Text reveals

A reveal decides how a text clip’s words arrive and leave. It runs from the clip’s own first and last frames, so it needs no action and it moves with the clip.

Where: Clip tab ▸ Text ▸ Reveal
Agent tools: set_text

Add a reveal

Select the text clip.
In the inspector’s Clip tab, open the Reveal section of the Text sub-tab.
Choose Typewriter, Word Fade or Line Rise from the Reveal popup.
Set In and Out if you want something other than one second in and no exit.

Switching from one reveal to another keeps the times you set. Choosing None, or the section’s Reset, turns the reveal off and forgets them, so the next reveal starts at 1 s in and 0 s out.

When the section is closed, its header reads “off”, or the reveal and its In time, such as “typewriter · 1.00 s”.

The preview, a rendered frame and an export all work out each frame the same way, so what you see while scrubbing is what you’ll export.

The three reveals

Typewriter

The text types on, one character at a time. Spaces and line breaks count as characters, so the typing pauses at them. On the way out it backspaces, and the end of the text goes first.

Word Fade

The words fade in one after another. Each word’s fade overlaps the next by half, so it reads as a wave across the text rather than one word at a time. On the way out they leave in the same order, so the first word in is the first word out.

Line Rise

Each line fades in as it rises into place, starting 35 % of its own height below where it ends up. The top line goes first and the others follow. On the way out each line sinks and fades, again from the top.

A line on its way up is cut off at the edge of the text box. Over a backdrop that looks like a mask, and without one the line appears to slide out of nothing.

Lines are what the box makes them. In Auto-size only your own line breaks start a new line, so a single line of text rises all at once.

Set how long it takes

Control	What it does	Default	Range	Quick picks
In	How long the arrival takes, from the clip’s first frame.	1 s	0 to 10 s	0, 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2
Out	How long the departure takes, counted back from the clip’s last frame.	0 s	0 to 10 s	0, 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2

A time of 0 means that end of the reveal doesn’t happen. With In at 0 the text is whole on the first frame, and with Out at 0 it stays whole to the last.
Both times snap to whole frames.
Both rows are greyed while Reveal is None.
If In and Out add up to more than the clip’s length, the two overlap. The text never shows in full, and a short clip gets a partial reveal.

A reveal has no easing control, because the motion is part of the reveal you choose.

Word styles take over

On a caption page with a word style, the word style decides how the words appear. The Reveal section is greyed and notes “Word style wins; the reveal does not apply.” The page is drawn without any reveal.

Good to know

Backdrop and outline. A backdrop stays at full strength for the whole clip, so the words type or fade onto it. An outline arrives and leaves with its letters.
Trimming. In and Out are measured from the clip’s edges, so a trim moves the reveal with the new edge and keeps its length.
Splitting. After a split, the first piece keeps the arrival and loses the departure, and the second keeps the departure and loses the arrival. A piece left with neither has its reveal turned off.
Transitions. A reveal starts on the clip’s first frame, so a transition into a text clip plays over the start of the reveal.
Nests. Inside a nest, the text clip’s own edges count, not the nest clip’s. If the nest clip’s edge falls part way through a reveal, the reveal is cut off there.
Actions. With an action selected, these rows set the action’s end. A change of reveal switches at the action’s end rather than blending. In and Out ramp like any number, which shifts the reveal’s own timing while it plays, so it’s usually better to set them on the clip.
Right-to-left text. Typewriter can show the wrong part of a line when the text is right-to-left or mixes directions.

With an agent

set_text sets a reveal through animation: null turns it off, and {kind, in, out} sets it, with a kind of typewriter, word_fade or line_rise. On a page with a word_style, the word style is what’s drawn and animation has no effect. See Tools: text, shapes and clip names.