hello i'm not sure if i'm posting this in even the right place, my problem is, how do i add text to a film so that it looks like its being typed onto the screen by computer or something of such like? also i'd like to be able to add ever change text and numbers and alien like script on the afore said movie, i cant seem to find a way to do this so any help or poiters in the right direction would be of great help.
regards
all
sean

You can't do text in Composite lab or effects lab or visionlab for that matter. If you use windows you can create a varitety of text with windows movie maker, a program that come preloaded onto all (i think) windows operating systems. You can add all sorts of text from there. It a very simple interface. Open it up (all programs>windows movie maker) and click tools on the top toolbar. Select titles and credits. The rest is pretty self explanatory. Enjoy

hi there thanks for the mega quick reply your not suggesting i take my film into windows fim maker are you? lol that will really kill the quality of it, or do you mean make the text on windows movie maker and then import it into fx stuff? (scratching head, composite i think)
once again thanks, i was hoping someone could point out a program i can download or something.

What video editor do you use?

only video stuff i have is the fxhome compositelab and fxlab and of course i have windows movie maker, i really cant afford things like premier pro etc.

if i have to use windows movie maker to add the text and text effects then so be it lol, but some of the text effects i dont think can be done easily in it, so i might ave to forego those effects on text, any and all help would be greatly appreciated

Windows Movie Maker is limited, but believe it or not it can be pretty decent quality if you use it to capture to DV format.

Anyways...

The typewriter-type effect you're after is not easy for free, but if you were to try it, you could try it like this... (someone smarter can tweak these instructions to make them legible)

1) Create a gif graphic of the whole word in The Gimp. Set the background to be transparent
2) Add it as media to CLab
3) Use a mask on it to reveal the characters one at at time

That wouldn't be too slow, and should have the right effect?

hello pdrg
that actually sounds quite good, lol it seems that even something simple isnt that simple hehehehehe. but your suggestion sounds good, i know i may sound pretty thick now but whats 'the gimp'? i've never heard of it. but i do have an idea i'm going to try in windows movie maker,
i'm going to make the text i want in windows movie maker and the export it out, and bring it into composite lab as a media stream, and use it that way, same with the extra text and graphics i want, its going to be a long very long boring job, but it looks like its got to be this way but in the mean time if anyone else can come up with a good idea i'd be willing to try it out.

The Gimp is a bit like Photoshop, but 100% free! It's ace. In fact, for non-animated titles it's a great option, perhaps someone will make a tutorial sometime! The idea behind my idea is that you do the bit you can't do in CLab (the text) using it, and the bit you can (the animation) in CLab.

For what it's worth, editing is always a long job, on every project. Good editing software can speed it up a bit, but it's always a chore, animated titles even moreso!

That's an excellent technique, pdrg. It would be relatively quick to achieve, and fairly simple to set up. To get full letters to appear, rather than having them progressively appear as a wipe, would take a tad more keyframing, but still not difficult.

Another option, for creating ever-changing text, would be to use the particle engine. If you have a readout on which nubers or letters are constantly changing, but are fixed in place, you could create a texture of each letter and add the textures to a particle effect. Then set the particle lifetime to 1 frame, and set the order to random. Set the particle movement to 0, so they stay locked in place, and the letters will randomly flash through in one spot. You could even get them to last longer than one frame each with a little tweaking. You'd need the Gimp or something similar to create the textures for this one as well. You could also create your own glyphs, to simulate an alien script.

As pdrg says, editing and animating titles are always going to be involved processes. You might look into Sony Vegas as an editor. It is very highly rated, starts quite affordably, and there are numerous users around here who could help you learn the ropes if you ran into difficulties.

Axeman and pdrg
you've both been really helpfull, and yes it appears that this is going to be a chore, something i didnt think it would be, as for the particle engine i didnt know it could be used in this way, so i shall certainly look into it. as for your advice on sony vegas, can i say thanks but no thanks, i swore never to use anything made by sony after i got the brush off from them when i needed help with one of their laptops, lol after sales service forget it, but thats another story not for here hehehehehehe.
i did somewhere have another editing program but i cant seem to find it. shall have to look for it, but composite lab and fxlab seem to have nearly everything i need apart from one or two things. my video camara came with a good program for chopping up digital video before i take it into any of the fx programs, and since its a near broadcast quality camara, i'd like to preserve the quality as much as possible. once again thanks guys your all diamonds )

We rock.

Axeman, cute effect, I see what you're thinking - nice