Workflow · After Effects
Text animations,
just prompt them.
Five prompts to build stunning text animations natively inside After Effects. No plugins, no video generators, no external AI. You just type a prompt and the new AI Assistant builds the animators, expressions and controls for you.
After Effects Beta · AI Assistant
Everything below happens right inside After Effects with the new AI Assistant. Select a text layer, paste a prompt, and it creates the whole setup. Heads up: the Assistant lives in the After Effects Beta, not the regular version, but the Beta is free for everyone. Just install "After Effects (Beta)" from your Creative Cloud app and you're in.
Workflow · 5 Effects
Five effects.
01Stretch
Effect 1Each character gently breathes, stretches and tilts on its own, like living variable type. Select your text layer, then paste:
Prompt · FullClick to copy
Use the currently selected text layer: I want each individual character to animate independently so the typography subtly changes shape over time, similar to variable/stretchy editorial type. Please set this up using Text Animators and Expression Selectors, not by scaling the whole text layer. Create three separate text animators: 1. Width: animate each character's X Scale independently, roughly between 80% and 125%, while keeping Y around 100%. 2. Height: animate each character's Y Scale independently, roughly between 90% and 115%, while keeping X around 100%. 3. Rotation: rotate each character independently by about -4° to +4°. Each letter should move at a slightly different random speed and phase, but the motion should be smooth and slow, not jittery. Use textIndex and seedRandom() so every character gets its own consistent variation. Use smooth sine-based animation or smoothly interpolated random values. Set the text to use Anchor Point Grouping: Character so each letter transforms around itself. The result should feel like the individual letters are gently breathing, stretching, compressing, and tilting independently, while the word stays readable. Avoid bouncing or fast wobbling. Please create all necessary Text Animators, Expression Selectors, and expressions automatically on the currently selected text layer.02Vibrate
Effect 2A psychedelic, vibrating type treatment where each letter echoes outward in repeated radial slices.
Prompt · FullClick to copy
Use the currently selected text layer and create an animated radial distortion effect similar to a vibrating or accordion-like type treatment. Each individual letter should appear to stretch outward through multiple repeated offset copies, creating a striped / echo pattern around the original letterform. The repetitions should follow a curved or slightly radial direction, so the letters feel like they are expanding, contracting, or pulsing in depth rather than simply blurring horizontally. The center of each character should remain relatively solid and readable, while the outer parts create repeated thin copies or slices of the letter. The effect should feel optical, rhythmic, and slightly psychedelic, similar to motion trails or a radial typographic echo. Animate the distortion smoothly so the amount of expansion and compression changes over time. Different letters can have slightly different timing or intensity. Please use native After Effects effects and expressions where possible. A combination of effects such as Echo, Transform, Polar Coordinates, Displacement, or repeated shape/text copies is fine, depending on what produces the closest result. Also add adjustable controls in the Effect Controls panel for: * Distortion Amount * Echo / Repetition Count * Spacing * Radial Curvature * Animation Speed * Phase / Offset Keep all controls linked to the expressions or effects so I can easily art-direct the result later. The goal is not a normal motion blur. I want clearly visible repeated contours of the letters that compress together in the middle and spread apart toward the edges, creating a radial, vibrating, accordion-like typographic effect. And put the radial curvature in the slider control to 0. Add a Venetian blinds effect to the text layer with a transition completion of 60, a direction of 174°, a width of 7 and a feather of 0.03Glass Lens
Effect 3A liquid-glass CTA button that resizes itself around your text automatically. Change the wording and the whole button rebuilds.
Prompt · FullClick to copy
Use the currently selected text layer named as the master layer for the entire glass button.
Create a responsive frosted-glass CTA/button around this text. The rounded glass background must automatically resize whenever I change the text, font, font size, tracking, or wording.
Use the text layer's sourceRectAtTime() dimensions to drive the width and height of the glass background. Add adjustable horizontal and vertical padding so the glass shape always extends evenly around the text.
Add a small rounded-square icon container with a right-facing chevron on the right side of the text. The icon must also be positioned automatically relative to the text bounds, so it always stays the same adjustable distance from the end of the text. The total glass button width should include:
left padding + text width + spacing to icon + icon width + right padding
The button should therefore remain fully responsive if the text changes from something short like "Go" to something longer like "Book Now".
