Animate text, arrows and overlays with keyframes
Make text, an arrow, a box or a layer move across a video, grow or fade: set keys at a few moments and it travels from key to key.
01What can move
Keyframes work on a block of the Text row (words, a title or a picture), on an arrow, a box, a circle or a step from the Marks row, and on a layer block, over the whole picture or in a corner. Click it on the timeline: its page opens on the right, with the KEYFRAMES card under its own card. A spotlight, a blur and a pixelation have no keyframes, and neither do the parts of the Video row or a zoom.
02Set the first key
Move the play position into the block; outside it the card says Move the play position into the block to set a key there. Add a key here puts a key at the play position, with the item just as it is there. Its time shows as a chip in the card, and a small diamond marks it on the block's lower edge on the timeline.
03Set the next key and move the item there
Play or step to a later moment inside the block and press Add a key here again. Then move the item for that moment with the sliders: Across moves it left or right of where it lies, Down moves it up or down, Size makes it smaller or larger against its own size, and Opacity sets how clearly it shows. A slider moved where there is no key makes one there.
04Or drag it on the preview
Once a text block or a mark has a key, dragging it on the preview sets the key at the play position, and makes one there if there is none. Resizing a box or a circle on the preview sets its size for that key the same way. A layer is placed with the sliders, because dragging a layer on the preview chooses which part of its picture shows.
05How it travels
Between two keys every value changes in a straight line at an even pace, so the item glides, grows and fades together. Before the first key it stays as the first key sets it, and after the last key as the last one sets it. So one key on its own holds the item that way for the whole block, for example a layer at half opacity or a title moved a little higher.
06Go from key to key
Previous key and Next key move the play position to the key before or after it, and a click on a chip goes to that key. On a key, the button reads Remove this key. Remove all takes every key away, and the item goes back to where it lies, as large and as clear as it is. Every key you add or remove is a step of Undo.
07Moving and stretching the block
Keys count from the block's start, so they go along when you drag the block. Dragging an edge keeps every key on its moment of the video, and a key that ends up outside the block goes. A block takes up to 40 keys; past that the card says This block has as many keys as it can take.
08Check it and export
The preview shows the movement the way the export makes it, so play the block through before you export. The keys are kept with the edit and in a saved project.
Didn't solve it? Write to us - attach a diagnostics log if you have one. Missing a feature? Tell us what you would use it for; several of the recent ones started as a suggestion.