Re: text animation

I see,

Maybe you could use Sweep Nurbs with a flat, 2d shape as the cross section - like just a 2 point spline (just a line) so the sweep nurbs has no depth.

Another way to go could be to output a .AEC scene file and a compositing tag to represent where the 'pen' touches the 'paper'.

You could then import all this .AEC 3D data into after effects and you get a null object which you can attach you write on effect to.. Just a thought. Also Cinema 4D's sketch and toon module could help you. It is a post effect. You can animate the lines to 'draw' across your splines and also add many preset effects like crayon, pencil, chalk, paint etc.