The fastest dependable way to build a typewriter effect in DaVinci Resolve is a Text+ title with its Write On End control animated from 0 to 1. The first keyframe hides the line, the second reveals all of it, and the distance between the two keyframes sets the typing speed.
Get the plain reveal working before you add a cursor, sound effects or uneven timing. That order keeps diagnosis simple: if the text doesn't appear, the problem lives in the title, the Write On values or the clip duration, not in an expression or a second animation layer.
| Goal | Best starting method | When to use Fusion |
|---|---|---|
| Simple left-to-right typing | Text+ Write On End keyframes on the Edit page | Usually unnecessary |
| Pauses between words or lines | Add and reposition End keyframes | Use Spline when timing needs finer shaping |
| Blinking cursor after the line finishes | Separate one-character Text+ layer with opacity keyframes | Useful for looping or a cursor rig |
| Cursor follows every new character | Prototype the reveal first | Use a modifier or expression-based setup |
| Reusable title across projects | Finish and verify the composition | Package the controls as a macro or title template |
Use Text+, Not the Standard Text Title
Open Effects Library > Toolbox > Titles and drag Text+ onto a video track above the shot. The standard Text title is fine for static captions and basic transform animation, but the typewriter workflow here depends on the Write On controls that Text+ exposes.
If you're still choosing a title tool, the DaVinci Resolve text guide handles the Text, Text+, MultiText, subtitle and Fusion Title decision. This page has a narrower job: reveal one Text+ string in a controlled sequence.
Select the Text+ clip and type the complete final wording in Styled Text. Set the font, size, line spacing, alignment, layout and screen position before you keyframe anything. The DaVinci Resolve 21.1 Reference Manual documents newer text tools such as the Font Browser, spell checking across text elements, and emoji and color-font support in Text+, but none of them changes the core Write On method.
Give the title enough timeline duration for three phases: typing, a readable hold, and an optional fade or cut. A two-second clip can't contain a three-second reveal plus a two-second hold. Extend the clip first, so later timing changes don't run into its end.
Animate Write On End from 0 to 1
In the Text+ Inspector, find Write On. It has two values, Start and End. For a normal type-on effect, keep Start at 0. Start sets where the visible range begins, so raising it removes characters that have already appeared. End sets how far through the string the visible range reaches. If a control is missing, the Inspector guide shows where each panel lives.
- Move the playhead to the frame where typing should begin.
- Set End to 0 and click its keyframe diamond.
- Move the playhead to the frame where the final character should appear.
- Set End to 1. Resolve adds the second keyframe for you.
- Play across the title and check that the complete line stays visible after the second keyframe.
Blackmagic's Edit page documentation describes the same keyframe pattern used across Inspector controls: enable the diamond, move the playhead, change the value. The timeline keyframe and curve editors can then adjust timing and easing.
Don't animate Start and End together unless you actually want a moving window or a write-off. When both values travel toward 1, the first characters disappear behind the advancing range. That's useful in other motion graphics, but it's the wrong default for text that should accumulate and stay readable.
Set the Typing Speed with Keyframe Spacing
The title's character count doesn't change; the time between the two End keyframes changes how quickly Resolve crosses the 0-to-1 range. Pull the final keyframe closer to the first for faster typing, and push it farther away for slower typing.
I'd set the speed by reading rhythm, not by an arbitrary characters-per-second target. A short label can arrive quickly. A sentence with punctuation needs more room, especially when the audience has to read it over a moving shot. Preview at the project frame rate with the actual dialogue or music playing. The typing should support the edit, not compete with it.
After the last character appears, leave End at 1. The flat stretch after the final keyframe is your hold. If the title disappears the moment typing ends, the Text+ clip probably ends on the same frame as the reveal, or a later keyframe pulls End back to a lower value.
If the motion feels too smooth, that's a timing problem, not a font problem. Real typing rarely moves at one perfectly constant rate. Add a few End keyframes and place them around the pauses that mean something:
- Use a shorter interval through an ordinary word.
- Leave a slightly wider gap after punctuation.
- Pause before an emphasized word instead of slowing every character.
- Give a line break a visible beat when the second line changes the meaning.
You don't need a keyframe for every letter. That makes the timeline brittle and every revision painful. A handful of timing landmarks gives enough variation and keeps the text editable.
Control Multiline Text Without Losing the Pause
Write On follows the character order in Styled Text, spaces and line breaks included, so a two-line message runs as one continuous reveal. If the second line should start after a deliberate pause, put End keyframes on either side of the break and widen the gap between them.
Use two Text+ clips when the lines need their own layout, animation or duration. Separate clips are cleaner when the second line starts in a different screen position, uses another style, or has to stay after the first line disappears. Cramming unrelated timing into one title saves a track and costs clarity later.
Lock the wording before you refine the keyframes. Adding a few characters shifts where the earlier normalized End values land in the string. The animation still runs from 0 to 1, but a carefully placed pause can slide from a comma into the middle of the next word. After any copy edit, replay every timing landmark.
Add a Blinking Cursor After the Reveal
A cursor is optional. The typewriter effect already reads clearly when the text appears character by character. Add one only when it suits the style, and get its behavior predictable before you build a rig that follows every character.
