Moving Text: Add Animated Text to Video

If you're looking for a simple, easy way to add animated text to video, look no further. In this quick tutorial, I'll walk you through the process of adding moving text to your videos to make them stand out even more. It's fast, fun, and easy to do!

Moving Text: Add Animated Text to Video

As a video creator, readable text is a must for making content that's accessible across social media platforms. When people are scrolling, they seldom turn on the sound, even when watching an IGTV video, so a short caption to provide context makes all the difference. With the help of online tools, creators can add text, change the font, add animations, and throw on a background color to create compelling captions.

For creators looking to level up their text, I recommend using Kapwing. With Kapwing’s Online Keyframe Editor, you can add animated text to video in a matter of minutes.

Here’s how:

  1. Upload your video to Kapwing
  2. Add text
  3. Animate your text
  4. Export and download

1. Upload Your Video to Kapwing

Head over to Kapwing on any device with a browser and click "Start Editing" to open the Kapwing editor. Then, you can drag and drop a video into the Studio, click "Upload," or copy and paste a video link. Keep in mind that you’ll need a Pro Account if your video file is larger than 250 MB. If it’s smaller, however, you can use the free version.

New to keyframing? Learn the keyframe animation basics if you'd like a primer on how to apply keyframing to your videos.

2. Add Your Text

Once the video is uploaded, it’s time to add the text. Simply click on the "Text" icon on the left toolbar and type in your text. Then, pick out your favorite font, color, and background to style the words.

Because you’ll want your text to be animated, you don’t need bright, explosive colors or fonts that are too funky – the animation alone will make your text pop. Experiment with different fonts and colors to find what works best for you!

If you want word-by-word subtitles instead, try Kapwing's AI Subtitle Generator to create video captions based on your video's audio.

3. Animate Your Text

Now for the fun part: select the text box and, in the right-hand menu, click the “ANIMATE” tab. This tool will allow you to select animation, such as flicker, fade, hue rotate, and so on. Select the animation speed and change the color of the text and the background if you choose to.

Use the "Apply To" options to apply the animation to the intro, outro, or both. This helps you make your text fade in, fade out, or transition in and out with an animation.

Currently, the text animation library has 9 pre-set options:

  • Drop: Appears from the top of the text box.
  • Flicker: Like a candle's flicker, the text flashes to appear and disappear before staying in place.
  • Fade: Opacity goes from 100% to 0%
  • Pop: The text grows bigger than the text box, then shrinks to appear in place.
  • Reveal: Rolls out from left to right.
  • Wipe: Rolls out from left to right with a colored background.
  • Vibrate: The text box shakes slightly in all directions. This is an in-place animation that continues while the text appears on the canvas.
  • Hue rotate: The color of the text cycles through hue values (holding saturation constant). This is an in-place animation that continues while the text appears on the canvas.

Once you set the text animation, use the timeline to adjust when the animation will start relative to the beginning of the video. Drag the layer too delay the start time or use the start/end time sliders to increase or decrease the length of the video. The text animation will start when the cursor reaches the layer's start time.

Adjust when the text layer appears and disappears in timeline

4. Export and Download

Your video with added animated text is ready to go! Simply hit “Export Video” at the top of the Studio and wait for the video to process. Then download the video or use the provided links to share it to a popular social media platform.

If you're sharing the video on Instagram or Facebook, don't forget to tag us @kapwing.app - we're pumped to see what our creators come up with!

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