How to Animate Titles in PowerDirector
Bring text in, hold it, and send it out again.
Updated Aug. 21, 2026 · 5 min read
In a hurry? Use the title animation quick guide instead.
A title that simply appears and disappears reads as a mistake, like a caption someone forgot to remove. Animating it fixes that, and PowerDirector splits the job into three parts you set separately: how the text arrives, what it does while it is on screen, and how it leaves.
- Double-click the title on the timeline, then click the Animation tab at the top of the panel.
- Pick an animation from the In and Out sub-tabs.
- Add a Loop animation to keep the middle moving.
- Set how long each one runs with the Duration slider at the top of that sub-tab.
Steps to Animate a Title
Prefer to watch? Here's the whole thing in a two minute video, or follow the written sections below.
Step 1: Open the Animation Tab
Double-click the title on the timeline to open the text editing panel, then click Animation at the top, beside Title. Everything in this guide lives there. Underneath are three sub-tabs, In, Out and Loop, which is the whole structure: each one is a separate animation with its own settings, and you can use one, two or all three.
Step 2: Choose How the Text Arrives and Leaves
In decides how the text appears at the start of the clip. Click a thumbnail and the preview plays it immediately, so this is a look-and-choose job rather than one you can reason about from names like Emerge or Surge.
Out is how the text leaves, chosen the same way from its own set. The two are independent, and matching them is usually the right instinct: text that slides in from the left and slides out to the left looks intentional, while sliding in from the left and fading out looks like two decisions made on different days.
Step 3: Keep the Middle Moving
Loop runs continuously for as long as the text is on screen, which means it covers the stretch between the entrance and the exit. It is worth adding on any title that stays up more than a couple of seconds, because motionless text starts to look like a frozen frame.
Step 4: Set How Long Each One Runs
Each sub-tab has its own Duration slider at the top, with a value box beside it if you would rather type a number. Because it is per sub-tab, a slow entrance and a quick exit is just two different values, not a workaround.
A slow entrance on a short title eats the whole clip. If the text is barely legible before it starts leaving, shorten the In and Out durations rather than lengthening the title, which would throw off the timing of everything after it.
Adjust an Animation on the Timeline
The slider is not the only way. Click Advanced at the bottom right of the panel and the advanced editing window opens with a timeline down its right side, where each animation appears as its own range. Select the range you want, hover its edge until the cursor turns into a double arrow, and drag.
Same setting, different instrument. The slider is faster when you know the number you want; dragging is better when what you actually care about is where the animation finishes relative to something else in the clip.
Remove an Animation
Each of the three sub-tabs starts with a No Animation tile, and selecting it is how you take one off. There is no separate remove button, which is why it can look as though an animation cannot be undone.
Keep the Ones You Use
Hover an animation's thumbnail and click the heart in its bottom right corner. Next time you open the Animation tab, the ones you have hearted have been moved to the front of the list.
Worth doing on the first title of a project rather than the tenth. Titles in one video are meant to move the same way, and scrolling the list again each time is how they end up not matching.
Haven't got PowerDirector yet? Titles that slide in, hold, and slide out are one panel and three settings, and they are what separates a title that looks deliberate from one that looks like a mistake.
Download PowerDirector Free →FAQ About Title Animations
Use the Duration slider at the top of the In, Out or Loop sub-tab, or type a value into the box beside it. Each sub-tab has its own, so a slow entrance and a quick exit is simply two different numbers. For finer control, click Advanced and drag the animation's range on the timeline instead.
Select the No Animation tile, which is the first item in each of the In, Out and Loop lists. That is the only way to clear one, so it is easy to assume it cannot be done.
Click the heart in the bottom right corner of a thumbnail. Every animation you heart is moved to the front of the list the next time you open the Animation tab, which also makes it easier to keep titles in one video matching.