How to Make a Map Line Animation in After Effects with Filmit CallOuts

If you’ve ever wanted to create sleek map line animations or stylish callout titles in After Effects without spending hours animating paths by hand, you’re going to love this. In this guide, we’ll walk you through how to use the Filmit CallOuts tool — a time-saving plugin that generates professional, animated callout lines in seconds.

Whether you’re working on travel videos, product showcases, or tutorial overlays, this workflow will help you create smooth, customizable animations with just a few clicks.

🚀 What Are Callouts and Why Use Filmit CallOuts?

A callout is a line that connects a label, annotation, or point of interest to a specific object in your video. Think of:

• Travel maps showing a route from one city to another.

• Product videos highlighting specific features.

• Infographics where labels point to data points.

Traditionally, you’d animate these by hand in After Effects — doable, but time-consuming. Filmit CallOuts automates the process, letting you set start and end points, customize style, and instantly generate both static and animated callouts.

🛠 Setting Up Filmit CallOuts in After Effects

Once you’ve installed Filmit CallOuts, open the tool panel in After Effects. Here’s what you’ll see:

• Targets – Define your start and end points.

• Elbows – Control how many bends the line has.

• Line Thickness & Softness – Adjust the stroke style.

• Pre-animate Option – Generate animations automatically.

• Color Controls – Change your line color instantly.

📍 Creating Your First Callout

1. Set Your Targets

   • Click Start and Stop to define where your callout will begin and end.

   • Keep your playhead at the start of the timeline before generating.

2. Generate a Static Callout

   • Turn off the Animate option for a non-animated line.

   • Click Generate Callout — your line will instantly appear.

3. Generate an Animated Callout

   • Tick Animate, choose Linear Keyframes or Easy Ease.

   • Set the number of Elbows (try 3 for a nice curve).

   • Click Generate Callout — the line now draws itself on screen.

🎨 Customizing the Callout

You can tweak the style anytime:

• Move Points & Elbows – Select and drag them to refine the path.

• Adjust Thickness & Softness – Use sliders in the control panel.

• Change Colors – Perfect for matching your brand palette.

• Rename Layers for Clarity – Instead of “Shape Layer 1,” rename to “Square” or “Circle” for better organization.

💡 Pro Tip: Renaming your layers before refreshing the plugin helps you quickly select targets without confusion.

🌍 Using Callouts for Map Animations

One of the coolest uses for Filmit CallOuts is map animations. Here’s how:

1. Import your map graphic into After Effects.

2. Use Start and Stop points to mark locations.

3. Increase elbows for curved travel routes.

4. Animate the callout to follow your desired travel path.

The plugin will handle all keyframing automatically, creating a smooth traveling line effect — perfect for route maps, journey animations, or travel vlogs.

💡 Expert Tips for Faster Workflow

• Easy Ease for Smoothness – Makes animations feel more natural.

• Randomized Elbow Movement – Adds an organic look to your lines.

• Multiple Callouts – You can chain multiple start and stop points to create complex paths.

• Speed Adjustments – Simply scale keyframes in the timeline to speed up or slow down the animation.

✅ Why Use Filmit CallOuts?

• Saves Time – No manual path keyframing.

• Customizable – Adjust elbows, color, and thickness instantly.

• Versatile – Works for maps, product videos, tutorials, and more.

• Professional Results – Clean animations without tedious setup.

📌 Final Thoughts

Filmit CallOuts is a game-changer for anyone creating map line animations or callout titles in After Effects. Instead of spending hours manually animating paths, you can now generate, customize, and animate professional-looking callouts in minutes.

If you want to speed up your After Effects workflow and produce stunning animations with ease, check out Filmit CallOuts and start experimenting with your own projects.

🎬 Your turn — Try creating your first animated map route today and see how much faster your workflow becomes!