Text and date layers

The Text layer is a block of text for titles, captions, and source credits.

The Text panel carries the content plus Font Size, Line Height, Font Family, Font Style, Align, Vertical Align, and Color.

Source attribution deserves a mention: if your data came from somewhere, crediting it in a small text layer costs nothing and makes the video substantially more credible.

The Date layer displays the current period and advances with the animation. Pair it with any time-series chart — without it, viewers cannot tell how fast time is passing.

The Date Format panel controls presentation: Type, Display Format, Custom Format, and Language. The language setting is easy to overlook when producing for a non-English audience.

Choose a format matching your period. Showing a full date on an annual race is noise; showing only a year on a daily race hides the movement entirely.

Two layers step through a sequence rather than holding one value.

Text Sequence steps through a series of strings as the timeline advances — a label that updates over time, like "World Champion: <name>". Use it whenever text needs to change; for a single unchanging string, the plain Text layer is the right choice.

Image Sequence does the same for images — a country flag that changes across periods, for instance. Its Animation panel carries Animation Duration, Slide Animation, and Crop Animation. For a single unchanging image, use the Image layer.

The Typing Animation panel reveals text character by character, with Delay and separate pauses for new lines, spaces, and other characters.

The separate pause controls are what stop it feeling mechanical — a slightly longer pause at line breaks reads much more like real typing than a constant interval.

Use it on one or two elements at most. On every text layer it becomes exhausting to watch.