Animated chat & text bubblesby Herbistry · for Final Cut Pro & Motion

Chat Bubbles

Drop in a chat bubble that actually moves. Chat Bubbles gives you nine bubble styles, speech tails, type-on text, typing dots, and a beat you can sync to, all styled in a couple of clicks. Build the look yourself or start from a preset.

The short version

What Chat Bubbles does

Drag Chat Bubbles onto your timeline, type your message, and you get a clean, animated speech bubble sitting over your video. Pick a style and it restyles in one click: an iMessage blue, a green text, a comic POW, a glowing neon sign, a morphing acid blob, and more. The bubble sizes itself to your words, so you never push corners around by hand.

From there it moves. Type the text on one character or one word at a time, add a bouncing typing-dots tease before it appears, and sync a pulse, bounce, or glow to a beat you set. No keyframing required. This manual covers the whole workflow, every control, and the presets.

First run

Install, run, and unlock Chat Bubbles

From download to a clean export. Here is the whole path.

Get FxFactory. Chat Bubbles installs through FxFactory, the free plugin manager for Final Cut Pro and Motion. Grab it at fxfactory.com if you do not have it already.
Install Chat Bubbles. Find Chat Bubbles by Herbistry inside FxFactory and install it from there. If Final Cut or Motion was open, restart it so it picks up the new title.
Find it in Final Cut. Chat Bubbles lives in the Titles browser. Open the Titles sidebar, look under Herbistry (or just search "Chat Bubbles"), and drag it onto your timeline.
Try it free. Every control and preset works right away, no time limit. The catch is a Herbistry leaf watermark tinting the frame, so the trial is perfect for auditioning but not for a clean export.
Buy and unlock. Purchases happen right inside the FxFactory app. Buy Chat Bubbles there and the watermark disappears. FxFactory remembers the license, so it is a one-time thing.

On the timeline

Add it to your timeline

Chat Bubbles is a Title, so it floats over whatever is underneath it. Adding it takes three moves.

Drag it on. From the Titles browser, drop Chat Bubbles onto your timeline as a connected clip above your video, or onto the primary storyline. It plays over the footage below.
Type your message. Open the inspector and type into the Message box. The bubble grows and shrinks to fit your text automatically.
Set how long it stays. Trim the title clip in the timeline to control how long the bubble is on screen, the same as any other title.

Any shape of frame

Because it is a Title, Chat Bubbles lays itself out to your project's frame. Wide 16:9, vertical 9:16 for Reels, Shorts, and TikTok, or square: the bubble and its tail fit the frame and your text either way. Use the Alignment control to park it left, center, or right.

How it animates

The motion lives inside the bubble. Turn on Text Reveal to type the words on, add Typing Dots for a "..." tease before it appears, and switch on Tempo React to move it to a beat. All three are covered further down.

The layout

The inspector, top to bottom

Everything lives in one inspector. From the top down it reads in a few blocks, and the controls that do not apply to your setup hide themselves, so it stays tidy.

The Chat Bubbles inspector in Final Cut Pro: Licensing and Presets at the top, then Message, Alignment, Font, Text Size, Text Color, Style, Fill Color, Fill Mode, Bubble Color, Corner Radius, Padding, Tail, Tail Shape, Text Reveal, Typing Dots, and Tempo React with its BPM, Beat Reaction, Beat Intensity, and Punch controls.

The Chat Bubbles inspector. Here Gradient fill and Tempo React are on, so Bubble Color 2 and the beat controls are showing; the Help button (top right) opens this manual.

Top of the panel

Licensing your license status, a Buy button on trial, and a Help link to this manual
Presets load a full look, or save your own

Text

Message the words in the bubble
Alignment parks the whole bubble left, center, or right
Font any typeface on your Mac, and its weight
Text Size & Text Color size and color of the words

Bubble

Style the shape, from Rounded to Neon to Blob
Fill Color, Fill Mode, Bubble Color how it is painted
Corner Radius & Padding roundness and breathing room
Tail & Tail Shape the speech pointer and its shape

Animation

Text Reveal type the words on, plus the reveal style and speed
Typing Dots the bouncing "..." pre-roll

Tempo React

One switch turns on beat-reactive motion
BPM, Beat Reaction, Beat Intensity, Punch appear once it is on

Pick a look

Nine bubble styles

The Style menu sets the bubble's shape and personality. Color is separate, it comes from the Fill controls below, so you can put any style in any color. The one exception is SMS, which sets its own colors to match a real phone.

Rounded

The default

The classic rounded-rectangle chat bubble with a curved tail. When in doubt, start here.

