3D text animation
Extruded type, lit and shot with a camera
3D text is type with real depth: extruded, bevelled, lit and seen through a camera. Premation extrudes text and shape layers inside its 3D scene, so the same layer still takes text animators and keyframes. It is extruded type in a layer-based scene, not a modelling or ray-tracing application.
Free · AGPL-3.0-only · macOS & Windows
The panel that does it
The editor’s own panel, rebuilt on its chrome. It works: drag, toggle, queue.
How to do it
- 01
Insert 3D text
New Layer ▸ 3D Extruded Text, or give an existing text layer depth with Extrusion in the Properties panel. Extrusion depth is keyframeable, so flat type can grow into 3D.
- 02
Bevel and set materials
Bevel rounds the edges of the extruded geometry. The faces take their own materials, and layer styles work on extruded layers too.
- 03
Light it and add a camera
New Layer ▸ Light for a point, spot, parallel, ambient or environment light, then New Layer ▸ Camera and pick a lens preset. Press C to orbit until the shot is right.
- 04
Animate it
Keyframe the camera or the layer's rotation, apply a 3D preset such as Flip In 3D, or add a text animator with per-character 3D so each glyph turns on its own.
Questions
- Is this like Element 3D or Cinema 4D text?
- It covers extruded, bevelled, lit type inside the compositor. It does not have ray-traced reflections, a material graph or a modeller, so chrome and glass looks from a 3D package are out of reach.
- Can each letter move separately in 3D?
- Yes. Per-character 3D in a text animator gives every glyph its own position and rotation in space, driven by a range selector.
- Can I import a 3D logo instead?
- Yes. glTF and GLB models import with their materials and sit in the same scene as the text.