Editor Feature
Kinetic Text Animations for Playable Ads
Animating a headline letter by letter changes how it reads. A bounce entrance on a casual game's app name says fun before anyone has read it; a typewriter reveal on a strategy game's tagline sets a slower, deliberate pace. Kinetic text applies per-character animations to any Text object using 7 presets, and the exported ad plays them exactly as the editor preview does, with no animation library added to the output file.
The presets are Letter Bounce (each letter grows up out of the baseline with an overshoot), Letter Wave (letters rise into place in a quick ripple), Typewriter (letters appear one after another), Flip In (each letter rotates into place about its own center), Drop In (letters fall in from above and settle with an elastic bounce), Scramble (letters arrive in shuffled order with a little jitter) and Wave Loop (an idle loop that keeps the line gently bobbing once it has arrived). Each preset can be configured with a stagger delay (the time gap between each successive character starting its animation), which controls the cascade speed from nearly simultaneous (0–20ms, reads as one unified motion) to a slow deliberate reveal (80–150ms, each character is individually noticed).
Kinetic text is on every plan, Free included, and works on any Text object in any editor mode: Image, Video or End Card. It is fully compatible with word wrap and the text auto-expand height feature, so animated headlines reflow correctly across canvas sizes without layout adjustments. A kinetic text object adds only its text and preset settings to the file, and it animates in step with everything else in the scene.
How it works
Select a Text object and open the Animate tab
Click any existing Text object on the canvas or add a new one from Add New Object. In the Properties panel, switch to the Animate tab. The Animate tab is shared by all object types and holds the entrance, loop and exit presets; for Text objects it adds a Kinetic Text (per-character) section and a Kinetic Text — Idle (Loop) section. Click a preset card to apply it, and the active Kinetic Text card shows its Per-char duration ms, Stagger ms, Start delay ms and Easing.
Choose a preset
The 7 presets are listed as cards: Letter Bounce, Letter Wave, Typewriter, Flip In, Drop In and Scramble as entrances, and Wave Loop as an idle loop. Typewriter and Letter Wave suit a tagline that should read cleanly without distracting from the interactive elements around it. Drop In and Flip In give an app name or headline a real arrival on an end card, where the motion draws the eye toward a CTA button below. Letter Bounce and Scramble are natural fits for reward text ("You Win!", "Level Complete!") where the movement adds to the celebration, and Wave Loop keeps a line gently moving once it has arrived.
Set the stagger delay
The Stagger ms field sets the delay, in milliseconds, between each successive character starting its animation. A stagger of 0 ms makes all characters animate simultaneously, which reads like the standard entrance on a non-kinetic text object. A stagger of 30–50 ms creates a fast cascade that reads as animated without slowing the viewer down. A stagger of 80–120 ms creates a deliberate, one-letter-at-a-time pace.
Combine with word wrap and export
Word wrap and text auto-expand height work identically on kinetic text objects. The character-splitting logic operates on the final rendered text after reflow, so characters on the second and third lines of a wrapped headline animate in the same sequence as those on the first line. When you export, the object ships as its text and its preset settings; the ad splits it into characters and staggers them in with the same code the editor preview runs, so what you timed on the canvas is what plays, and there is no separate animation library in the output.
Specifications
| Property | Detail |
|---|---|
| Presets | 7 — 6 entrances (Letter Bounce, Letter Wave, Typewriter, Flip In, Drop In, Scramble) and 1 idle loop (Wave Loop) |
| Plans | Every plan, Free included |
| Stagger control | Per-character delay in milliseconds |
| Word wrap compatibility | Full: characters split after reflow |
| Export output | Animated per character, exactly as in the editor preview |
| Per-object overhead | Only the object's text and preset settings |
Use cases
Casual game end card: bouncy app name reveal
The app name on a casual game end card should feel as fun as the game itself. Applying the Letter Bounce preset with a 40ms stagger to the app name text pops the name in letter by letter, each landing with a small overshoot. Pair this with the Flip In preset on a short tagline at a 25ms stagger (slightly faster, to contrast with the slower bounce) and the top of the end card has personality before the player has read a word. A 300ms start delay on the app name lets the background appear first.
Action or competitive game: Drop In hero headline
Action game end cards often use bold single-word headlines or short punchy phrases ("DOMINATE.", "BUILD YOUR ARMY.") where the Drop In preset with a 20–30ms stagger brings each letter down from above and settles it with an elastic bounce, arriving at a natural reading pace. The downward motion works well when the CTA button is positioned below the headline, because it carries the eye down toward the conversion point. A 200ms start delay lets the background fade in before the headline arrives.
Strategy or narrative game: typewriter-style reveal
Games with a narrative hook or world-building element benefit from the Typewriter preset on descriptive text in the end card: a flavor-text quote, a map name, an opening premise. The Typewriter preset reveals characters one at a time, as if it were being typed. That slows the reader down on purpose and gives them time to take in the detail. A stagger of 60–80ms creates a reading-speed typewriter pace for typical headline lengths.
Video playable overlay text: Wave Loop on instruction prompts
In the Video editor, kinetic text is useful on instruction prompts such as "Hold to charge" and "Tap the target". The Wave Loop preset keeps a prompt gently bobbing letter by letter, which draws attention to the text without being distracting over the footage. Pair it with Timed Appearance so the prompt is on screen exactly when the footage needs it.