For a simple cursor that blinks after the sentence finishes:
- Add a second Text+ clip above the typewriter title.
- Enter one character such as a vertical bar or underscore.
- Match the font, size, color, baseline, and final text position.
- Trim the cursor clip so it starts when the last character appears.
- Keyframe its opacity between visible and hidden states at an even interval.
- Repeat only long enough to cover the title’s hold.
This method doesn't pretend the cursor followed the line during typing. It shows up at the final position and blinks through the hold, which is often all a lower third, terminal-style label or chapter card needs. Because the cursor is its own clip, you can change its rhythm without touching the text reveal.
If the cursor has to travel with every character, open the title on the Fusion page. The DaVinci Resolve 21.1 Reference Manual lists a Write text modifier among the Krokodove tools now built into Fusion: it's a Write On style modifier that can add a cursor at the tail of the text and keep a prefix visible. An expression can do the same job by hand. Either way, the result depends on the exact composition, font metrics and line wrapping, and it's more fragile when the wording changes.
The official Fusion page confirms that Text+ exposes advanced text controls and that the Spline and Keyframes editors refine animation. If MediaIn, Text+, Merge and MediaOut are still unfamiliar, read the Fusion beginner guide before you modify a node graph.
Shape the Timing on the Fusion Page
The Edit page is enough for the first working version. Move to Fusion when you need to see the title as a node composition, adjust several animated properties together, reuse a timing pattern, or build a cursor that follows the reveal.
In Fusion, the Keyframes editor moves events in time and the Spline editor changes interpolation. For a mechanical type-on, skip the big ease that makes the first characters crawl and the final word rush. Viewers read discrete character appearances, so timing landmarks matter more than a decorative curve.
Keep one clear control path. If Write On End is already animated on Text+, don't add a Write modifier or anything else that also limits the visible string unless you can say which control owns the reveal. Two competing systems produce the familiar symptom: text that's there in the Inspector but vanishes or stops halfway in the viewer.
Once a composition is stable and cleanly named, the Fusion macros and templates guide shows how to expose only the controls an editor needs. Package it after the title works with both short and long sample text; otherwise the template freezes one lucky example instead of a reusable design.
Fix Common Text+ Typewriter Problems
The whole line appears at once
Check that the keyframes are on Write On End, not on the Text+ clip's Zoom, Position or Composite opacity. At the first keyframe, End must be 0; at the final keyframe, it must be 1. If both keyframes hold the same value, there's no reveal to interpolate.
The first letters disappear as new letters appear
Start has probably been animated above 0. Return it to 0 and delete its stray keyframes. For an accumulating type-on effect, animate End only.
The text stops halfway
Look at the last End keyframe. It may sit below 1, fall outside the trimmed clip, or be followed by another keyframe with a lower value. Extend the clip, move the final keyframe inside it, and confirm End actually reaches 1.
The final line vanishes immediately
The title clip ends when the typing ends. Drag its out point later to create a hold. If the clip is already long enough, look for a later opacity, Blend, Write On or global Settings keyframe that hides the title.
The cursor blinks before typing finishes
Move the cursor clip's in point to the final text keyframe, or hold its opacity at zero until that frame. Treat the text reveal and the cursor as two timed events that share one handoff point.
The pause moved after editing the wording
Write On uses a normalized range across the current string, so adding or deleting characters changes which letter an intermediate End value reaches. Reposition the timing keyframes after every substantial text edit.
Text is visible in one place but missing in the viewer or export
That's a bigger problem than the typewriter control. Check the track enable state, the title clip range, the node connection to MediaOut, composite opacity, the render range, and whether the title sits above the picture. Leave the reveal keyframes alone while you isolate visibility.
Typewriter Effect Checklist
- The title is Text+, not the standard Text generator.
- The final wording and line breaks are set before detailed timing.
- The Text+ clip is long enough for reveal, hold, and exit.
- Write On Start remains at 0 for a normal accumulating reveal.
- Write On End begins at 0 and reaches 1.
- The final End keyframe sits inside the clip.
- Extra End keyframes create only the pauses the sentence needs.
- Multiline timing is replayed after copy edits.
- A separate cursor starts at the completed-text frame.
- Fusion is reserved for a following cursor, modifiers, or a reusable rig.
- The title is checked at delivery resolution for safe margins and readability.
Text+ Typewriter FAQ
Which Write On control creates the typewriter effect?
Animate End from 0 to 1 and leave Start at 0. End advances the visible part of the string; Start trims the beginning of that visible range.
How do I make the typing faster?
Move the final End keyframe closer to the first. For uneven rhythm, keep the overall duration and adjust a few intermediate End keyframes around words, punctuation, or line breaks.
Why does my typewriter text disappear after it finishes?
Either the title ends on the final reveal frame, or a later keyframe lowers End, opacity or another visibility control. Extend the clip and keep End at 1 through the hold.
Can I add a blinking cursor without an expression?
Yes. Put a vertical bar or underscore in a second Text+ clip, start it when the reveal ends, and alternate its opacity. Move to Fusion only when the cursor has to follow every character or become a reusable control.
Why did my pauses shift after I changed the text?
Intermediate Write On values map across the current character string. When its length changes, the same normalized value lands on a different letter, so replay the timing after any wording or line-break change.
