Apply and adjust animations

Animate visuals in your scene to change their position, size, cropping, rotation, or opacity over time. In this guide, we’ll share how to create and adjust animations to control exactly how a layer moves or changes.

This article covers:

Add an animation to a layer

  1. Select the visual or text layer in the Scene Editor.
  2. In the hover menu, click Animation.
  3. Choose a preset from the dropdown, or select Custom.

Animation button in hover menu

Remove an animation

  1. Select the animated layer in the Script editor.
  2. Click Animation in the hover menu.
  3. Open the options menu for the animation.
  4. Select Remove.

You can also add or remove animations from the Properties panel.

Available animation presets

Choose from the following in/out presets for visual or text layers:

Preset Description
Blur Fade from or to a blurred layer.
Spin Spin the layer into or out of view.
Wipe Wipe the layer to reveal or hide it.
Appear Text fades in word by word (text only).
Fade Fade to or from black.
Reveal Text slides in from a direction—left, right, top, or bottom (text only).
Scale Animate the scale of a layer.
Slide Slide a layer into or out of view from any direction.
Zoom and pan Zooms and pans across a visual (not supported on text).
Ken Burns Allows smooth, directional zooms and pans with fine-tuned control.

Animation presets and script track layers

In/out presets are designed for b-roll layers with defined start and end points. Script layers are continuous and don’t support these presets—you’ll need to use custom keyframe animations instead.

Custom keyframe animations

With a custom animation, you control exactly how a visual or text element appears, moves, or changes over time. Define the start and end using keyframes, then adjust properties like position, size, and opacity.

Add and adjust a custom keyframe animation

  1. Select a visual in the Scene Editor.
  2. Click Animation, then select Custom.
  3. Your animation appears in the timeline with two keyframes.

Custom animation keyframes in timeline

  1. Select the start keyframe and adjust position, size, rotation, cropping, or opacity.
  2. Repeat for the end keyframe.
  3. Press Esc to exit animation mode.

To re-adjust animations, click Edit keyframes in timeline in the Properties panel.

Edit keyframes in timeline button

Text animation by unit

Animate text by word, line, or paragraph using the Appear and Reveal presets.

  • By word: Each word animates separately.
  • By line: Each line animates as a unit.
  • By paragraph: The entire paragraph animates together.

Text animation by word, line, and paragraph

Animation curves

Animation curves control pacing between keyframes. By default, animations use a linear curve (constant speed), but easing options create more natural motion.

Open Animation settings in the Properties panel to choose a curve.

Animation curve example 1 Animation curve example 2

Adjusting animations in bulk

Descript does not currently support applying or editing animations in bulk. Submit a feature request →