How To Add Text In After Effects

In almost every video you come across, you will see text added to the video in different parts. There are various reasons why adding text to videos becomes a necessity. First of all, you can highlight the underlying message or key points in your video. Along with audio and video, the viewers will have another cue point in the form of text that they can retain in their memory for longer. You add animated texts to video to make the video interesting to watch and break the monotony of visual cues only.

Besides, you may have to want credits and add intro as well as outro to your video where adding text is almost a necessity. Text can help your viewer get the context of your video and make sense of the content. After Effects is a popular video editor thanks to its visual effects, text animation animations, and instant video enhancement tools. We will illustrate the different ways of adding text in After Effects in simple steps.

Part 1. Add Text in After Effects with Horizontal Type Tool

Once you have imported your video clip into the Timeline, there are several ways you can add text to your video. First of all, you can right-click on the Timeline and select New> Text to create an empty text layer and add any text you want. Similarly, you can go to Layer> New> Text option to do the same. But the easiest way of adding text in After Effects is by using Horizontal Type Tool. Here are the steps on how you can add text in AE with the type tool.

Step1Once you have imported your video into the Timeline, click on Horizontal Type Tool located in the top bar to add any text. You can press Ctrl+T(Windows) or Command+H(Mac) to get it instantly.

Step2Click on the video where you want to place the text and type your desired text there. After you are done adding your text, press Enter key in Num pad to exit out of the text field in the video.

Step3This will automatically create a text layer on Timeline. You can now move the text and place it anywhere you want. You can also modify the text style and add animation which we will illustrate in the next section.

Part 2. Use the Character Panel to Edit Text in AE

When you select Type tool and add your desired text, you get a default style for the text. It is most likely that you have to modify the text style such as changing color, font, and size to fit in your video seamlessly. That is when you have to visit the Character Panel. Character Panel is where you get to edit the font of the text you have typed, increase or decrease the font size, change the font color, and much more. Apart from that, you can increase the spacing between lines when your text is a paragraph instead of a few words. Here are the steps to use Character Panel to edit text in AE.

Step1Once you have typed your text using Horizontal Type tool on the video, click on the text.

Step2Go to Character panel located in the right side of the screen. If it is minimized, click on the panel to expand it.

Step3The first option in the panel is the font of the text. By the side of the font is the text color. You can use the color picker tool to choose any color as per your preference.

Step4Below the font, you can select the font style such as regular, bold, italics, and likewise. The subsequent part is to change the font size and adjust vertical spacing between lines and horizontal spacing between characters.

Step5The next section deals with Stroke option as well as fill the text option. You can fill the background of the text with any desired color.

Part 3. Add Animated Text to Video with Animation Presets

Now that you have added a static text and set the text format as per your preference, it is time to animate the text. A static text in a video does not look appealing, and animated texts make the video eye-catching instantly. You can use text animation presets in After Effects to add animated text to video. Here are the steps to add animated text to video with animation presets and effects.

Step1Click on the text on your video that you want to animate. Go to Effects and Presets panel located on the right side.

Step2Under Effects and Presets panel, Click on Text option. This will open all the different categories of animation presets available that you can apply to the text on your video.

Step3Select any desired animation that you want to apply to the text and drag and drop the animation on the text in the composition window. Play the video and watch the applied animation on the text.

Part 4. Alternative Way to Add Text to Videos

If you are not comfortable with After Effects as a video editor, we recommend Wondershare as the best AE alternative. This is because the user interface of Filmora is super simple and there are loads of text effects and animations available to enhance your video content. Filmora is a professional video editor that is extremely popular among amateur and professional video editors. The application is available for both Windows and Mac users. Here are the steps for adding animated text to video using Filmora.

Step1Install Wondershare Filmora on your computer and launch the application. Click on New Project option on the welcome screen. Otherwise, you can go to File> New Project option.

Step2Go to File> Import Media> Import Media Files to import your video file. You can also drop the video file directly into Project Media folder.

Step3Drag and drop the video file from Project Media folder into the Timeline. If you have multiple video clips, you need to arrange them sequentially on the Timeline.

Step4To add text to your video, go to Titles located at the top bar. Check the left panel where you can see different categories of text effects. Select any desired text effect and drop into the Timeline. Make sure that the text layer is above the video layer on Timeline. You can shift the text layer on Timeline to place it where you want it to appear. You can also stretch the duration of the text effect as per your requirements.

Step5You can edit the text effect by double clicking on the text layer on Timeline. Under Preset tab, you can change the text, font type and size, text color and much more. For further customization, you can click on Advanced button. At last, click on OK button to save the edits done.

The Bottom Line

If you want to add animated text to photo and video, After Effects is a great editor you can use. We have illustrated how you can add text and customize the text and finally, animate it as per your preference. However, if you are looking for AE alternative, we recommend Wondershare Filmora where you can add text to video instantly and choose from a wide range of text effects and animations.