Add a Countdown Timer Directly in Davinci Resolve (NO External Media or Plugins)

1 - Open your project in Davinci Resolve
2 - Open your effects and add "Custom +" title
3 - Right click in the text box on right hand side and choose "timecode"
4 - Style the text to your liking BEFORE MOVING ON
5 - Use "Write-on" slider to remove hours and frames (if you just want min/sec)
6 - Right click on the layer in the timeline and choose "new compound clip"
7 - Position the "new compound clip" to where you want it on screen
8 - Right click on the layer, choose "change clip speed" and check the box to reverse the clip speed (to make timer count backwards)
Voila!
Leave a like and maybe even a sub if this helped :)

[@martydotzone]

y'know I didn't even end up using the countdown for this video I'm working on, but you were so EFFICIENT at teaching me how to do it, I was able to implement the idea and then make a decision SO FAST, that I am still super grateful because I can't visualize as well as some other people

[@JRPCREATIVE]

All about efficiency and being decisive over here 😂 Glad I could help

[@DejayClayton]

Subscribed just because this video is so concise and without filler content, good job!

[@JRPCREATIVE]

This is my favorite comment to get 😂 glad I can help without wasting any time 👍

[@ThiagoPrego]

Thank you so very much. Simple and straight forward. May the Lord bless you always.

[@jabbaruncut856]

Thank you so much for this, did not know text+ had so many features!!

[@IncarnationMastery]

Just what I was searching for. You nailed it! Great video and super concise, thank you so much! I'm gonna be using this countdown in my next video today:) Keep up the great work! I subscribed to support your efforts.

[@JRPCREATIVE]

Appreciate that a ton. If you run into any other issues along the way let me know so I can come up with more tutorials for the editing masses 😂

[@IncarnationMastery]

@@JRPCREATIVE Cool! Im totally new to DaVinci, coming from premiere pro, so im still trying to learn the basics. Have been watching some videos with the basics but dont know if you have any great tutorials for the basic animations for youtube, colorgrading. Will look for it on your channel! Looking forward to following your growth 💪🏻 keep it up mate

[@NatureNorthwest]

working on my streaming channel this is a life saver thank you dude ! awesome tutorial !

[@JacksAviationUK]

Perfect video. A massive help! Thank you 🙏 😊

[@walkingwithGenny]

Thank you so much!!!! I have clicked on countless other tutorials on this subject matter and yours is the only one that made sense! Thank you!!! My video now will have a countdown timer, thanks to you!!!!!

[@JRPCREATIVE]

Mission accomplished 💪

[@teekomeeko]

Just wanted to add another thanks and subscribe. This was 100x better than any other tutorial for the same feature.

[@JRPCREATIVE]

Appreciate that. We trying to keep things straightforward over here.

[@WilsonRogersCompanyInc]

Awesome stuff. Exactly what I need for my next video. Thanks for making this! 😁

[@JRPCREATIVE]

Glad it helped 💪🏻

[@S4KuR4Ch4N]

thank you for this !! very straight to the point and concise :)

[@JRPCREATIVE]

Love to hear that. This ain’t a recipe blog, we just get to what you need to know 😂

[@rxpurrs]

Short sweet and simple! Very much appreciate it!

[@JRPCREATIVE]

That’s what I’m aiming for 💪🏻 glad it helped

[@user-lv4cr8dj7m]

Huge thanks for this. Super simple solution that I was looking for after a lot of not so simple alternatives.

[@JRPCREATIVE]

We like simple around here

[@romano7628]

short and to the point. All I needed. A nice thumbs up your way.

[@JRPCREATIVE]

I love me a good thumbs up. Glad it helped 😎

[@rinkaemina]

To the point, easy to follow

[@startsomewhere1]

Thank you I kept using a mp4 timer I'd found online to bring in. This was short and to the point and just what I was looking for.

[@JRPCREATIVE]

MP4 timer is a solid solution I didn’t even think about tbh

[@kenan8479]

Straight to the point. Thank you sir. I've been at it for 2 hours...

[@JRPCREATIVE]

Sheesh, glad it helped

[@MassikTekken]

Great video man! :D Well done. Keep it up

[@mrsmith7741]

Fabulous Justin. So snappy straight into it no BS!!👆👍👍👍

[@Tuto1902]

Exactly what I was looking for my KZbin video. No BS. Perfect.

