How to animate text being typed out with Type
Animating text being typed out is a common task for motion designers. That’s why Type, the After Effects plugin, has several tools to help you do just that.
How to animate text being typed out
The Typewriter button in Type will animate your text being typed out. It will automatically lay down some keyframes for you, which you can freely adjust to perfect the timing. You can also switch between animating text by character, by word, or by line.
This function has a lot of advantages over the built-in Typewriter preset. Type controls the actual source text. This makes it work exactly how you’d expect regardless of text alignment. And it will properly mimic paragraph text as a word begins flowing to the next line. Conversely the default preset only works as a mask – revealing your text from its final position.
How to add a blinking cursor to your text
The Blinky button in Type will add a blinking cursor to the end of your text. Unlike many other tools, this blinking cursor is its own shape layer. This will automatically attach to the end of your text – and is designed to work perfectly with the Typewriter function.
With the shape layer selected you can customize the appearance in the Blinky controls, including the color, size, and how fast it blinks.
How to vertical align your text
When you have multiple lines of text in After Effects, your text flows down. But there are often times when it should flow up (i.e. animating a text message being typed out). This is where the Text Up function comes in handy.
With your text selected, click the Text Up button. Nothing will change immediately, but as each new line break is added to your text, the text will begin to flow up. Alternatively, you can hold shift and click the Text Up button and your text will flow from the center.
Essentially this allows you to vertically align your text however you like. And this is also designed to be compatible with the Typewriter and Blinky functionality.
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