Square

Hard corners

A clean rectangle with all four corners squared off. Modern and no-nonsense.

Cut Corner

One clipped corner

A rounded bubble with one corner sliced flat. A small twist that reads designed.

Minimal Pill

Fully rounded

A capsule with no tail. The cleanest, quietest option, great for captions.

Neon

Glowing sign

A bright outlined tube with a glow, and text that glows in its own color. Made for night looks.

Comic

Speech balloon

An oval comic balloon with a heavy ink outline, a spiky tail, and a drop shadow. Straight off the page.

Blob

Organic shape

An irregular, morphing blob with no tail. Pairs perfectly with a beat reaction.

Sketch

Hand-drawn

A rough, wobbly outline that looks doodled by hand. Charming and loose.

SMS

Phone bubble

The phone-text look. A right-side tail reads as your outgoing message in green; a left tail or none reads as incoming in gray. Colors are set for you.

Style is shape, Fill is color

Every style except SMS takes its color from the Fill Color, Fill Mode, and Bubble Color controls, and its text from Text Color. So Neon can be any color, Comic can be any color, and so on. Style decides the form; you decide the paint.

Every control

The controls, one by one

Sizes here are measured against a 1080-tall frame and scaled to your project, so the bubble looks the same whether you render small or in 4K.

Text

Message

Your words

The text inside the bubble. Type anything, emoji included, and the bubble re-fits itself around it. This is the one thing a preset never touches, so you can flip through every look without retyping a word.

Alignment

Left / Center / Right

Sitting right under Message, near the top of the inspector, this parks the whole bubble on the left, center, or right of the frame. The typing dots line up to the same side, so the pre-roll lands where the bubble will.

Font

Typeface

The typeface of your message: any font on your Mac, plus its weight (Regular, Bold, and so on). If a face can't load, it falls back to the system font so your text never disappears.

Text Color

The words

The color of your text. Every style honors it except SMS, which sets its own text color to match the phone look.

Fill & color

Fill Color

Custom + 9

Custom, plus nine ready-made colors: Blue, Green, Gray, Red, Yellow, Purple, Pink, Black, and White. Pick a named color and it drops straight into the Bubble Color well; choose Custom to use your own.

Fill Mode

4 looks

How the fill paints. Solid is a flat color. Gradient blends Bubble Color into Bubble Color 2. Outline draws just the ring, no fill. Glass is a soft, translucent panel.

Bubble Color & Bubble Color 2

The fill

Bubble Color is your custom fill, and the top of a gradient. Bubble Color 2 is the bottom of the gradient, and it only appears when Fill Mode is set to Gradient.

Corner Radius

0 to 200

How round the bubble's corners are.

Sharp, squared-off corners.

200

A fully rounded capsule.

Padding

0 to 200

The space between your text and the bubble's edge. The bubble auto-fits the words; padding sets the margin around them.

Text hugs the edge, tight and compact.

200

Roomy, airy breathing space.

Tail

The pointer

The little pointer that makes it a speech bubble. Turn it off, or aim it from any corner: Bottom Left, Bottom Right, Top Left, or Top Right. On SMS it also picks the side, a right tail reads as your outgoing message.

Tail Shape

When tail is on

Straight is a clean triangle. Curved blends smoothly into the bubble. Nub is a short rounded stub. Comic Spike is the sharp cartoon point. It appears once a tail is on.

Make it move

Bring the text in

A bubble that types itself on reads as a real conversation. These controls handle the entrance of the words, and the little tease before them.

Text Reveal

None / Character / Word

What comes in over time. None shows the whole message at once. Character types it out letter by letter. Word brings it in a word at a time.

Reveal Style

When reveal is on

How each piece arrives: Type-On is a crisp typewriter pop, Fade-In eases up, Slide Up and Slide Down glide into place, and Pop springs in.

Reveal Duration

0 to 3s

How long the whole message takes to finish arriving.

Instant, the message is just there.

A slow, deliberate crawl.

Typing Dots

The tease

Adds the bouncing "..." pill before the bubble pops in, the universal "someone is typing" beat. Pair it with a Pop reveal for a real text-message feel.

Dots Duration

When dots are on

How long the dots bob before the bubble shows up. Long enough to build the pause, short enough to keep things moving.

Make it dance

React to a beat

Flip on Tempo React and the bubble moves to a beat you set. There is no audio file to load, it runs on a steady metronome, so set it to your song's tempo and let it ride.