[@JRPCREATIVE]

I really can’t explain how much I love how often people say this 😂 appreciate it

[@fiddlingaround]

Thank you for this tutorial! I was able to make a timer for a video really quick!

[@JRPCREATIVE]

Glad it helped!

[@fabian0510]

Legend; love tutorials like this; straight to the point! You've got my subscription.

[@JRPCREATIVE]

Glad I earned your respect 🫡

[@marie-andreelabrecque9234]

I just found you and I want to thank you for your content, you explain it very well and it is easy to follow you 🙂 I just subscribe

[@JRPCREATIVE]

Appreciate that!

[@StevenLeahyArt]

Thank you. EXACTLY what I was looking for!

[@JRPCREATIVE]

Glad you found it then 😅🤙🏻

[@EvandroVieira]

Exactly what I was looking for! Thanks man

[@JRPCREATIVE]

🫡

[@doriscolbert]

I'm thinking about starting a fitness channel and this was the exact tutorial I needed. Thanks so much for sharing!

[@JRPCREATIVE]

No problemo

[@RIA]

Just what I needed to know thank you

[@JRPCREATIVE]

You’re welcome

[@FernandoQuevedo]

Great no non-sense explanation. Thanks!

[@JRPCREATIVE]

We ain’t got time for nonsense around here 👌

[@iamMNKY]

legend mate - keeping it nice and simple thank you

[@JRPCREATIVE]

You’re welcome 🙏

[@RoxaneLapa]

Beautiful and concise, thank you

[@JRPCREATIVE]

Glad it was helpful!

[@freddymiguelponce]

This is my first time n your channel. Great video! Have a Productive and Healthy day!

[@JRPCREATIVE]

Appreciate it!

[@JoeAtClaricast]

Perfect, thanks.

[@Lazarus007]

Super helpful! Thank you!

[@JRPCREATIVE]

You're welcome!

[@Supremerob20]

thank you, excellent concise explanation.

[@JRPCREATIVE]

Thank you for watching!

[@tinaw.6178]

NEW SUB. Thank you for getting right to it, adding personality, etc etc etc.

[@JRPCREATIVE]

Not here to waste anyone’s time 🤷🏻‍♂️ appreciate the sub

[@firdaus2757]

straight to the point holy, Sir you are the GOAT, thank you so much

[@JRPCREATIVE]

🐐 you're welcome so much

[@TenKozel]

Ty man. I almost waste my time of trying to find this way :D

[@chefandrepdx]

This video was perfect. Thank you!

[@JRPCREATIVE]

“Perfect” might be an overstatement… but you’re welcome 👍

[@forestgames03]

amazing thank you!

[@Gearlovers]

Gr8 tut! Straight on. Thanks!

[@JRPCREATIVE]

You’ve got it 👍

[@dnfineart]

Thank you! I use your technique to create a countdown on one of my videos

[@JRPCREATIVE]

Love to hear it 🙏

[@GustavoAviles-cr9so]

Nice video brother! Very helpful!

[@JRPCREATIVE]

Glad it helped!

[@UdegbunamChuks]

Thank you ❤

[@BradyBouren]

If anyone is having the issue of the text jittering, either change the font or go to advanced controls and move the force monospaced slider all the way up. it will alter the spacing but it does stop the jittering.

[@marie-andreelabrecque9234]

Wow!!! It work 🙌 thank you so much for sharing ❤

[@MMiller99]

Great vid. Thanks so much, man

[@JRPCREATIVE]

You've got it 👍

[@bythebeardoffletch5084]

perfect! thanks for this buddy!

[@JRPCREATIVE]

No problem!

[@8o88ijoan]

Right to the point is appreciated!!

[@JRPCREATIVE]

Not here to waste anyone’s time 😂

[@bookcaseofdoom]

thank you for an easy explanation :) now I can make a silly little reading timer :)

[@JRPCREATIVE]

That's what I'm talking about! 😂

[@TehObLiVioUs]

THANKS got it in like the 30 seconds or something hahaha heck phase 1 was all i really needed the Text+ right click timecode thing

[@JRPCREATIVE]

I'll see if I can help you in 15sec next time

[@philly64]

thank you Justin, very cool

[@JRPCREATIVE]

You seem pretty cool yourself 😎

[@TiagoRamosVideos]

Great, thanks! 👌

[@JRPCREATIVE]

You're welcome!

[@Life_as_Game]

Perfect, thank you!

