Revealing and hiding shapes overview

What the reveal blocks share, how each is created, and the pages of this section.

Four animation examples: fading ninjas, a bicycle being drawn, text appearing on a blackboard, and airport subtitles.

The blocks in this section make shapes appear and disappear.

  • They are all created from the Actions panel in Animation mode, with the shapes selected.
  • What every block shares, from targets and timing to stagger and easing, is in Animation blocks. The pages here cover what is particular to each.

The blocks

BlockWhat it doesWorks on
Opacity AnimationFades shapes in or out, or to any opacity in between.Every shape except cameras.
Stroke AnimationDraws the outline of shapes as if by hand, then reveals their fill and label.Paths, freehand shapes, polylines, geometry shapes, and arrows that have a stroke.
Text AnimationTypes the text of shapes in or out, by character, word, line, or paragraph.Texts, rich texts, texts on a path, code texts, geometry shapes, and arrows.
Text SequenceShows a series of texts in one shape, one after another.One text or text on a path.

How a new block starts

The initial settings depend on the shape's existing animation and its state at the playhead:

  • First block of its kind: when none of the selected shapes has a block of that kind yet, the new block reveals them from nothing.
  • Later blocks of the same kind: the new block starts from what the shape shows at the playhead.
    • Hidden: the block reveals it.
    • Fully shown: the block hides it.
    • Partly shown: the block finishes revealing it.
  • Text sequence: a new one uses the text the shape shows as its first text, typed in by default.

What every block here shares

All four blocks follow these rules:

  • Before the first block: a shape shows the start state of its first block of each kind, so what that block reveals stays hidden until it starts. A text block hides only the text.
  • After a block ends: the shape keeps its end state until another block changes it.
  • Nothing visible counts as hidden: a shape with nothing visible at the playhead shows faded in the hidden space. See Transparent shapes count as hidden.
  • One text block at a time: text animations and text sequences both animate a shape's text, so they can't overlap on the same shape.