How to Animate Text in iMovie on Mac?

“Can I use iMovie for animation?”

Yes, the animation can be done in iMovie, but the process is pretty challenging for beginners and non-tech guys. We'd love to introduce you to the most straightforward alternative of iMovie in the first section due to the same reason. However, let’s first understand the advantages when you animate text in iMovie or any other software.

For instance, let’s talk about the wonders an animated text can do in your brand’s video clip. The very first benefit is the presentation of complex information in a simple way. Then, the attractive look of animated text makes your project look more professional than others.

The iMovie text animation or animation with other editors is also responsible for the viewer’s increased engagement. It further makes your content shareable among a more extensive audience base.

Part 1: How to Easily Animate Texts in Video with iMovie Alternative?

There is nothing considerable than Wondershare Filmora if you are looking for the easiest alternative to iMovie. This Mac video editor is beginner-friendly and includes advanced editing tools to be used by professionals. Its easy drag and drop interface is quick and practical at the same time.

Wondershare Filmora – The Easy Alternative to iMovie Text Animation

• The Wondershare Filmora allows 2D and 3D animation with six different kinds of keyframes.
• The features such as audio mixing and auto color correction enhance the animation project to a new level.
• It supports and features tons of text fonts to be used in the animation.
• You can also create characters, objects, high-quality 3D backgrounds, and terrains.

Steps to Animate Texts in Wondershare Filmora

Here are the detailed steps of text animation in Wondershare Filmora for your reference.

Step 1: Download Wondershare Filmora

The first step is to install Wondershare Filmora. Hit the Try It Free button to proceed with the steps of installation.

Once installed, launch the application, and from the Welcome interface, choose the “New Project” option to proceed.

Step 2: Import your project

You can now import the media files to the Filmora workspace by dragging them or executing Files > Import Media > Import Media Files.

Step 3: Add texts/titles

To add texts or stuff like titles, openers, subtitles, and credits with Filmora, tap the “Titles” tab that you can find on the top toolbar.

Step 4: Customize/personalize the text effects

Once you decide what text item you want to place on the video, apply them on the timeline, and click on it to personalize them in terms of font, color, and so on.

All these steps carried out are under the Preset option. Here, you can set the duration for the text effects in the video on the preference window.

Step 5: Edit the texts

By clicking the Animation option next to preset, you can start animating the text and preview them on the preview screen.

You can also perform other options like color, alignment, and spacing, and once done, tap the “OK” button.

Filmora offers the option of advanced editing, too, whereby clicking the “Advanced” option will take you to the “Title Inspector” window.

You can also double-click the Text to open the advanced editing panel option to change the animation.

If you are over with the text addition and related adjustments, you can tap the “Save As Custom” option and tap OK on the following window.

Part 2: How to Animate Text in iMovie on Mac?

Let’s now explore the steps to animate Text in iMovie via Keynote animation as described below.

Step 1: Download Keynote

Firstly, download Keynote from the Mac store to proceed with iMovie text animation in further steps.

Step 2: Export video image from iMovie to Keynote

Go to your iMovie project, drag the playhead to where you want to add animated text, and click on the Share button to select the Image.

Then, it will share this image as JPEG which you need to bring down to Keynote. What you need to do is to create an animation (lower-third animation in this case) above the image, remove the background, and export just the animation to iMovie as an overlay.

Step 3: Remove slide background

Make sure that you haven’t selected any object on the slide to remove its background. Go to Format > Background > No Fill tab.

Step 4: Export lower-third animation as video to iMovie

Go to File > Export to > Movie to open the Export window. Click the Cancel tab after selecting the Self-Playing option. Then, you need to head towards the ‘Animate’ tab as shown below.

Now, you can see the Self-Playing settings of text animation after clicking the Build Border tab below.

Again, go to File > Export to and select Custom in the resolution to input the resolution the same resolution settings to match in iMovie. Then, you need to choose Apple ProRes 4444 to export the animation as being transparent in the background.

Then, you are required to click the Next > Save As > Export tab to proceed with iMovie.

Step 5: Preview text animation in iMovie

Hover again to the iMovie from Keynote, drag the video file that you have just saved to iMovie’s timeline as an overlay to the previous project.

So, this is how you have to first consider using the Apple Keynote Presentation bundle to animate Text in iMovie. The reason is that the iMovie cannot create this kind of animation by own. Thus, the steps of installation of Keynote, importing, and exporting the files are a bit additional here.

Conclusion

So, these were the two ways to animate text in videos. We have set the first section as the easiest alternative to iMovie text animation and the second as the step-by-step guide on how to animate text in iMovie on Mac device.

All in all, Filmora offers a better and quick solution when it comes to the elimination of additional steps as in iMovie. Also, the steps are pretty simple in Filmora than certain manual adjustments and iMovie and Keynote. Overall, the learning curve to text animation in Filmora is very less than iMovie or Keynote, especially for beginners.