5 Ways to Do Text Animations in After Effects
There are many ways to give your presentation a bit more finesse, and one of them is with text animations.
Today, we’ll go through five text animations you could use in your next video. We’ll be talking about basic text reveal, liquid text reveal, glitchy text, handwritten and echoey text.
Don’t worry, we’ll go through each text animation step by step.
Here’s a breakdown for each one:
- Basic text reveal: Text + Mask + Animator tab (under text layer)
Y position - Liquid text reveal: Text + Shape layer (Wave Warp effect) + Shape positioning & offset
- Glitchy text: Text + Adjustment layer (Displacement map effect) + Static footage
- Handwritten: Text + Mask + Stroke effect
- Echoey text: Text + 3D layer + Y Rotation + Echo effect
01 Basic text reveal
Step 1
Add Text Layer
Step 2
Select Text Layer > Use Pen Tool(G) to draw mask on text
(AE pen tool usage: layer selected > Mask, layer not selected > Shape)
Step 3
Use the Animate button inside the text layer (choose position)
Step 4
Add position keyframe in animator (Range Selector)
(Ex: 00:00 frame X 0.0 Y 0.0 > 02:00 frame X 0.0 Y 50.0)
Finished!
02 Liquid text reveal
Step 1
Add Text Layer
Step 2
Create Shape Layer
Step 3
Right-click on layers > Rename
(for the organising purposes)
Step 4
Add Wave Warp effect on shape layer
Step 5
Edit effect properties to your liking (wave height/ width, direction, speed)
Step 6
Put Shape Layer below Text Layer > use Alpha Matte mask
Step 7
After Alpha Matte is selected…
Step 8
Add keyframe on text layer (Y Rotation)
(Ex: 00:00 frame X 0.0 Y 0.0 > 02:00 frame X 0.0 Y 50.0 )
Step 9
Duplicate text and shape layer > give the comps some offset
(so the waves come up at different times)
Finished
03 Glitchy text
Step 1
External download
(download a static animation video of your liking)
Step 2
Add Text Layer
Step 3
Add Adjustment Layer above Text Layer
(Layer > new > adjustment layer)
Step 4
Add glitch video layer below text layer
(Download any static effect video in black and white)
Step 5
Add Displacement Map effect on adjustment layer
Step 6
Change properties for Displacement Map effect|
(Displacement map layer none > Glitch video layer)
Step 7
Turn off glitch video layer visibility
Finished!
04 Handwritten text
Step 1
Add Text Layer
Step 2
Pen Tool(G)
Step 3
Select Text Layer first > draw mask on text
Step 4
Add Stroke effect on the text layer
Step 5
Set properties for Stroke effect
(brush size, brush hardness)
Step 6
Set keyframe for start (text layer stroke effect) in the timeline
(Ex: 00:00 frame 0% > 02:00 frame 100%)
Finished!
05 Echoey text
Step 1
Add Text Layer > Change text property in Character tab
(fill:empty outline:white)
Step 2
Tick 3D Layer box > Add keyframe on text layer (Y Rotation)
(Ex : 00:00 frame 0% > 02:00 frame 360%)
Step 3
After applying 360-degree rotation on Y rotation…
Step 4
Add Echo effect to text layer
Step 5
Change properties for Echo effect
(echo time/distance, number of echoes)
Finished!
