If you want to use the regular text generator, here's one way (courtesy of John Rofrano).

Mike


The easiest way to do this is to keyframe the text media like this:

1. Insert a Text Generated Media and set up the font, size, color, etc that you want.
2. Make sure you press the Left Justify button because text is center justified by default. If the text is centered it will move as you add more letters.
3. Start by typing the first letter of the text only.
4. Now make a keyframe a little further down the timeline and type the 2nd letter.
5. Make another keyframe further down the timeline and type the 3rd letter.
6. Keep making new keyframes and typing one letter at a time until your whole message is written.
7. Finally, highlight all the keyframes and right click on one and select Hold from the popup menu for the keyframe type. This will cause the letters to instantly appear at the designated keyframe.

That’s all there is to it. Add a typing sound effect and you're all set.

not instructions, but there's an example file.

Nice one Mike (and Johnny) - after I posted above I tried searching the Pro Titler Help files for "typewriter" - no luck, then tried a quick Chapter scan of Spot's Pro Titler DVD - it's probably there, but not sure under which heading .... anyway the "old" way looks simple and straightforward!

You can also use swishmax. There is a tut on Vasst.com for how to do it. It is utterly simple and if you don't own swishmax, you can download the trial and import the swf file into vegas with a transparent background.

Here is the link and the tutorial is done by none other than JohnnyRoy.

j razz

Mike, you're not old enough to remember how a real typewriter works? Your method will simulate how keyboarding input to a computer screen will work. A typewriter presents each new letter in the exact same place, with the rest of the text being pushed left one position for each new character!

The font to use for this is Courier, or Courier New, a monospaced font [unless you're trying to simulate output from an IBM Selectric with proportional spacing].

Actually the Selectric II and III series had a ball that moved across the platen while the paper stayed still much more similar to printers than to older typewriters.

bayside, yes you're right - and, as I assume you were implying, that effect can be (more or less) achieved using the old Text Generator method above and Centre justifying

Center justifying won't quite do it either. It will push the old characters over to the left as new ones are added, but each new character will also end up farther to the right. Looks kinda weird.

The answer is to right justify the text and shift the right margin to just a hair [half a character's width] right of center screen.

Hold it guys.
That kind of writing on screen is an established cliché. People expect the letters to add themselves to the right of the previous one while the previous one remains in place. If you do it any other way they will start thinking: maybe there is a hidden meaning behind it, or something. You don't want that. Stick with the method rs170a provided. Leave the real old typewriters to the real old folks. (Nothing in film/video is supposed to be real anyway. Not real real.)
Tor

Fair point Tors, but as you suggest, it all depends on the vintage of the expected audience.

Most young 'uns today won't even know what a typewriter is/was, so the Left justify method probably does it for them, but if you're want to really represent a typewriter, then the Right Justify/displacement look is the one to go for.

Like all those myriad other options that our editing software gives us, it's a matter of choice.

Maybe you can use that old "typewriter" song to generate the keyframes.
JJK

The one by Leroy Anderson?

With the Protype titler, click on collections. There is a typewriter effect. Drag that to the key frame timeline. Edit the text. You are done.

kkolbo,

I have Vegas Pro 8. But in Proype Titler, I see no collections. What am I missing?

Okay... found the collections, but still no typewriter in there.

No typewriter in mine either [just a clay tablet and stylus effect ,must be a beta ]

There is no typewriter effect in the collections by default. You have to make one yourself and save it (which is probably what Keith did).

After you enter your text in ProType Titler:

1) Go to the Layout tab
2) Enable keyframing for the Selection parameter (click the round swirl icon to the left)
3) Make sure Selection Type is set to Character
4) Make sure Fade Selection is Unchecked

Now position the little timeline cursor at the beginning and slide the Selection slider all the way to the Left. Next position the little timeline cursor at the end and slide the Selection slider all the way to the Right. You should now see an envelope that is low on the left and high on the right. Play the animation and the text will appear one letter at a time on the screen.

~jr

I think what's more important is accessibility by the audience. While it's true that the older typewriters slid the platen to the left while typing so that all new characters appeared at the same place, duplicating this effect on the video screen would probably be way too annoying to viewers. They'd probably give up reading the screen and look at the decorations in the theater or talk to their friends until the titles were over. No one wants large blocks of text sliding back and forth horizontally on the screen. Stick with the text staying mostly still and new characters building to the right.

Remember, the idea is to convey information in a way that makes people think "typewriter", not to duplicate how a typewriter functions.

Another important aspect is the font. Pick the typical monospace font that most old typewriters used. There are some available that even look like copy from a typewriter with a bad ribbon. Put that on the screen and it will say "typewriter" to the audience much more than any effect you do with placing the characters.

No one said that the effect should be used to publish War and Peace. Use your filmmaker's instincts, any effect worth doing is worth doing sparingly. Don't get so enamored of your skills that you put the audience to sleep ["Learn to kill your babies," sage advice from Kirk Douglas to son Michael]. The typewriter effect was used very convincingly by Chuck Workman in his short for the Academy Awards on scriptwriting. OK, so he used a real typewriter, the same principles [of economical exposition] still apply.

Don't use Courier, it's too clean, use a typewriter-look font:

http://simplythebest.net/fonts/typewriter_fonts_2.html

And don't forget to slam the whole block of text up and down each time you print a capital letter (funny, hah?).
Tor