Text in Motion: The Best Tracking and Animation Tools

Best Text Motion Tracking Software

Ollie Mattison

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Have you ever been mesmerized by a video with text or emoji’s moving together with objects? That effect is produced using motion tracking and isn’t very complicated. Today, we will introduce some text motion tracking software (free & paid) tools that allow you to pin text to video with minimum effort. There will also be detailed tutorials on how to utilize each tool. Let’s get started.

Best Text Motion Tracking Software [+Howtos]

Note: The list below is in no particular order.

1. Filmora

Pricing: Free (watermark) /starts at $49.99/year

Operating System: Windows & Mac

The newly released Wondershare Filmora X version has added the motion tracking features, which allows you to track moving objects in a video clip, and attach images, texts, elements and videos to follow the movement path.

How to Use Filmora Video Editor To Do Text Motion Tracking?

• Import the video footage to the timeline and then click the Motion Track icon in the tool bar to enable the Motion Tracking option.

• In the preview window, drag and adjust the tracking box to select a moving object as the target.

• Click the Start Tracking menu to start the moton tracking render, and Filmora video editor will compute the moving path automatically
• Now, go to the Titles tab and drag a subtitle, titles, lower 3rd, or callout to the track just above the motion-tracked video. Customize your texts, adjust its size, position, etc. in the preview window.

• Next, double click the video footage to enter the Motion Track option. Select the title as a follower. Playback the video, and you will see the text will move accordingly.

Below is a step by step video tutorial about how to use the motion tracking feature in Filmora. Keep watching.

2. Premiere Pro CC

Pricing: 14-day trial, minimum $20.99/month

Operating System: Windows, Mac

Adobe Premiere Pro is an industry-leading video editor. Premiere Pro CC has all the editing tools a pro video editor needs.

There is no automatic tracking feature in Premiere Pro to pin text to video. Therefore, you need to manually position your text and add keyframes frame by frame. But the overall effort required and the final result isn’t much different from traditional editors.

How To Do Text Motion Tracking In Premiere Pro CC? [Main Steps]

• Import your video to the timeline
• Add text by Pressing ‘T’ on your keyboard and clicking on the preview window (your footage)
• Change the position & duration of the text layer on the timeline according to the position & duration of motion tracking
• Make sure you’re on the frame you want to start tracking from
• Click on your text layer → then go to effects controls
• Change the position of the text to the point you want to track → click on the stopwatch icon to add a keyframe
• Move a few frames forward → adjust the position again → add another keyframe
• Don’t put the keyframes too close or too farther apart
• Play through to check it out → adjust the position and number of keyframes if any issues arise

The whole process is relatively easy, although tedious. But the process becomes very complicated when you have more dynamic motion in your clip

3. After Effects

Pricing: 7-day trial, $20.99/month (individual)

Operating System: Windows & Mac

Adobe After Effects is an editor that focuses on animation & creative composition. This app has been developed as a companion to Premiere Pro for creating short & flashy motion graphics and visual effects for projects.

Motion tracking in After Effects can be done using the Point Tracker, which has one-point and up to four-point tracking. Other tracking options include the built-in 3D Camera Tracker that lets you reverse engineer a scene and the spline tracker that enables you to track masks on an object. There is also Mocha AE, a planar tracker from BorisFX. The Point Tracker is the most flexible and versatile in After Effects. We’ll use it to pin text to video.

How To Do Text Motion Tracking In After Effects? [Main Steps]

• Create a new composition/open an old one and make sure your clip is imported
• Create a null object by right-clicking on the window (screenshot below)
• Select your clip → click on tracker → click on track motion
• Two square boxes will appear
• Move the squares to the point you want to track (make sure to select an object with relatively high contrast for easier tracking)
• Position the smaller square on the object you want to track
• Make the second box is big enough (not too big) so that the tracked object stays within this square in the next frame
• Click on the analyze forward button (screenshot above)
• If the square box fails to track the object at any frame, reposition it and move on
• Make sure motion target is set to null object (e.g., Null 1)
• Now add the text
• While clicking on the pick whip tool of the text layer, drag it to the null object
• Play through to check the result
• You can manually change the position of the text in any frame by adjusting its position and adding a keyframe

We’re done. As we stated above, other types of trackers are also available for you to experiment with. The overall tracking functionality is much better than Premiere Pro.

4. Sony Vegas Pro

Pricing: 30-day trial, minimum $19.99/month

Operating System: Windows

Sony Vegas Pro is a non-linear video editor with the so-called “power of Artificial Intelligence.” It is one of the few editors out there that has acquired popularity among professionals and amateurs alike.

Text motion tracking in Vegas Pro is done using Bézier Masking FX (new update introduces a separate tab for motion tracking). The tracking process is automatic. Keyframes are created automatically frame by frame. It isn’t perfect, but it gets the job done in most cases. When it fails to track objects correctly, you can manually edit the keyframes.

How To Do Text Motion Tracking In Sony Vegas Pro? [Main Steps]

• Import your video
• Click on your video → go to the starting point of text motion tracking
• Click on Bézier Masking → drag the default one to your video
• A new options tab will appear & a square box with a circle (tracking box) will appear in the preview window
• Go to General options → set blend to 1,000
• Go to Mask 1 → Tracking → options → set the precision to high → set keyframe interval between 1 & 5
• Position the black dot of the tracking box to the point you want to track
• Click on start below the keyframe interval option
• After processing is complete → go to tools → extensions → add text to motion track → click on ok in the text position tab
• Enter your text, edit it if you want
• Play through to check the result

Conclusion:

As we’ve seen above, all the editors have some kind of automatic tracking feature, Premiere Pro being the only manual exception. All of them do a reasonably good job when it comes to pinning text to video. Professionals would be more satisfied with the added versatility and control in After Effects. Filmora, Filmora, Vegas Pro and Premiere Pro, on the other hand, are better suited for amateurs.

Ollie Mattison

Ollie Mattison is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Ollie Mattison

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