Focus Pull racks your word from a soft blur into sharp focus the way a camera operator finds their subject, with a halo blooming off the letters as they resolve and a sheen passing across once they land.
What Focus Pull is good for
Film and documentary titles
Premium product reveals
Opening shots that should feel photographed rather than designed
How this animation is built
Three staged keyframes — fp-in carries the blur-to-sharp rack, fp-halo-in blooms the glow while the word is still soft, and fp-settle passes the sheen after it lands. The halo peaks mid-rack and fades as focus arrives, which is what mimics a real lens rather than a linear blur fade.
Tips for Focus Pull
Give it the full duration. A fast focus pull is just a blur-in.
Shallow, dark backgrounds suit it — the effect implies a lens with depth of field.
Focus Pull questions
Why is there a glow during the blur but not after?
Out-of-focus highlights bloom in real optics and tighten as focus arrives. Tying the halo to the rack is what makes it read as a lens instead of a filter.
Related animation styles
Highlighter — A marker stroke sweeps under the words, flipping them to ink
Impact — Word slams in with a spring pop and shockwave rings
Odometer — Digits roll up like a mechanical counter
Aberration — Chromatic channels tear apart and snap into focus
Billboard — Words flip up like rotating sign boards
Repeater — Racing rows of type — the middle one snaps center and lights up