This week on MacBreak Studio, I show Steve Martin from Ripple Training how to create a random text animation in Motion.

Motion's text styling and animating capabilities are superb – especially when it comes to animating text with behaviors. And while there are many great preset animations to choose from, there isn't one that will scramble or unscramble a line of text.

By using the Sequence Text behavior – the powerful “source” behavior that is the foundation of all the presets – I demonstrate how you can create this effect yourself quickly and easily.

There are two keys to making it work: the first is to use the Character Offset parameter with the behavior, which provides the basis for the animation. The second is to use a class of fonts that keep the glyphs from moving during the animation – monospace fonts. Fortunately, Motion makes it easy to locate these fonts thanks to its direct access to font collections.

Once you understand how the Sequence Text behavior works, it's easy to modify the hundreds of preset animations to your needs, or to make your own from scratch.