Text Animation
The six per-character animation presets, the keyframable Progress property, the stagger and amount controls, and counter text.
Reference
- Tool
- Text
- Panel
- Typography
- Section
- Animation
A text object can carry one per-character animator or one counter. An animator moves, scales, rotates, and fades each character individually; a counter drives the text's content, formatting a number that runs between two values. Both are evaluated from the object's Progress property, which is keyframed on the text's timeline row.
The Animation section is available only while a text object is active on the canvas. Until one is placed, the section states that text must be placed first.
Choosing an animation
Selects what animates the text. The menu contains None, then the six per-character presets, then, after a divider, 123 Counter (numbers). None clears both the animator and the counter. The button shows 123 Counter when a counter is set, the preset's name when an animator is set, and None otherwise.
How far apart in time the characters run. 0 animates every character at once; 1 makes them fully sequential, each character finishing before the next begins. Shown only when an animator is set.
The size of the per-character effect — the offset distance for Fade Up and Drop In, the wave amplitude for Wave (loop), and the tilt scale for Cascade Rotate. Shown only when an animator is set, and hidden for Typewriter, which has no offset to scale.
Keys Progress from 0 to 1 on the text's timeline row. The button reads Re-key 0 → 1 on timeline once the property is already keyed. It is unavailable until an animator or a counter is set.
The six presets
Each preset stages its characters through the Stagger window. A character's own local progress is eased with a smoothstep curve, so it accelerates in and decelerates out rather than moving linearly.
Reveals one character at a time. Each character's opacity steps from 0 to 1 once its local progress passes the halfway point; there is no offset, scale, or rotation, which is why the Amount slider is hidden for this preset.
Each character fades in while rising into place from below. The offset distance is set by Amount.
Each character fades in while dropping into place from above. The mirror of Fade Up.
Each character fades in while growing from a fifth of its size to full size, scaled about its own centre.
Each character fades in while rotating from a tilt back to upright. Amount scales the starting tilt.
A continuous vertical wave running along the string, with Amount as its amplitude. This preset is driven by time rather than by Progress: it ignores the reveal entirely, holds every character at full opacity, and loops for as long as the object is on screen.
Progress
Progress is the property every preset reads, and it is keyframed from the text object's timeline row rather than from this panel. Animate on timeline is a shortcut that keys it from 0 to 1 for you; keying it by hand gives control over the timing, and the graph editor gives control over its easing.
Four other typography properties are keyframable on the same row: the text's size, its tracking, its leading, and its colour.
Wave is not driven by Progress
Wave (loop) runs from the shot's time, not from Progress. Keying Progress has no effect on it.
Counter text
Selecting 123 Counter (numbers) from the Style menu replaces the object's string with a formatted number. The number is computed from Progress: at 0 it reads From, at 1 it reads To, and it interpolates linearly between them. Because a counter drives the content rather than a per-glyph transform, the string it produces is typeset with the object's ordinary font, size, and tracking settings.
The value at Progress 0.
The value at Progress 1.
Fixed fraction digits. The value is rounded half-up, and the digit count is padded, so the string does not change width as it counts.
Inserts a thousands separator. Grouping is uniform three-digit Western grouping — 1,234,567 — regardless of the device's region setting.
Text placed before the number. The field's placeholder is $.
Text placed after the number. The field's placeholder is %.
To run a counter, key Progress from 0 to 1 across the frames it should count over, with Animate on timeline or by hand. The graph editor controls its pacing — an eased curve makes the count settle rather than stop dead.