Motion graphics without After Effects

Motion graphics are how a screen video points. An arrow that draws itself toward a button, a spotlight that dims everything else, a title that lands word by word: each one tells the viewer where to look. Swamp Dragon builds these into the editor so you don't need a separate motion app.

Start from a preset

Open the Graphics tab on the left of the editor. You'll find the ten shapes (rectangle, ellipse, arrow, line, highlight, spotlight, progress bar, ripple, underline and bracket) and ten ready-made motion presets. Click one and it lands at the playhead on a free layer, so it never covers something you already placed.

Drag the shape in the preview to move it. The inspector on the right controls fill, stroke, corner radius and timing.

Entrances, exits and loops

Every text and graphic has three animation slots:

• Entrance: fade, slide in four directions, pop, bounce, zoom, spin, blur, typewriter, word by word, wipe or draw.
• Exit: the mirror set, with pop, zoom, spin, blur, wipe and draw.
• Loop: pulse, breathe, float, wiggle, spin, blink or shake while it's on screen, at a speed you choose.

Draw is the one to try first on arrows, lines and underlines: the stroke grows from start to end, like someone sketching on the screen.

Keyframes for everything else

When a preset isn't enough, add keyframes. Each keyframe stores position, scale, rotation and opacity at a moment in time, and the curve between them can be linear, ease in, ease out, ease in and out, back out, bounce or elastic. A callout that overshoots slightly and settles (back out) feels far more polished than one that slides in at a constant speed.

Kinetic titles

The Titles tab has 20 presets, including six kinetic ones designed for intros and section breaks. Combine a large centered title, a bounce entrance and a slow float loop, then follow it with a zoom-in transition into the demo. It takes about a minute.

A recipe: point at a button

1. Add a zoom of 1.8× centered on the button, with ease in and out.
2. While the zoom holds, add a Spotlight over the button with a fade entrance.
3. Add an Arrow pointing at it with the draw entrance and a gentle pulse loop.
4. Add a Callout text next to the arrow with a pop entrance.
5. Give all three the same end time so they leave together, with fade exits.

If you use an AI assistant, the same recipe works as a prompt: "zoom on the Invite button at 0:42 and put a spotlight, an arrow and a callout on it while it holds."

Keep it consistent

Save your favourite frame, look and effect settings as defaults in the Effects tab, and every new recording starts with them. Your videos will look like a series instead of a set of one-offs.

The features reference lists every animation and its settings.