Animated text is text that moves on purpose: letters that drop into place, a word that pops on the beat, a line that types itself out like a terminal. Done well it tells the viewer where to look and how to feel about what they are reading. Done badly it is a title nobody can read because it never stops moving. This guide covers the vocabulary, how to choose a style, and the timing that keeps it readable.

If you are still deciding what kind of text a video needs at all (a title card, a lower third or captions), start with adding text and titles to a video, which covers sizes, contrast and safe zones. This post picks up once the text exists and the question is how it should move.

What In, Loop and Out mean

Every animated title has a life with three parts, and each part can have its own motion.

A video frame with captions burned in, one word highlighted as it is spoken.
Phase What it controls Typical length
In How the words arrive: fade up, drop, type on, spin in About a second
Loop How the words move while they are on screen: a gentle float, a pulse, a shimmer The whole time the title is visible
Out How the words leave About a second

You do not need all three. Most good titles use an In and nothing else, or an In plus an Out. A Loop is the strongest seasoning of the three: it keeps text alive on a long hold, and it also keeps the eye busy, which is the opposite of what a dense line of text needs.

In Zella, the 85 presets each offer some of the three phases. 68 have an In, 26 can Loop and 61 have an Out. Some are entrance-only (Terminal Boot, Flipboard, Flashbulb), some are Loop-only (Breathe, Heartbeat, Shimmer), and a few do all three, such as Firefly, Windblown and Prism Split. When a preset has no separate Out shape, its Out is the In played backwards, so the words leave the way they came.

Letter, word or line: what actually moves

The second decision is the unit: whether the motion runs one letter at a time, one word at a time, one line at a time, or on the whole title at once.

  • Per letter reads as crafted and playful. Letters can ripple, drop or type in. It is the most attention-grabbing, and also the slowest to settle on a long line.
  • Per word follows speech. It suits hooks and statements, where each word lands as you would say it.
  • Per line is calm and editorial. A two-line title arriving line by line gives the reader a moment with the first line before the second appears.
  • Whole title is the quietest: everything moves together, which is right for a fade or a focus pull.

Each preset has a default unit chosen for its shape (Letter Drift moves by letter, Word Beat by word, Line Cascade by line), and you can override it. Two kinds of preset limit the choice: Tracking presets push letters or words apart, so they only work by letter or by word, and typing presets need more than one piece to reveal, so they offer letter, word or line but not the whole title at once.

Alongside the unit, Stagger sets how much the pieces overlap (0% means everything moves at once) and Order sets which piece goes first: first to last, last to first, from the middle, from the edges, or random.

The 12 families, and when to use each

The families are grouped by feel, which is the useful way to choose. Pick the family that matches the tone of the video, then the preset that matches the length of the text.

Family Feels Good for Presets to try
Fade Calm, gentle Talking head, quotes, anything serious Whisper, Letter Drift, Word Beat, Line Cascade
Blur Soft, cinematic Openers, travel, mood pieces Focus Pull, Mist Letters, Dream Word, Lens Breath
Scale Punchy Hooks, numbers, reveals Pop Up, Inflate, Shrink Down, Heartbeat
Rotate Playful Kids, comedy, light explainers Whirl In, Tilt Settle, Pinwheel, Rocking
3D Physical, premium Product names, chapter titles Flip Up, Card Turn, Door Swing, Billboard Spin
Slide Clean, directional Lists, steps, lower-key titles Rise, Rise from Line, Glide, Shutter Lines
Bounce Energetic, fun Short-form hooks, reactions Ball Drop, Jelly, Spring Pop, Boing
Tracking Elegant, filmic Trailers, brand titles Gather, Exhale, Slam Tight, Cinematic Creep
Decode Tech, typed Coding, AI and tutorial videos Keystrike, Keystrike + Caret, Cipher Resolve, Terminal Boot
Wave Rhythmic, musical Music, lyrics, dance Swell, Ribbon, Flag, Ripple In
Glitch Digital, edgy Gaming, tech, transitions Jolt, Prism Split, Signal Drop, Slicer
Fill/Stroke Glowing, drawn Night, neon, highlights of a name Inkline, Neon Ignite, Color Sweep, Hollow Out

A few pairings that work in practice:

  • Calm explainer: Whisper or Focus Pull In, no Loop, the same preset Out.
  • Short-form hook: Pop Up or Ball Drop In by word, no Loop, out on a hard cut.
  • Tech tutorial: Keystrike + Caret In (it draws a typing caret as the letters appear), then a plain Out.
  • Music video lyric: Swell In with its Loop, so the words keep riding the beat while they are up.
  • Gaming clip: Signal Drop In, Stutter as a short Loop, Slicer Out.

Mixing families inside one title usually looks like a mistake. Mixing them across a video is fine as long as each kind of text keeps one style: every hook the same, every chapter title the same.

Timing and readability on short-form

Motion costs reading time. The viewer cannot read a word until it has stopped moving, so the useful length of a title is the time it spends still, not the time it spends on screen.

Reading aloud averages about 184 words a minute across 17 languages in one study, roughly three words a second (Wikipedia), and a viewer who also has to find the text on screen goes slower. A workable rule: after the In finishes, hold the text still for about one second per three words, plus a second for the eye to find it. A five-word hook wants around three seconds of stillness.

