Overview

Count Up/Down changes any number in a text layer into a manipulatable counter.

Count Up/Down is a simple tool that takes any number in a text layer and changes it into a counter. There are only two settings, Offset and Scale.

The value of Scale is multiplied to the original number in the text layer. This is useful for counting up to larger numbers quickly.

The value of Offset is added to the product of the original number in the text layer and the value of Scale. This is useful for counting smaller numbers.

Keyframing any or both of these values over time will produce the counter effect. 

Notes

Best Practices

It's usually best to place any number you'd like to see prominently on screen in directly the text layer. It is easier to reach a certain number on the text layer rather than trying to reach it using Scale and Offset from another number.

For example, let's say you had a fundraiser, and you raised exactly 3,400,405 dollars. Placing that number in the text layer, then using Scale and Offset to count up to that number is much easier than starting at 0 in the text layer and working up.

Multiple Numbers in a Single Text Layer

If you have more that one number in a text layer, each number in the layer will become a counter when Count Up/Down is applied. Any keyframes or easing curves applied to the text layer will affect both counters in the same way.

Figure 1: Two numbers on the same text layer behaving identically.

Ideas

Counting to 3,400,405$ (or any large number)

Project Link: http://alight.link/y4aeCoJSVJDVhY3m7

As mentioned above, let's say we had a fundraiser and you raised exactly $3,400,405 over a period of time and we want to make a counter in our video to show this achievement.

Let's say we start a 16:9 30fps project and add some static text first. For our number, we add a text layer to our video with the text "$3400405". It's okay to add other text with the number, as Count Up/Down only affects numbers. Here's our lovely base graphic set.

Figure 2: Simple graphics for a fundraising video.

In our case, we want to stretch out the beginning and the end to emphasize the all the blood, sweat, and tears spent to raise the funds, so we'll primarily use Scale in the centre of the animation when we want the number to build quickly, and then we'll use Offset on either end to slow things down.

In our project we have a four-second clip. Since we only want to show a quick increase in numbers in the middle, we'll put Scale keyframes at 0:10 and 3:00 seconds as you can see below. On the first keyframe, we'll change the value of Scale to 0.00, and we'll leave it as 1.00 on the second keyframe. We can also change the easing curves as well to ease in and out of the counter near the ends of the animation.

Figure 3: Scale keyframes at 0:10 and 3:00. Offset value can be ignored at this point.

Now, if we play through the clip, we can will see the counter start at 0 at 0:10, and end at 3400405 at 2:00 seconds. This completes one half of the effect. Now, let's count up slowly at the beginning and end of the counter.

Figure 4: Offset keyframes at several locations.

In Offset, let's put keyframes at 0:00, 0:10, 3:00 and 4:00. We can leave the 0:00 at 0, but let's but the 0:10 keyframe at 100. This will give us a slower count to one hundred over that time. Then, at 3:00, let's put it to -6, so we can get ready for the slow count at the end. Since the effects of Scale are much larger than that of Offset, we won't notice Offset ticking down till this point. Finally at 4:00 we can set Offset to 0, so we will count up the last few numbers over the last second.

Here is the final effect. With more keyframes and a bit more time, you could really smooth out the number flow!

Figure 4: The final (very simple) product!

Video