Create the glass background as a rounded rectangle with:
* translucent frosted-glass appearance
* background blur
* subtle refraction / displacement of the footage underneath
* soft edge highlights
* subtle depth/shadow
* adjustable corner radius
The text and icon should remain sharp while the footage visible through the glass is blurred and slightly distorted.
Add a subtle floating animation to the complete button, with very slow smooth X/Y movement. Give the icon a very small independent parallax movement, but keep it visually attached to the button.
Add clearly named controls to the Effect Controls of the "glass lens" text layer:
* Horizontal Padding
* Vertical Padding
* Text to Icon Spacing
* Icon Size
* Corner Radius
* Glass Opacity
* Background Blur
* Distortion Amount
* Edge Highlight
* Shadow Amount
* Float Amount
* Float Speed
* Icon Parallax
Link all generated shape sizes, positions, effects, and expressions to the "glass lens" text layer, so this text layer acts as the single master controller.
Important: do not create a fixed-size button. The glass background and icon position must dynamically follow the actual text dimensions using expressions, ideally with sourceRectAtTime(), so everything automatically updates when I edit the text.
The final result should behave like a responsive UI component in After Effects: I should only need to change the text on the "glass lens" layer, and the glass button should rebuild/reposition itself automatically around it. To do so, create this layer structure:
Chevron — right-facing chevron stroke, parented to Icon BG, scales with Icon Size
Icon BG — rounded-square container, size/roundness/opacity driven by controls, positioned automatically at text right edge + spacing + icon width/2, plus its own small independent parallax wiggle
glass lens (unchanged as text, but now has a slow floating Position expression)
Glass Background — the visible glass panel: translucent fill (Glass Opacity), stroke + Bevel Alpha (Edge Highlight), Drop Shadow (Shadow Amount), size/position/roundness computed from sourceRectAtTime() + padding/spacing/icon-size math
Glass Matte — identical shape, full opacity, video hidden, used purely as the alpha matte
Glass Backdrop Blur — a duplicate of the background image with Gaussian Blur (Background Blur) + Turbulent Displace (Distortion Amount, slowly evolving) for refraction, clipped via alpha matte to the Glass Matte shape
Background image — untouched at the bottom
And then add a CC Glass effect on the glass background layer (below the Bevel Alpha and Drop Shadow).04Typewriter
Effect 4Letters type in one by one over a cropped highlight strip, with a blinking dot, plus a clean reverse outro. Fully responsive.
Prompt · FullClick to copy
Use the currently selected text layer as the master layer and create a responsive typewriter text animation with a cropped black highlight bar behind the text.
The black bar should sit behind the text, but it should not fully surround the text like a normal background box. It should only cover a horizontal section through the middle/lower-middle of the letters, similar to a cropped highlight strip passing through the text. The text itself should extend above and below the black bar.
Make the black bar automatically follow the width of the text using sourceRectAtTime(), so if I change the wording, font, font size, or tracking, the bar updates automatically.
Add controls to the Effect Controls panel of the text layer for:
* Bar Height — controls how tall the black strip is
* Bar Vertical Position — moves the strip up and down through the text
* Bar Horizontal Padding — controls how far the strip extends beyond the text on the left and right
* Type Speed — controls how quickly the letters appear
* Overshoot Scale — controls how large each newly appearing character briefly becomes, with a default around 108–110%
* Overshoot Duration — controls how many frames it takes for the character to settle back to 100%
* Out Speed — controls how quickly the animation reverses and removes the letters
* Dot Blink Speed
* Dot Gap
* Dot Opacity
Animate the text like a real typewriter: the letters should appear one after another from left to right.
Every time a new character appears, it should briefly pop slightly larger than its final size — for example around 108–110% — and then settle smoothly to 100% over approximately 1–3 frames. Each previous character should remain at 100% once it has settled.
The timing should therefore work like this:
T appears → briefly overshoots → settles → next letter appears → briefly overshoots → settles → next letter, etc.
Do this per character using Text Animators / Expression Selectors rather than scaling the whole text layer.
