Animated lower third text banner

Resources
#1

Another text effect inspired by something I saw in a YouTube video.
It’s easy to edit (text and colors) and also easy to use as many times as you want in your Shotcut projects.

If you want to use this effect, download the MLT file and follow the instructions bellow.
yellow_blue_banner.mlt (13.4 KB)

A FEW NOTES:

  1. I tried many fonts on the text, but the one that fits the best in my opinion is Bebas Neue. You can download it for free on Dafont.

  2. This banner is not designed to display a lot of text. I think it looks best with titles containing between 20 to 30 characters.

HOW TO EDIT THE MLT FILE

  1. Open yellow_blue_banner.mlt in Shotcut.
  2. Select the clip in the TEXT track.
  3. Go to Filters and select the Text: Simple filter
  4. Change the text.
  5. If you want to change the banner colors, select the clip in the BANNER track, go to Properties, click the Color… button and choose a new color.
    Do the same to the clip in the MOVING RECTANGLES track.
  6. Go to File > Save as… and save under a different name in your project folder.

HOW TO USE THE EFFECT IN YOUR PROJECT

  1. Open your project in Shotcut
  2. Go to File > Open MLT XML As Clip…"
  3. Locate the file you just saved and open it.
  4. It will start to play in the Preview window. You can drag it from there to the Playlist for later use or drag it directly to the Timeline.
  5. When the MLT is dragged to the Timeline, it becomes a clip and you need to apply a Chroma Key: Simple filter to make the green background transparent. Use the default settings of this filter.
    yellow_blue_textbanner
    yellow_blue_textbanner1164×715 150 KB

Done.

8 Likes
#2

Wow, @MusicalBox that’s really useful!! You say Thanks for Watching, I say Thanks for posting!! :+1: :+1:This idea of making MLT templates is really good. I will try my hand at some too, at some point. (I’m still working at my Motion Blur transition tutorial part 2 but I had to break off to do another project).

1 Like
#3

PS Do you mind if I use this template in my Part 2 tutorial?

1 Like
#4

That’s clever. I like it.

You inspired me to try out a variation where only the banner background graphics are in the “imported MLT” file, and the text is applied in the outer project MLT as a filter on the banner MLT clip. That way, if I want to change color or animation keyframes for every usage of that banner in my video, I only have to modify a single MLT file (the banner). The text was stored in the outer file and would remain intact after the change. Obviously, this doesn’t work for every type of banner animation, but it’s useful when it does.

2 Likes
#5

Of course not. And thank you for your kind words

That is a very good idea! Thanks for your comment, I appreciate it.

1 Like
#6

Amazing and super-practical. This is something everyone can use. Thanks!

1 Like
#7

Thank you very much Ben !

1 Like