[@JRPCREATIVE]

You’re welcome

[@RobertChambersJr]

Thank you! Needed this for my church!

[@JRPCREATIVE]

🙌

[@madbeef.]

Brilliant mate. Subbed!

[@JRPCREATIVE]

Appreciate you 🥲 Let me know what other tutorials may be helpful for you 😂

[@BreMue]

I am stupidly new to da vinci resolve and coming from a project or 2 in adobe rush 😂 This was so easy I feel like I will be able to easily do this, THANK YOU!!

[@JRPCREATIVE]

Honestly if you weren’t already really experienced in another editor the learning curve is probably easier

[@rishaBh_c]

Haha that was smart! Gonna use this trick on my next video

[@relaxandsleepjourney6587]

Awesome, perfect! Thanks much.

[@JRPCREATIVE]

You’re welcome much

[@seiorai_art]

Short and to the point, well done!

[@JRPCREATIVE]

🙌

[@Onetakereviewz]

thanks man. short and sweet

[@JRPCREATIVE]

As instructional videos should be 😂 Glad it helped

[@Onetakereviewz]

@@JRPCREATIVE I beg to differ. 🤣🤣🤣 Mine are nothing like this... They are long and bitter 🙈

[@martydotzone]

thank you so much :)

[@JRPCREATIVE]

You’re welcome so much

[@anxiousreader]

Thank you so much!

[@JRPCREATIVE]

You’re welcome so much

[@more__7525]

great tutorial:)

[@JRPCREATIVE]

Thanks. Your comment is pretty good too

[@GoldDiggersTV]

great tutorial. thanks

[@JRPCREATIVE]

You’re welcome

[@BroZachD7]

Thanks man!

[@JRPCREATIVE]

Thanks for watching

[@irsankomarga]

Thank you lad.

[@JRPCREATIVE]

Ya welcome 👍

[@tabbycash369]

Thank you !!

[@JRPCREATIVE]

You're welcome!

[@Splicer16]

Yes but how do u set a specific time for it to countdown from (not based on clip length)? For example, I want it to start counting down from 2 hours for only a 5-sec portion of a clip. I edit the text before doing a compound clip and it bugs out.

[@JRPCREATIVE]

If it's only a five second portion I'd probably just use text and change it every second for five seconds

[@purnellknight5368]

This saved my butt LOL thank you

[@JRPCREATIVE]

Saving butts is what I do 😂 glad I could help

[@pissbabygrandad]

THAMK U TIME LORD1!

[@Xecto-Xec]

good one

[@SkyPerspective]

Great video. Love how you succinctly explain this. Any idea how to create a circular bar countdown timer? Thanks

[@JRPCREATIVE]

Probably a few different ways to do it, and it’s probably a lot easier if you’re only counting down from like 10 instead of two full minutes… maybe I’ll see if I can put a video up on this

[@SkyPerspective]

@@JRPCREATIVE that would be awesome!

[@WhySoLoud]

why does the timecode countdown hit Zero with One second still left on the chip? I followed all your steps.

[@DarionDAnjou]

how can i get the countdown mode of the text+ to start whenever the clip is played and not just countdown all the time?

[@JRPCREATIVE]

My guess would be just cut it and move the clip to where you want it to start again? Never actually tried it. Also curious to know what your application is and/or why you’d want to do that. I might be misunderstanding the question.

[@JaydenLawson]

Another way is to drag the left side of the timer to the left, then it goes into the negative, and that also makes the timer count down

[@comradeentertainment]

Thanks did what I wanted. Shame you can't change the write on etc after changing it to a compound video

[@Keenumbers]

Gracias!

[@JRPCREATIVE]

De nada

[@shapeyourbelly]

great tutorial, thanks

[@SpikeyMuscle]

When I do that my numbers shake a little bit, do you know how to stop that?

[@lommeldesignbranding6254]

Change alignment to left align, and it shouldn't do it anymore. :)

[@SpikeyMuscle]

@@lommeldesignbranding6254 Thank you for the assistance!

[@CookingWithCreators]

any idea why my timer is glitching left to right as it plays? I've tried adjusting the write on points, but it's still hopping slightly left and right? thanks for the video!

[@CookingWithCreators]

Ah, you have to use a font were all of the numbers are evenly sized. that kinda sucks, i wanted a 'digital clock' font, and obviously all of their 1s are slimmer than the other numbers... does anyone know a workaround? Thanks

[@phoneymikey]

Thank you

[@JRPCREATIVE]

You're welcome

[@360Fov]

This is fantastic! Perfectly presented and concise. Love it!

