Flickering text tutorial

Flicker Text After Effects Tutorial

Learn how to create flickering text in After Effects with this quick tutorial! This effect is easy to create and customize using text animation and a wiggly selector. You can make the text flicker in and flicker out very easily using this method.

Quick answer

To make text flicker in After Effects, add a text Animator for Opacity to your text layer and set its Opacity to 0%. Then add a Wiggly Selector so random characters switch on and off. Raise Wiggles/Second for a faster flicker, and animate the Range Selector to make the text flicker in or out.

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Video Tutorial

Follow our video tutorial to learn how to create flickering text in After Effects!

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Watch on YouTube

Project Download

The editable flicker text project as shown in the intro to the video tutorial is available for download for free! If you don't want to learn how to create the effect from scratch and want to skip to the finished result, the download is available below.

Download Project

Flicker text questions

Can I make only some letters flicker?

Yes. The Range Selector limits which characters the animator affects, so set its start and end to cover just the letters you want.

How do I make the flicker look like a broken neon sign?

Lower Wiggles/Second so the flicker is slower and less regular, and add a Glow effect to the text layer.

Is the project file free?

Yes. Download the finished project from the Project Download section above.

Build faster with our After Effects expressions cheat sheet, or start from an editable After Effects template.

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