This tutorial shows how to turn text to sand or dust in After Effects, and then have it blow away in the wind - all without 3rd party plugins. This sand reveal effect is just one of 200 custom text styles at https://creationeffects.com/cr....eation-title-effects
This effect can also be tweaked to make a sparks transition, fairy dust, or sand assembling to form text, all using the CC Particle Systems II effect, which comes with After Effects. After Effects has surprisingly few tools for making good-looking text, like in Photoshop. If you create a lot of title animations in After Effects, check out the "Creation Title Effects" template at the link above. It uses the effects and layer styles available in After Effects to create detailed, polished titles that are ready to go - just change the font.
0:00 Intro
1:31 Adding Text & Particles
2:25 Animating Producer
3:50 Editing Other Properties
5:55 Adding Randomness
8:30 Warping/Turbulent Displace
12:30 Revealing Text/Linear Wipe
14:00 Sand Texture
16:05 Blending Mode
17:00 Other Cool Effects