[@JRPCREATIVE]

Concise is the name of the game 💪

[@RohitNaik]

subscribed :)

[@JRPCREATIVE]

🙏

[@Zweifluss]

is it possible that the timer goes with a 300% of time ? im making a sport competition video, who can hold longer certain positions. so i would need a countdown which also goes up to 300% with the accelerated clip...

[@JRPCREATIVE]

Great question I do not know the answer to 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@silverlyder]

thanks

[@Chalisque]

I'm amazed there isn't yet some kind of programmatic graphics facilities in video editors: one where you have e.g. a Python/Javascript script calling a drawing API to generate the frame data much like it does in e.g. a browser.

[@JRPCREATIVE]

This is too complicated for me to understand but I lowkey think After Effects might have this

[@itsmaxmint]

That's pretty clever

[@JRPCREATIVE]

Agreed

[@RabbiArielCohen]

you need to make tons mor videos your awesome

[@JRPCREATIVE]

I appreciate that. Guess it’s time for me to start coming up with more ideas 😂

[@FANTAFRUITYTWIST]

Great vid! - if I wanted the timer to start at 24 hrs, how would I do this? Thanks

[@JRPCREATIVE]

Curious to know why you'd want it to start at 24 hours... If your video is 24 hours long, just do the same process 😂 If you just want the timer to show up for a few seconds... I'd probably make the thing 24 hours and try to clip out the pieces I want. Last resort... I might just do numbers manually and change it every second. All depends on what exactly you want to accomplish

[@KaijuJake]

Love the video, helped a lot, only problem I'm having with it atm is mine seems to jitter side to side as my camera in games pans over, any way to stop that?

[@JRPCREATIVE]

There’s another comment here somewhere that mentions trying to left align. See if that works.

[@KaijuJake]

@@JRPCREATIVE Yeah i used the anchor icon, it has to due with the type of font and the numbers being different sizes in the font, thank you!

[@Wilba999]

I keep trying to do this, but everytime I do, the timer is uncontrollably shaking throughout the entire video. Any tips?

[@JRPCREATIVE]

Is your alignment set to left align? That’s the only solution I’m remembering off the top of my head

[@Burasta]

I had the same problem and moving the H Anchor slider to left fixed it

[@TinyTrackCars]

Trying to do this right now.. Once I drag the text+ box in I have no option to right click and get a menu to pick timecode. Not where why that isn't working. Rocking 18.1.4

[@JRPCREATIVE]

Do you not have the option at all or is it greyed out?

[@TinyTrackCars]

@@JRPCREATIVE wasn’t there at all. I closed out and re-booted resolve and it was there 🤷‍♂️. Problem fixed

[@JRPCREATIVE]

@@TinyTrackCars That's always the best fix 😂

[@TinyTrackCars]

@@JRPCREATIVE my mic input stood working too quite often. Takes a reboot and re add it as the input and it works again 🤷‍♂️

[@symbiocreativo6648]

thanks!

[@JRPCREATIVE]

You're welcome!

[@AnimeWill]

GOAT

[@JRPCREATIVE]

I agree

[@xdomberx5997]

ty bro

[@JRPCREATIVE]

yw bro

[@durvesh007]

Thanks

[@JRPCREATIVE]

You're welcome

[@FatJebusGaming]

my right click wont work on it

[@pranavvenkatesan9712]

Is it possible to stop the timer at 1 instead of letting it go to 0?

[@JRPCREATIVE]

I reckon you could just trim the end of it..

[@lodcorp]

Hi, how can make timer but not 1:35:12 i want only minutes like this: 95:12

[@WhySoLoud]

in the Inspector box at the very bottom is a Write On element. Slide the 2 balls in and it will delete characters from the Left and Right.

[@mukhlisridhwan9583]

thx

[@JRPCREATIVE]

yw

[@rpaulseymour]

Just did this... simply to count seconds forward... and my type is jittering around frame by frame WTF lol. But... bug? No other keyframes set. 18.6. Madness. EDIT: because the font is not fixed width. So, the unseen numbers using the write on trick made the position of the visible ones move. Under advanced controls, you can do 'forced monospace" set to 1... but, probably kinda ugly.

[@MyHarmony0_0]

i dont know why in my video start with Minus, 😭😭😭