Filter: Text Grid.

Text Grid is a plug-in designed to fill a background with characters or symbols. The text characters can be randomly generated or come from user-supplied characters or numbers. These characters can remain static against a grid or change randomly. You have complete control over the text and grid characteristics and the way they behave.

This project by Reid Roberts uses Text Grid's random character generation for point size [play]

Using Text Grid, a dingbat font, and a displace map, we've floated Chinese text on clouds [play]

Use the underlying grid.

All of the Grid characteristics can be animated, and the Grid itself can be adjusted so it's not quite so rigid. You have complete control over the setup of the Grid, including Spacing, Font Size, and the number of Rows, Columns or Characters.

Most parameters have accompanying Randomness sliders to allow organic variation. By applying Randomness to the Grid Position, for instance, you can create a more irregular setup.

This gives you flexibility in the way the Grid looks, while maintaining the underlying ease of setup.

In this Chaos Stock project, multiple layers of Text Grid are used as background elements [play]

Use the Magnify feature.

In Text Grid, you can specify an image section to get magnified or de-magnified. This is especially useful if you've supplied your own text and want to highlight something or interact with other design elements.

These magnification points act like a built-in bulge distortion. You can set two Magnify areas and allow those points to interact. Set Jitter values to shake the text characters off their grid. A Taper function will lessen the effect as it gets further away from the center point.

Two Magnify options allow text to interact with other elements in the scene. [play]

You don't have to make a Grid. Just type one line and distort with the 'Magnify' points. [play]

Use the color features.

In Text Grid, you can specify a second color to randomly be distributed throughout the grid. This is called the Random Color. It's useful for making the text more varied and visually interesting.

The controls for second color can be interspersed with your main color to add some variation. One trick is to make the Random Color the color of the background. This will, in effect, make the other characters invisible. The invisible characters form an interesting pattern and add some subtle visual texture.

This Chaos Stock project explodes colors, blurs and glows along a Text Grid. [play] Learn more about Chaos Stock atr Chaosstock.com