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Create True 3d Text Effects Using After Effects

Liza Brown
Liza Brown Originally published Aug 17, 22, updated Mar 27, 24

Every video creator wants to make their videos eye-catching and get the message delivered to the viewers properly. If you have regular graphic elements and texts, your video is not going to be as engaging as expected. That is why video creators always try to include trending and attention-grabbing effects and animations in the video. There is no doubt that 3D animations for texts and titles look really amazing.

Different video editors have different 3D text animations and effects that you can apply to the text on your video and get instantly noticed by your viewers. You can apply 3D text animation on premium video editors like After Effects as well as apply 3D text effect online. We will illustrate how to create stunning 3D text animations with different video editors in simple steps.

In this article
  1. Part 1. Create True 3D Text Effects using After Effects
  2. Part 2. Create 3D Camera Animation
  3. Part 3. Make Stunning 3D Text Effects Online
  4. Part 4. Alternative Way to Create 3D Text Animation

Part 1. Create True 3D Text Effects using After Effects

After Effects is a premium video editor where you can create true 3D text effect from scratch. First of all, you need to create a new composition and add your text to your video. You have to enable 3D option for the text and add depth and lighting texture to get 3D effect. Therefore, you should first create 3D text effect and thereafter, animate 3D text as per your preference. Here are the steps to create 3D text After Effects easily.

Step1Launch After Effects and click on New Composition from Project section. Set the different parameters on Composition Settings and click on Ok button.

new composition after effects

Step2Click on Type Text icon located at the top bar and type a text on the video. After typing the text, go to the Character panel to the right and adjust the style of the text.

adjust text style after effects

Step3You have to enable 3D option for the text from the 3D icon on text layer. Under text layer, click on Transform and use X-Y-Z rotation options to rotate the text from 3D perspectives.

rotate text after effects

Step4Similarly, click on Geometry Options and add depth to your text to get 3D effect on your text.

click geometry after effects

Step5You have to create a new Camera layer by right-clicking Timeline and go to New>Camera option. You will get Camera Settings window to adjust the parameters and click on Ok button.

new camera layer after effects

Step6Use the Orbit Tool to rotate the text to get the true 3D effect visible on the screen.

rotate text with orbit tool

Step7You need to get the lighting and shading for your 3D text. Right-click on Comp window and go to New> Light. Adjust the parameters from Light Settings window.

adjust light after effects

Step8You can adjust Transform and Light Options from Comp window under Light layer for better effect.

add transform after effects

You have successfully created 3D text effect on After Effects. You will now illustrate how to animate the 3D text.

Part 2. Create 3D Camera Animation

You have prepared your text with 3D effect, and you can have multiple 3D texts on your video. It is time to animate those 3D texts so that the 3D effect becomes more prominent and the text instantly grabs attention. You do not have to create animation from scratch as there are 3D animation presets available. All you need to do is apply them to your 3D texts and they will start to animate automatically. Besides, you can create 3D camera animation to show the texts from different camera perspectives. Here are the steps to use 3d animated text generator on After Effects.

Step1Once you have created your 3D text effect, go to Effects & Presets panel.

Step2Go to Text> 3D Text and you will see all the different 3D animation presets that you can apply.

preview 3d text animation presets

Step3Drag and drop your desired 3D animation directly to 3D text layer.

Step4If you want camera animation on your 3D text, select the Camera layer you already created. Press C to get the Orbit tool to get the starting position of the 3D text. You can also use Dolly tool and Pan & Zoom tool for adjustment.

get start position 3d text

Step5Now add a keyframe on Position option from Transform option to mark the starting point of the animation. Similarly, add another keyframe where you want the animation to end.

add keyframe position

Step6Use the Orbit tool, Dolly tool and others to position 3D text as per how you want the animation to end.

3d text tools

Part 3. Make Stunning 3D Text Effects Online

Since adding 3D effects to text is a rather heavy task in video editing, there are many who think that you cannot add 3D text effects without a dedicated video editor application. But there are many renowned online video editors available where you can create amazing 3D text effects and animations with a few clicks.

In fact, you can use 3d animated text generator online to get any desired text in 3D mode. We recommend FlexClip full-featured video editor for 3D text animation online. You can select from available 3D text templates and apply different motion animations. Here are the steps to follow.

Step1Open your web browser and “flexclip.com/editor/app”. Go to Media tab and import your video and add it to the Timeline.

import video to flexclip

Step2Go to Text and click on See All for Text Styles. Scroll down and check out the 3D text templates available. Click on any desired template to apply to your video.

3d text tempaltes flexclip

Step3Double-Click on 3D text present on Viewer and edit the style and text as per your preference.

edit 3d text flexclip

Step4Click on three-dot icon at the top of Viewer and click on Motion option.

click motion flexclip

Step5Select any desired motion effect and you will see your 3D text animation on Viewer when you play the video.

select 3d text animation flexclip

Part 4. Alternative Way to Create 3D Text Animation

When you use an online video editor to create 3D text animation, there will have limited 3D text effects. We can use After Effects to create 3D text animations from scratch. But you may find the steps slightly complicated and we recommend Filmora as the best alternative way to create 3D text animation. Filmora is a premium video editor that is equally popular among amateurs and professionals. Here are the steps to create 3D text animations using Filmora in simple steps.

Step1Download and install Filmora on your computer. The video editor is available for Windows and Mac users. Click on New Project button on welcome screen or go to File> New Project option.

download and install filmora

Step2Go to File> Import Media > Import Media Files to import the video file. Alternatively, drag and drop the video file directly into Project Media folder. Put the video file into Timeline to get started.

import media files

Step3Go to Titles tab and go to left panel, click on Titles option. Search “3D” in the search field and check out all 3d text effects and animations available.

select 3d title filmora

Step4Drag and drop 3D text templates on Timeline. You should place the effect on the Timeline where you want it to appear on the video. You can also adjust the duration of the effect as per your requirements.

drag 3d tempaltes timeline

Step5Double-click on the text layer to customize the text and style. Play the video and click on Export button to save the edited 3D text video.

edit 3d text filmora

Conclusion

There is no doubt that if you include 3D text effects and animations in your video, your video will definitely stand out. The viewers will find the video engaging and understand the message that the video creator wants to get across. We have illustrated how to make stunning 3D text animations. You can also use 3d text generator online. But we recommend Filmora as the best and the easiest video editor to create 3D text animations instantly.

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Liza Brown
Liza Brown Mar 27, 24
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