Practical rules for vertical video:

  • Keep entrances short. The presets take roughly 0.7 to 1.4 seconds to arrive at normal speed on a short line, and per-letter ones take longer as the line grows. On a long line, switch to per word or raise Speed (0.25x to 3x).
  • Animate the short text, not the long text. A three-word hook can be playful. A two-line explanation should arrive by line or as a whole and then sit still.
  • Respect the safe zone. Text that slides or spins in still has to land inside the frame. Keep it away from the edges and out of the bottom 20 percent, where platform buttons and captions sit.
  • Use Intensity before you change preset. Intensity (0% to 200%) scales how far the motion travels. A preset you like that feels too much at 100% often looks right at 60%.
  • Let the Out be quieter than the In. Viewers watch text arrive; they rarely watch it leave. A cut or a short fade is usually enough.

Motion that does not make people feel ill

Some viewers are sensitive to motion, and phones let them say so: iPhone has a Reduce Motion setting (Apple). Zella's own interface follows that setting, but animation you put inside a video is baked into the exported file, so a viewer's Reduce Motion switch cannot turn it off. That makes the editor responsible for restraint.

The web's accessibility rules are a good guide even for video. WCAG asks that nothing flash more than three times in any one second (W3C), and that moving content lasting more than five seconds can be paused (W3C). A video cannot offer a pause button for one title, so in practice:

  • Use flickering presets (Stutter, Jolt, Firefly) for a beat, not a whole scene, and never on large, bright, full-frame text.
  • Keep Loops gentle on long holds. Breathe or Lens Breath are fine for ten seconds; Nervous or Stutter are not.
  • Give dense text a still hold. If the words matter, they should stop.

How to animate text on a Mac

  1. Open your project in Zella and go to the Titles tab.
  2. Add a title, or select one on the timeline.
  3. Scroll to the TEXT ANIMATIONS section. It shows which title you are animating; with none selected, your pick goes on the next title you add.
  4. Choose In, Loop or Out at the top. A dot marks each phase that already has a motion.
  5. Pick a family tab, then hover a tile to preview it and click to apply. None clears that phase. The search box finds a preset by name or family across all 12.
  6. Adjust Speed and Intensity, and open Advanced for Stagger, Order and Unit (letter, word, line or the whole title).

On the Mac, titles also animate over still images, not only over video. The full control reference is in the docs on text animations and titles and kinetic text.

How to animate text on iPhone

  1. Open the project and select the title you want to animate.
  2. Open Text Animations.
  3. Choose In, Loop or Out, pick a family, and tap a tile to see it move.
  4. Use Speed and Intensity, and Advanced for Stagger, Order and Moves by (Letter, Word, Line or Whole title).

The same 85 presets are on both platforms, from one shared motion engine, so a title animated on the iPhone moves the same way when the project opens on a Mac. The iPhone side is documented in captions and titles on iPhone.

Two things the picker will not animate letter by letter: full-frame cards and badges on iPhone, and on the Mac the styles that draw text and graphics as one layer (lower thirds, text and list cards, credits and social badges). Those keep the original whole-title entrances, which live under the Classic tab.

Let the AI Assistant set it

If you would rather describe it than click it, the AI Assistant can set a title's In, Loop and Out for you, along with speed and intensity. Ask for something like "make the first title type in like a terminal and fade out", and it applies the presets as one undoable change. It uses the same presets as the picker, so you can open TEXT ANIMATIONS afterwards and adjust what it chose. More on editing by typing is in the AI Assistant guide.

Mistakes to avoid

  • Animating everything. If the captions, the title and the sticker all move at once, nothing stands out. Pick the one piece of text that matters most in the shot.
  • A Loop on reading text. A two-line explanation that keeps wobbling is never read. Loops belong on short words that are there for mood.
  • Per-letter motion on long lines. By the time the last letter lands, the viewer has scrolled. Switch to word or line.
  • Different styles for the same job. Five hooks in five families looks like five templates. One style per role reads as a brand.
  • Confusing animation with emphasis. A marker sweeping under one word is a highlight, not a text animation, and it is a separate tool: see animating a text highlight. Highlights sit in their own Highlight tab and work together with any In, Loop or Out.

Every preset is available in the free version, and the motion renders on your device like the rest of the captions and titles tools. Free exports run up to 2 minutes at 1080p; download Zella to try them on your own footage.

Frequently asked questions

How many text animations does Zella have? 85, in 12 families: Fade, Blur, Scale, Rotate, 3D, Slide, Bounce, Tracking, Decode, Wave, Glitch and Fill/Stroke. The Mac and iPhone apps share the same set.

What is the difference between In, Loop and Out? In is how the text arrives, Loop is how it moves while it stays on screen, and Out is how it leaves. Each title can have one of each, any two, or just one.

Can I animate text one letter at a time? Yes. Many presets already move by letter, and you can switch any preset's unit under Advanced (Unit on the Mac, Moves by on iPhone) to letter, word, line or the whole title. Tracking presets work by letter or word only.

What is kinetic typography? Kinetic typography is text that moves in time with what is being said or played, so the motion carries part of the meaning. Per-word In motions such as Word Beat or Jelly are the quickest way to get that effect on a title.

Are animated highlights part of the 85? No. Marker Highlight, Underline Draw and Box Trace are decorations drawn behind the words, in their own Highlight tab. They combine with any of the 85 text animations.

Are the text animations free? Yes. None of the 85 is a Pro feature, on Mac or iPhone. The free version exports up to 2 minutes at 1080p without a watermark.