text shapes?? (first timer)

[yy4u2rel82]

Hi everyone. So this weekend was my first time using After Effects. I bought a little intro from video hive and nervously purchased, because I noticed the creator doesn't seem to reply to questions. Still.. I can usually figure something out if I keep at it so I clicked the buy button.

It was actually pretty fun to play around in After Effects all weekend and I learned a lot. Things were going very well except for one issue I simply cannot figure out. I emailed the creator and commented with a question and as suspected ( I noticed a prior question took him a year to reply to ), I have heard nothing back.  I know it might be difficult to troubleshoot someone's project, but I'm out of ideas and I have tried everything to modify what looks to be something easy. 

I have inserted all my own photos/videos and edited text. My problem are the little color shapes the creator put behind the text. I can change their color with no problem... but they are right in the middle of the project and I need them down in the right corner, where I moved my text (or even gone completely would be better than what I have now). Even if I turn off images and text for the timeline where I'm at, these shapes remain and I can't drag them anywhere. If I hit 'Edit Color', I can change the color but again.. they won't budge. Any idea how I can move these colored shapes that are behind the text... what I might try? 

Thanks much!

[Dave_LaRonde]

Here's a hard truth: possession of a template does NOT guarantee success in After Effects.

Templates are complicated.  If they were simple, everyone would make them and no one would have to sell them, right?

Templates also do not share standardized organization methods.  They follow the logic of the person who made it.

People who work in AE also share a standard nomenclature for effective communication with each other.  You don't know the language.

So put them all together and there isn't a good way for anyone to help.  If you can, please show us screen shots of the problem you're having.  We might be able to dope it out.

In the meantime, I urge you to spend a LOT of quality time here:

After Effects tutorials | Learn how to use After Effects CC

If learning how to use a video editing application is like learning to drive a car,  learning AE is like learning to pilot a fighter jet.

[yy4u2rel82]

Thanks, Dave.  I appreciate the honesty.  I picked up Premiere in no time so just assumed AE would be more of the same, but I believe you now!  I'll try and put together a video using OBS and post that... maybe someone can sort it out through that if I still haven't heard back from the author (gut feeling I won't).

Thanks.

[yy4u2rel82]

OK... Here's a video I just created that shows my problem.  Maybe someone will see something.
Thanks. 

[Szalam · Accepted solution]

It's tucked away in a precomp you haven't opened yet. Go into your text comp and press the Tab key to pull up a mini flow chart and you can use that to go back and see the comp that comp is embedded in. Poking around your comp hierarchy like that will eventually lead you to where those shapes are hiding.

[yy4u2rel82]

Thank you!  That's all I was hoping for.. just something to check. I will do that when I get home from work this evening and holler back. Much appreciated!

[Szalam]

You can approach it from the other end too. Just double click on some of the precomps in your main comp (pick the one under your current time indicator when you can see the elements you want to change) and you should be able to see what they contain.

As Dave says, you really need to get a solid foundation in AE before you try doing too much. It's not like Premiere and Photoshop where you can kind of pick it up by poking around! You need a pretty solid training series.

[yy4u2rel82]

Thanks very much for your replies, Szalam. I found it! In my video, I had mentioned the Z_Assets folder at the very end as the only folder I hadn't gone through meticulously, as the tutorial (included pdf) made it sound like those were just files that belonged in the project but nothing that required any editing. So.. I posted here, thinking there must be another path to achieving the effect outside of just a comp that contained it.

On reading your comment, you convinced me that it had to be in a comp somewhere so it was the first time I really explored the Z_Assets folder and buried deep within, the text and overlays were all there, linked together... but I wasn't too worried about that. I removed the eyeball for each one and recreated a couple new layers to add the text that I wanted (with some cool little effects) and finally got there!  Whew! 

I really appreciate the time you took to help me. I don't anticipate ever using AE again outside of changing pics/music in this project, so was just looking for the quick help you provided. It's almost inevitable to get talked down to when you're a beginner just posting a basic question on a site such as this, so it was refreshing to find someone who cared enough to effectively communicate the solution.

I wish you all the best!

[Szalam]

Hooray! I'm glad you found it.

Happy to help. I love After Effects and use it almost every day, so I enjoy helping others find success with it too.