Also create an out animation that works in reverse: the letters should disappear one by one from right to left, and the black bar should shrink back accordingly. Ideally the same system should support both the intro and outro cleanly.
Animate the black bar together with the typing. It should grow horizontally as the text is revealed, so it feels connected to the typewriter animation rather than appearing at full width immediately. During the outro, it should shrink back as the text disappears.
Instead of a cursor, add a blinking sentence-ending dot / period (".") directly after the last visible character.
The dot should:
* sit directly after the last currently visible character
* move automatically as new letters appear
* use the same font, size, weight, and baseline as the main text
* blink cleanly between visible and invisible rather than fading slowly
* continue blinking once the full word or sentence is visible
* disappear together with the text during the outro
* have adjustable Dot Blink Speed, Dot Gap, and Dot Opacity
Keep the dot position fully responsive to the visible text using expressions, so changing the wording, font, font size, tracking, or typing timing does not require manual repositioning.
Keep the entire system fully responsive and expression-driven. Do not use manually positioned fixed-width shapes.
The final setup should behave like one reusable Typewriter Highlight component: I can change the text and use the Effect Controls to adjust the bar crop, typing speed, character overshoot, outro speed, and blinking dot behavior without editing the expressions.053D Pixel Glitch
Effect 5Tilts your text into 3D space with an adjustable camera, then adds controlled RGB glitch and selective pixel breakup, all art-directable.
Prompt · FullClick to copy
Use the currently selected text layer and place it in 3D space. Tilt and rotate the text slightly so it feels dimensional and viewed from an angle rather than perfectly flat.
Add a 3D Camera and make the camera angle adjustable from the Effect Controls of the text layer. The text should remain the master controller for the whole setup.
Add clearly named controls to the Effect Controls panel of the selected text layer for:
* 3D Tilt X — controls the text rotation on the X axis
* 3D Tilt Y — controls the text rotation on the Y axis
* 3D Rotation Z — controls the text rotation on the Z axis
* Camera Angle — controls the viewing angle / camera perspective
* Camera Distance — controls how close or far the camera is from the text
* Glitch Amount
* Glitch Speed
* RGB Shift Amount
* RGB Shift Frequency
* Pixel Amount
* Pixel Size
* Pixel Frequency
* Distortion Amount
Create an animated digital glitch effect on the text. The glitch should not be constantly active at full strength. It should happen in short, irregular bursts, with moments where the typography is mostly clean.
Include an animated RGB channel split / chromatic glitch, where the red, green, and blue channels briefly separate horizontally and/or vertically and then snap back together. Keep the displacement relatively small so the text remains readable.
Also create a localized pixel / mosaic distortion. Very important: do not pixelate the entire text uniformly. Only certain small areas, edges, corners, or horizontal sections of the letters should occasionally become blocky or pixelated.
The pixel effect should feel like parts of the digital image are temporarily breaking apart. Use masks, displacement maps, mosaic, block displacement, turbulent displacement, or another native After Effects method that gives the best result.
Ideally, create several small animated glitch regions that appear at different positions over time rather than one large mosaic effect covering the full word.
The effect can include subtle:
* horizontal pixel slices
* small blocky corners
* displaced letter fragments
* brief scanline offsets
* RGB separation
* small digital jumps
Keep the original typography recognizable and sharp most of the time. The glitch should feel designed and controlled, not like random noise over the whole text.
The 3D perspective and glitch should work together. When the text is tilted in 3D, all glitch and pixel effects should still visually belong to the text.
Animate the glitch automatically using expressions with randomized timing, but make the randomness deterministic with seedRandom() so the result is stable and repeatable.
Link all important values to the sliders in the Effect Controls panel so I can art-direct the effect later without editing expressions.
Please create all necessary 3D settings, camera, duplicate layers or precomps, RGB channel layers, masks, effects, expressions, and controls automatically.
The final look should feel like 3D digital typography with intermittent RGB glitches and selective pixel breakup around individual parts of the letterforms, rather than a full-screen glitch filter.
New to the Assistant?
Watch the free intro.
Free Newsletter · 1,000+ Creators
Join the
Newsletter.
Get new AI tutorials, workflows and tool tips first, plus the free Image to Prompt Analyzer and the Top Creative AI Tools list.