CapCut-Style Animated Captions
Use this skill to create burned-in social captions with word-level timing, pop/bounce/scale animations, karaoke highlighting, and platform-appropriate caption styles. This SKILL is a lean orchestrator; detailed ASS styles, scripts, formulas, and presets are preserved in references/caption-styles-and-generation.md.
When to Use
- Word-by-word or phrase-by-phrase social captions
- CapCut-style pop, bounce, sweep, karaoke, and typewriter captions
- Whisper transcript to animated ASS conversion
- TikTok, YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, and Facebook Reels caption styling
- Caption readability, safe zones, accessibility, and mobile typography
Caption Workflow
- Generate transcript with word-level timestamps using Whisper or another ASR tool.
- Convert word timings into ASS events and styles.
- Use ASS timing units correctly: karaoke tags use centiseconds; animation tags use milliseconds.
- Burn ASS into the video with FFmpeg.
- Verify readability, safe-zone placement, audio sync, and final platform specs.
Minimal Burn-In Command
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 \
-vf "ass=captions.ass" \
-c:v libx264 -preset fast -crf 23 \
-c:a copy \
output_captioned.mp4
If audio copy fails because the output container cannot accept the source audio, re-encode audio with -c:a aac -b:a 128k.
Quick Style Selection
| Style |
Effect |
Best for |
| Word Pop |
Each word scales in with overshoot |
High-energy hooks, gaming, comedy |
| Highlight Sweep |
Full phrase visible, words highlight in sequence |
Educational and professional explainers |
| Karaoke Fill |
Progressive fill across words |
Music, voiceover, lyric-style captions |
| Typewriter |
Characters appear progressively |
Dramatic storytelling |
| Bounce In |
Words move/scale from below |
Shorts/Reels emphasis beats |
Timing and Readability Rules
- Word-level animations usually need 80-250ms appear time and 200-600ms dwell, depending on platform.
- Keep 3-6 words on screen for vertical social video.
- Use large sans-serif fonts, high contrast, and a thick outline.
- Avoid excessive shake/flash; keep accessibility and readability ahead of novelty.
- Keep captions inside mobile safe zones; avoid the lower UI-heavy region.
Reference Map
references/caption-styles-and-generation.md - Full preserved reference: Whisper timestamp commands, ASS structure, WordPop/Sweep/Karaoke/Typewriter/Bounce examples, Python JSON-to-ASS script, bash pipeline, burn commands, style presets, color schemes, emoji integration, platform guidelines, troubleshooting, spring/easing/shake/pulse formulas, accessibility guidance, sources.
Related Skills
ffmpeg-captions-subtitles - Subtitle fundamentals and burn-inffmpeg-karaoke-animated-text - ASS karaoke and animated text patternsffmpeg-animation-timing-reference - Timing units, easing, readability, syncviral-video-platform-specs - Export specs and safe zonesviral-video-hook-templates - Hook and retention strategy
1---2name: viral-video-animated-captions3description: CapCut-style animated word-level captions for viral video with FFmpeg. PROACTIVELY activate for: (1) Word-by-word caption highlighting, (2) Animated subtitle effects, (3) CapCut-style captions, (4) Karaoke-style text, (5) Bounce/pop text animations, (6) Color-changing words, (7) Emoji integration in captions, (8) Multi-style caption presets, (9) Trending caption styles, (10) Social media caption optimization. Provides: ASS subtitle generation scripts, word-level timing workflows, animation presets, color schemes, font recommendations, and platform-specific caption styles for TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and Instagram Reels.4---5
6# CapCut-Style Animated Captions
7
8Use this skill to create burned-in social captions with word-level timing, pop/bounce/scale animations, karaoke highlighting, and platform-appropriate caption styles. This SKILL is a lean orchestrator; detailed ASS styles, scripts, formulas, and presets are preserved in `references/caption-styles-and-generation.md`.
9
10## When to Use
11
12- Word-by-word or phrase-by-phrase social captions
13- CapCut-style pop, bounce, sweep, karaoke, and typewriter captions
14- Whisper transcript to animated ASS conversion
15- TikTok, YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, and Facebook Reels caption styling
16- Caption readability, safe zones, accessibility, and mobile typography
17
18## Caption Workflow
19
201. Generate transcript with word-level timestamps using Whisper or another ASR tool.
212. Convert word timings into ASS events and styles.
223. Use ASS timing units correctly: karaoke tags use centiseconds; animation tags use milliseconds.
234. Burn ASS into the video with FFmpeg.
245. Verify readability, safe-zone placement, audio sync, and final platform specs.
25
26## Minimal Burn-In Command
27
28```bash
29ffmpeg -i input.mp4 \
30 -vf "ass=captions.ass" \
31 -c:v libx264 -preset fast -crf 23 \
32 -c:a copy \
33 output_captioned.mp4
34```
35
36If audio copy fails because the output container cannot accept the source audio, re-encode audio with `-c:a aac -b:a 128k`.
37
38## Quick Style Selection
39
40| Style | Effect | Best for |
41|---|---|---|
42| Word Pop | Each word scales in with overshoot | High-energy hooks, gaming, comedy |
43| Highlight Sweep | Full phrase visible, words highlight in sequence | Educational and professional explainers |
44| Karaoke Fill | Progressive fill across words | Music, voiceover, lyric-style captions |
45| Typewriter | Characters appear progressively | Dramatic storytelling |
46| Bounce In | Words move/scale from below | Shorts/Reels emphasis beats |
47
48## Timing and Readability Rules
49
50- Word-level animations usually need 80-250ms appear time and 200-600ms dwell, depending on platform.
51- Keep 3-6 words on screen for vertical social video.
52- Use large sans-serif fonts, high contrast, and a thick outline.
53- Avoid excessive shake/flash; keep accessibility and readability ahead of novelty.
54- Keep captions inside mobile safe zones; avoid the lower UI-heavy region.
55
56## Reference Map
57
58- `references/caption-styles-and-generation.md` - Full preserved reference: Whisper timestamp commands, ASS structure, WordPop/Sweep/Karaoke/Typewriter/Bounce examples, Python JSON-to-ASS script, bash pipeline, burn commands, style presets, color schemes, emoji integration, platform guidelines, troubleshooting, spring/easing/shake/pulse formulas, accessibility guidance, sources.
59
60## Related Skills
61
62- `ffmpeg-captions-subtitles` - Subtitle fundamentals and burn-in
63- `ffmpeg-karaoke-animated-text` - ASS karaoke and animated text patterns
64- `ffmpeg-animation-timing-reference` - Timing units, easing, readability, sync
65- `viral-video-platform-specs` - Export specs and safe zones
66- `viral-video-hook-templates` - Hook and retention strategy
josiahsiegel