Instant flashing arrow using text filter-set

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I’ve made a filter-set you can use to create an instant flashing arrow in Shotcut.

Caviat - it relies on having the font “Pizzadude Pointers” on your system. This font is readily available for private use - just search online for it, download it and install it.

pizzadude pointers screenshot
pizzadude pointers screenshot1038×747 101 KB

The filter-set is made up of three filters:

flashing arrow filter set sceenshot
flashing arrow filter set sceenshot561×883 61.3 KB

  1. Text:simple - with text opacity keyframed to turn the arrow off an on (with small fades) at regular intervals (8 frames apart);
  2. SPR filter - so you can change the size, position and/or rotation of the arrow;
  3. Colour Grading filter - NB the original font colour is white - however you can change the colour of the arrow by clicking around on the righ-hand colour wheel.

My video tutorial shows how to use it. Make sure the transparent clip is 15 seconds long (if you are using 30fps) or more, and should be placed on video track V2 or higher, with any video (or colour clip) placed on V1. Otherwise the keyframed transparency won’t work.

My short tutorial:

Filter-set file:
JR-flashing-arrows-10-seconds-8-frames-pizzadude-pointers.txt (3.0 KB)

Simply download it and put it the “filter-sets” folder in Shotcut’s AppData folder. You can find and open this folder by going to Settings > AppData Directory>Show.

BTW this filter-set was created for a project using a 30 frames per second framerate.

PS - important - I should just mention that I’ve been testing this with the 23.11 BETA version - and this will not work on the current version of Shotcut (23.09.29), because the Opacity keyframe feature in the text:simple filter is not available in that version. Users not using the BETA will have to wait until 23.11 is released.

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Thanks @jonray !!

Very nice Filter Set. What’s more, you can easily change the font if you want to display a different object.

The Webdings and Wingdings fonts, for example, offer an interesting choice of objects.

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Good idea, @musicalbox. I didn’t think of that. Of course, it’s also possible to alter the speed and regularity of the flashes by editing the keyfames. It would take a bit of time and effort, but once it’s done and saved as a different filter-set it’s there to be used whenever needed.

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