Text and music on a reel

Both need Advanced mode — Basic only swaps clips. Everything here is a layer on the timeline, so once it's added, The timeline covers moving and trimming it.

Adding text

Click Text in the tool rail (or + Add → Text on the timeline). A panel of text templates opens, in three tabs:

• Single — one line of text in a ready-made style: Classic, Modern, Poster,

Handwritten and so on.

• Groups — a few lines styled together, like a heading with a smaller line under it.
• My Presets — your own. Style a text layer the way you like it, click

Save preset in its inspector, and it's here for every reel after.

Pick one and it lands on the preview, on its own track. Every template is a starting point: the font, colors and effects can all be changed afterwards. To restyle text that's already there, select it and open the same panel from its inspector; picking a template swaps the look and keeps the words.

Changing the words

Select the text layer and edit it in the Content section of the inspector. Multi-line text is fine — press Enter for a new line.

Making it look right

The inspector for a text layer is organized in sections. The ones you'll use most:

• Type — font, size, weight, alignment and letter spacing.
• Fill and Stroke — the letters' color, and an outline.
• Background — a box behind the text, which is the usual fix for text over a busy

clip.

• Effects — shadow and glow.
• Transform — position, rotation and size. Dragging the text on the preview does the

same.

When it appears

Text is a clip like any other. Drag its block along the timeline to change when it comes in; drag either end to change how long it stays. A line that should follow a spoken phrase is easiest to time by playing the reel, pausing on the moment, and dragging the text's start to the playhead with snapping on.

Animation

The Animation section of a text layer's inspector has four controls:

• In and Out — a simple entrance and exit for the layer as a whole: fade,

slide from a side, zoom, bounce or spin, each with its own duration. Every layer has these, not just text.

• Text In Animation — how the words themselves arrive, with a live preview of

each. Grouped as Entrance (Typewriter, Fade Up Words, Bounce In, Slide From Left, Slide Up Words, Scale Pop), Reveal (Blur Reveal, Fade Blur, Highlight Sweep) and Stylized (Rotate In, Glitch). Some have options — a direction, or whether to animate the whole line or word by word.

• Text Effect — something the text keeps doing while it's on screen: Wave,

Float, Bounce, Shake, Pulse, Flicker, Glow Pulse, Color Cycle and Font Change.

One entrance animation and no effect is the usual answer; effects are for a single word you want the eye on. Don't stack a layer In animation with a Text In Animation — the two fight each other.

Adding music

Click + Add → Audio on the timeline. Your media opens with the type filter set to audio:

• Library — audio files you've already uploaded.
• Upload — pick an MP3, M4A or WAV from your computer. It's kept in your library

for next time.

• Stock is there too, but it holds photos and video only — there's no stock music,

so a soundtrack always comes from your own files.

The track lands under Main, on an audio track, running from the start of the reel. Trim and move it like any clip; a song that's longer than the reel is simply cut where the reel ends.

Volume and muting

Select the audio clip and use the Volume slider and Mute button in its inspector. The same controls exist on video clips, for the sound that was recorded with them — so for music under talking, lower the music; for music instead of the clip's own sound, mute the clip, or mute the whole Main track from the speaker button on its track head.