The Text-collection

General Info

Configuration

Text Setup

Bugfix (vertical jump) ?
With the first checkbox you can eliminate a small bug of Final Cut Pro 4/HD and Final Cut Express. In some cases it is possible that a slowly moving text "jumps" up and down by 1 pixel. If this happens in your project, simply check this checkbox and the text wont jump again. This bug is bound to the resolution and the aspect-ration of your project. If you use the same resolution and aspect-ratio in another project, this FCP/FCE bug will also appear there and you have to check this checkbox in the new project too.

Text
Enter the text into this text-field.

Position
This defines the position of the text. Depending on the below defines Alignment the text will use this position as the left or right boundary or the center of the text.

Font
Select the desired font with this popup menu.

Size (points)
This selects the size of the font.

Style
Choose the style of the text with this popup menu.

Spacing
This defines the spacing between the letters of the text.

Alignment

Left
Center
Right
The text will be aligned to the left, right or to the center to the above defined position.

Emboss
The emboss feature creates a 3-dimensional look to the text.

without Emboss		with Emboss

Opacity
Opacity controls the opacity of the emboss effect.

Softness
With this slider you can soften the 3-dimensional effect.

Direction
Here you can define the direction where the virtual light comes from.

Text Opacity
Text Opacity controls the global opacity of the text. The below described outlines will not be affected by this slider.

Texture

With this section you can colorize the text. You can use one solid color, a gradient with two colors or an applied clip or image. If you have enabled "Show Gradients" (at the very bottom of the controls) you can see a preview of the gradient in the canvas.

Color 1
Color 2
With these two colors you can create a gradient from color 1 to color 2. If you only need an even color for the text, simply use the same color for color 1 and 2.

Position
The gradient has a center point which can be defined by this control.

Angle
The gradient is running along a straight line. The angel of the straight line can be defined with this control.

Width
Here you can define the width of the gradient.

Clip/Image
Clip/Image
If you drop a clip or an image to this image well, the above color gradient will be deactivated and the applied clip or image will be used as a texture.

Offset Clip
This defines the offset (frames) that will be added to the clip.

Outline - Upper Layer
Outline - Lower Layer

With this section a highly adjustable border can be generated around the text. This section is divided in an upper layer and a lower layer. The behavior of both layers are absolutely identical. The only difference is that the upper layer is overlaid onto the lower layer. If the upper layer completely overlaps the lower layer you wont see the lower layer anymore.

A common use of this feature is, when you create a dark border around the text with the upper layer and a colorful shining glowing area with the lower layer.

Width
This slider controls the with of the border. A setting of "1" will create a very small border. Higher settings expand the border.

Small border	Wide border

Dark area
Here you can control the behavior of the border of the outline. Higher settings will darken the outline more. This feature only affects the border of the outline.

Low setting	High setting

Softness
This slider softens the outline. This feature is different from the Dark area feature. Softness blurs the whole outline. Dark area only affects the border of the outline.

Low setting	High setting

Opacity
Here you can control the opacity of the outline. Use this slider to create transparent outlines. This feature only affects the

outline itself. The text will not be affected.

Opacity set to 0	Opacity set to 50

Position
Offset
Angle
If you want to create a 3-dimensional looking outline, you can move the outline by an offset into a specific direction. Use Offset to move the outline. Use Angle to define the direction where the outline should be moved.

Stretch & Rotate
With this section you can stretch and rotate the outline. This is very usefull if you want to create a 3-dimensional look.

X-Stretch
Y-Stretch
Use these two sliders to stretch an outline.

Rotation
Center
Here you can rotate the outline around a center-point.

Distortion
In addition you can distort the generated outline. Therefore you can define waves that will be used to do the job.

Amount
This controls the strength of the distortion. A setting of 0 will disable the distortion.

Wavelength
The wavelength of the distortion.

Speed
With this option you can animate the distortion. A setting of 0 will create a static distortion. Higher settings will increase the speed of the waves.

Angle
This is the direction where the distortion waves are heading to.

Texture
Color 1
Color 2
With these two colors you can create a gradient from color 1 to color 2. If you only need an even color for the text, simply use the same color for color 1 and 2.

Position
The gradient has a center point which can be defined by this control.

Angle
The gradient is running along a straight line. The angel of the straight line can be defined with this control.

Width
Here you can define the width of the gradient.

Clip/Image
If you want to use a texture you can apply a image or a video clip here. If you don't apply anything here, the above defined color will be used.

Offset Clip
This defines the offset (frames) that will be added to the movie. This setting has no effect if you use an image.

Canvas

Show Gradients
Enable this checkbox to see a representation of all three gradients in the canvas.

There are three gradients. One for the text itself and two for the two outline layers. The colored lines show the center of the three gradients and in which direction the colors go. The circles carry the name to show where they belong to. The size of the circles show the width of each gradient. Bigger circles represent softer gradients.