Animations

Add moving graphics like a subscribe button, a name tag, a counter or an arrow, or describe your own and let AI make it.

An animation is a moving graphic on top of your video: a subscribe button that gets clicked, a name tag that slides in, a number that counts up. Animations play with their own sounds, and they look exactly the same in the preview and in your export.

Add a ready-made animation

1. Put the playhead where it should start
2. Press + on the text & effects row and choose Animation…

   The Templates tab opens.

3. Pick one and type your words

   The preview plays it with your words and colours.

4. Press Add at the playhead

   It appears as a purple block on the text & effects row.

The templates

Template	What it does
Subscribe	A subscribe button gets clicked and turns into “Subscribed”, with a click sound.
Name tag	A lower third with a name and a role slides in, then away.
Title card	A chapter title with a small label above it.
Counter	A big number counts up with a label under it.
Checklist	Three steps tick off one by one.
Highlighter	A marker stroke sweeps across words on screen.
Circle it	A hand-drawn circle draws itself around something.
Arrow	A curved arrow points at something, with a short note.

Point at something on screen

Highlighter, Circle it and Arrow go in a box that you place over the thing you’re talking about.

• Move it: drag inside the box on the preview.
• Resize it: drag the box’s bottom-right corner.
• Draw a new box: select the animation, press Draw where it goes in the right panel, then drag on the preview.

Change the words, colours and timing

Click the animation’s block on the timeline. The right panel shows its words and colours; change them and the animation updates.

• Drag the block to make it start at a different moment.
• Make the block longer to hold the last frame on screen.
• Delete removes it.

Describe your own

Want something there’s no template for, like confetti or a progress bar? Let AI make it.

1. Press + on the text & effects row, choose Animation…, then Describe it
2. Type what you want

   For example: “a burst of gold confetti from the centre”. You can also click one of the examples.

3. Press Make it

   You’ll see each step as it happens: writing the animation, then testing it in Cutaway. If the test finds a problem, the AI fixes it on its own. It usually takes under a minute.

4. Look at it, then add it

   Not quite right? Type a change (“make it slower”, “use our brand purple”) and press Change it. Happy? Press Add at the playhead.

Describing an animation uses your own Claude Code or Codex, the same as Ask AI. Set it up in Set up AI. Only what you type is sent.

To change an animation you already added, select it and press Change it with AI….

Save your own templates

Made an animation you want to use again, for example your own name tag in your colours?

1. Select it on the timeline.
2. In the right panel, press Save as template.

It’s saved with the words and colours you chose. It shows under Yours in the template list, in every project. To remove it, press the trash icon next to it in the list.

Let Cutaway suggest animations

Cutaway listens to what you say and suggests animations that fit. For example, a subscribe button when you say “subscribe”, or a name tag when you introduce yourself. See AI review.

You can also just ask for one in Ask AI: “add a subscribe button when I say subscribe”.