MS13 Simple Text Box with Transparent Background

Wobblycogs wrote on 3/25/2014, 7:21 AM

I'm really hoping someone will tell me I'm just missing something but I can't find an easy way to create a text box overlay.

I have no problem creating text overlays using "Media Generators > Titles and Text" and that works brilliantly for cases where the text is the only content on the screen. The problem is that I often want to overlay text on quite busy video with a lot of colours. In that situation the text becomes difficult to read whatever colour I make it. To make the text readable I currently put a really thick black outline around it which works but the results aren't very pleasing to the eye. What I want is a rectangular semi-transparent box around just the text, you often see this on closed captions.

Following a couple of tutorials I've created something close to what I want using a solid colour and then messing with the "Event Pan and Crop" but that's slow and fiddly especially for anything that isn't at the edge of the screen.

I've also seen tutorials talking about making a PNG with a semi-transparent area and overlaying that on the video. I'm sure that would work but this is 2014 is that really the best solution?

Is the maybe a plugin for this?

Comments

Steve Grisetti wrote on 3/25/2014, 8:18 AM

Why not just add the text to an upper video track and add the box background (a Solid Color media generator) on a video track below it -- between the title and your video -- Pan/Cropped to the whatever size you need?

Jack S wrote on 3/25/2014, 11:00 AM

As Steve said but also, if you want to make the box semi-transparent, use the Opacity control to make it less opaque.

Wobblycogs wrote on 3/25/2014, 2:28 PM

That is exactly what I've done (including the opacity mentioned by the other reply) but it's far from a quick solution if you've got a lot of text boxes to add.

For something like a lower thirds it's ok as it's a just a vertical pan operation on the solid colour. For a box that's, lets say, right of centre and tall and thin it's down right awkward.

richard-amirault wrote on 3/26/2014, 2:10 PM

.... but it's far from a quick solution if you've got a lot of text boxes to add.

Do the first, then COPY and PASTE it for additional boxes. All you will need to do is change the text on these new boxes.

Keihal wrote on 6/13/2014, 3:58 PM

I've been trying to do the same thing - create captions with a small solid (or semi transparent) background around the text. I've tried to follow the method in this thread but I can't see you you can use the pan/crop tool to create the coloured rectangle. Surely, the box that you are defining with the pan/crop is going to be magnified to be the full width or height of the screen? I can't see you you can create a small rectangle and then control its position.... Any suggestions?

vkmast wrote on 6/13/2014, 4:49 PM

Keihal,
read the post by MSmart here, esp. 7) to 9).

richard-amirault wrote on 6/13/2014, 5:07 PM

The problem is that I often want to overlay text on quite busy video with a lot of colours. In that situation the text becomes difficult to read whatever colour I make it. To make the text readable I currently put a really thick black outline around it which works but the results aren't very pleasing to the eye.

This is how I deal with text on a colorful background.
First, a lot depends on how large the text is (font size)
Second, I put a small black outline on my text not a thick one.
Third, I use the "draw shadow" option to further "distance" the text away from the video. I use a soft blur shadow, not a hard shadow.

You may need to tweek the settings until you get something you like.

Once you get a set-up that works .. you can save it as a pre-set and you will not need to re-invent the wheel for every text box.