About animating basic text in 3D space

Although basic text has no inherent 3D parameters, you can move and rotate a text layer in 3D space. Simulation behaviors can also influence text characters to move out of their X and Y planes into Z space (depth). Additionally, text on a Spline path can be manipulated in 3D space.

When the Face Camera checkbox is selected (in the Text Layout pane), the text characters actively face the camera if the camera or text is rotated.

Tip: When working with 2D or 3D text in a 3D project, especially text that moves close to the camera, set the Render Quality in the View pop-up menu or the View pull-down menu to Best before exporting (choose View > Render Quality > Best). Use Normal when working in your project, because Best mode dramatically slows your project’s interactivity. You can also set the Render Quality on export using the pop-up menus in the Render pane of the Export window.

For more information about 3D effects in Motion, see 3D compositing overview. For more information about using true (extruded) 3D text, see 3D text overview.

Make text interact with other objects using a Simulation behavior

When text is a member of a 3D group, certain behaviors can be applied to pull text characters out of their X and Y planes.

In a project that contains text and at least one other object (such as a shape), select the nontext object.
In the Properties pane of the Inspector, adjust the Z position of the object so that the object and text are offset in Z space.
Apply the Orbit Around behavior (from the Simulation behavior category) to the text in your project.
Drag the object that is offset in Z from the Layers list to the Object well in the Behaviors Inspector.
By default, the text orbits around the object (as a single object) in X and Y.
In the Behaviors Inspector, select Affect Subobjects, then click Z.
When you play the project, the text characters circle about the target object in X, Y, and Z space.
For more information about 3D, see 3D compositing overview.