Turn on Tempo React. The beat controls appear right below it. With it off, the bubble holds still.
Set the BPM. Match it to your track's tempo, anywhere from a slow pulse to a fast one.
Pick a reaction. Choose what moves on the beat, from a gentle pulse to a full shape morph.
Dial it in. Beat Intensity sets how strong it hits; Punch sets whether it swells smoothly or snaps.

The reactions

Auto

Match Stylepicks the right reaction for your style: Blob morphs, Neon glows, Sketch boils, the rest pulse. The easy default.

Bubble Pulse

Size pulsethe whole bubble swells on the beat. A Blob also churns its shape.

Glyph Bounce

Letters bouncethe text hops up on the beat in a staggered wave.

Color Pulse

Brightness throbthe text brightness and glow pulse on the beat.

Wobble

Rocks side to sidethe bubble rotates back and forth to the beat.

Shake

Jitterthe bubble shakes on the hit. Nervous energy on demand.

Squash

Squash & stretchthe bubble squashes and stretches to the beat.

Boil

Edge boilsthe outline ripples like a hand-drawn animation. Works on any style.

One click, full look

Presets

A preset is a snapshot of the whole look at once: style, colors, fill, tail, and any animation. Pick one from the Presets menu at the top of the inspector, then tweak anything you like. One thing presets never touch is your Message or Font, so the look changes and your words stay put.

Messaging

iMessage Blue

Rounded · solid blue · curved tail

The classic glossy blue chat bubble with white text and a curved tail. Your everyday outgoing message.

Green Text

Rounded · solid green · white text

The green-bubble look, rounded so your text color stays yours to change. Curved tail, ready to send.

Frosted Glass

Pill · glass · no tail

A translucent light-gray caption pill with dark text. Clean for captions, notifications, and lower thirds.

Comic

Comic POW

Comic · yellow · spiky tail

A bold black-outlined yellow comic burst with black text and a spiky tail. POW.

Speech Bubble

Comic · white · heavy ink line

The classic white comic balloon, thick ink outline, black text, spike tail. Straight off the page.

Wild

Neon Sign

Neon · magenta · Color Pulse on

A glowing hollow magenta sign with neon text. Ships with the beat already on, so the glow throbs.

Acid Blob

Blob · purple to magenta · Bubble Pulse on

A morphing purple-to-magenta gradient blob that churns its shape to the beat. Trippy by design.

Sketch Doodle

Sketch · white · Boil on

A hand-drawn wobbly outline with dark text and an edge that boils. Looks doodled live.

The Wild three move on their own

Neon Sign, Acid Blob, and Sketch Doodle all land with Tempo React already on, so they react the moment you drop them in. The Messaging and Comic presets are calm by default; flip Tempo React on whenever you want them to dance too.

Make it yours

Saving your own presets

Built a look you love? Save it and reuse it anywhere.

Dial in the look until it is right.
Click the Presets menu at the top of the inspector and choose Save Current Settings…, then give it a name. (If that name is already taken, it asks before replacing.)
It shows up under My Presets in that same menu, ready to load in any project. To change it later, hover it there and use its Rename… or Delete options.

Where your presets live

Each preset you save is a small file on your Mac, in your home folder under Library ▸ Application Support ▸ Herbistry ▸ ChatBubbles ▸ Presets. (That Library folder is hidden by default: in Finder, hold Option and open the Go menu to reach it.) Because they live there and not inside one project, your looks follow you across every project, and you can copy a preset file and send it to someone else so they get the exact same look.

Cheat sheet

Quick reference

Every slider at a glance, from one end to the other.

Control	Low end	High end
Text Size	Small: caption-sized	Large: fills the frame
Corner Radius	0: sharp, squared corners	200: a fully round capsule
Padding	0: text hugs the edge	200: roomy breathing space
Reveal Duration	0: instant	3s: a slow crawl
Dots Duration	0: no pre-roll	3s: a long tease
BPM	Low: a slow pulse	High: a fast beat
Beat Intensity	0: barely moves	1: full reaction
Punch	0: smooth swell	1: a snappy hit

Before you install

System requirements

Chat Bubbles is a Mac title plugin. Here is what you need.

Operating system

macOS 13.5 or later

Ventura and up.

Works in

Final Cut Pro 10.8.1 / Motion 5.8 or later

As a Title you drop on the timeline.

Mac type

Apple Silicon Mac

Runs natively on M1, M2, M3, and later.

Installing

Through FxFactory

Install, buy, and unlock in the free FxFactory app.

Get help

Stuck on something?

Trouble installing, styling, or unlocking Chat Bubbles? Reach out and we'll sort it.

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