How to create "Typewriter" style text in Shotcut

[@mmm-morshusmadmelodies7859]

I just downloaded the latest version of Shotcut (24.01.28), and the typewriter effect still doesn't seem to have been added to Text: Rich (or at least I couldn't find it). So, it seems your tutorial is still relevant almost three years later!

[@moonrosespirit634]

Wow, awesome Video. This helped me so much, thank you 🙏

[@BenEspanto]

Winner! Winner! Chicken dinner!

[@GiovannaOaken]

Omg!!! Loved the idea of recording the screen . I used to do this typewriter effect by creating several "frames" of text. Surely will try with OBS now!!

[@jonrayjr421]

Thank you!

[@travelwithrado]

Thanks a lot! Brilliant as always! Magician of Shotcut!

[@jonrayjr421]

Thank you so much!

[@yasirrakhurrafat1142]

The whole time in the video I was thinking about " But how am I gonna achieve the typewriter sounds though " and you managed to dilever . Awesome tutorial man .

[@musicalboxbitspieces]

Brilliant Jonray ! It was well worth the wait. The second method using a reversed video is very clever. One of those "Why didn't I think of that myself" thing :-D I love also all the small useful tips you give here and there in the video.

[@jonrayjr421]

Thank you so much! Glad you appreciate it, and thanks for all the tips you have given me, too, on the Shotcut forum.

[@joe_cullen]

Very good, this is an awesome tutorial. Nice job!

[@jonrayjr421]

Thank you!

[@FinoClips]

Asbolutly marvelous work. Thanks for the Video, it helped me inmensily!

[@TimLauridsen]

Very Nice video, Method 2 is so clever

[@greatperson4226]

Very very good idea sir 👍🏻 thanks a lot

[@Lochwood92]

Loving your stuff.. I use Shotcut for editing my Motovlog videos. I love it. Good to learn more and more about this program. Your teaching skills are spot.on buddy. 👍

[@EichhornchenMorder]

The nice thing about programs with lots of features is that there are a lot of ways to skin a cat, but I think you can refine your process a lot for this particular cat. For method #1, why wouldn't you create your images with a transparent background rather than muck about with the blend modes? I guess your way can be done entirely within Shotcut, but using a separate image editor is pretty easy. Also, why are you re-importing the image sequence every time you want to change the frames per picture rather than just going to the properties of the clip and adjusting the frames per picture there? For method #2, exporting the last frame is certainly one way to do it, but you could also just run your screen recording at the start before deleting the text (reversed to be the end.) An unmentioned method #3 that might work in some situations would be to use the Open Other > Text (w/ a transparent background of course,) enter the full text, add it to the playlist, add it to the timeline, apply whatever properties/filters you want, then split the clip however many times that you have characters, and then edit the text for each individual piece so that it reveals typewriter style. Kinda of tedious, but gives very fine level of control. Then for the audio, why wouldn't you just detach the audio and delete the video track rather than rendering a needless .mp3?

[@jonrayjr421]

You have some great alternative methods and tweaks there, Michael. For me. adding Blend mode (add) is pretty easy, however there are some other nice time saving touches though. Thanks!

[@Taterzz]

something i picked up making my latest video using the latest version 22.04.25 (as of this comment). when using the crop filter while zoomed in, you can select something else. i usually add an extra filter (like brightness) to whatever i'm cropping. then, simply go back to the crop filter by selecting it and the annoying project box will more or less disappear. from there, you can adjust the size or position and see exactly where it lines up. by moving the scroll bar during the zoom however, will reset the position of the box on screen so you'll have to reselect something else to "remove" it from view. you can also hover the mouse of the values and use your mousewheel to scroll through whatever much faster too.

[@prib]

nice vid, thanks.. save for later

[@glerisonnaturologo6367]

Great videos ... Friend how do I save effects (type of logo) to use in other videos inside the shotcut?

[@hassansadiq849]

Thanks a lot !

[@merrymac3785]

Thanks for this effect. I tried it in a video and it worked a treat. Can the text be any other colours than black and white?

[@jonrayjr421]

Yes, at 9:06 I show how to change the colours by using the colour grading filter. Thanks for trying it out!

[@stajp67]

Question about method #1: Why don't you use a keyframing with the black overlay colour instead of exporting frame by frame? Create a black box, put it over the whole text, and then use keyframing (a little stopwatch) to show every letter. When showing a letter create two key frames next to another - in the first one a letter is hidden, in the next just change the position of the box to show the letter. Then go in time when you want the next one, and just do it again. This way you can add a longer and shorter stops while typing.

[@jonrayjr421]

Thanks for that idea, stapj67. It's a good alternative method, although I tried it that way myself, using keyframes and found the export frame method slightly easier. But users may prefer doing it your way and I appreciate you suggesting it! There are also "hold" keyframes (previously called "discrete") which could be used.

[@fictionaddiction4706]

@@jonrayjr421 Then about method 2 , why didn't you just capture the screen when you were already typing, instead of writing, then wiping and reversing the video later.

[@jonrayjr421]

@@fictionaddiction4706 You make a good point. I did it because a) I might have made mistakes, b) you can format the text after typing, and c) doing it this way you can press "backspace" rhythmically so the result is rhythmic. BUT - I take your point!! If you prefer just to record your typing, then go for it!! Thanks for your feedback.

[@rbm8991]

Hey, I found another way to do this, and it is by recording the typing on notepad, cropping the video and using chroma key to get rid of the white parts.

[@nina-verenakaul9907]

With which program did you record the typing in Notepad?

[@HeribertMuermann]

@@nina-verenakaul9907 You may use OBS. I think Windows 11 can do a simple screen record by its own. There are many possibilities.

[@travelwithrado]

I'm started a new project so I have a question not related to your topic on this video. Do you know how to make a video with moving line on the maps showing your destination with Shotcut?

[@willmfrank]

Suggestion: Use a program like Krita to animate the line on your map, then import the clip into Shotcut to edit it into your video.

[@nido229]

I love the video. It's a very clever solution. Just curious, did they ever implement a way to do this easier in Shotcut? I see a "Text: Rich" filter as you mentioned in the video but I'm not sure about the implementation?

[@rysertio2043]

For method 2 you can also use a site like hackertyper

[@cedricadougba324]

Thanks, Jesus loves you !

[@shaneweightman]

I stopped watching the video after 4 mins , to long arsed this is just to put some typewriter text to a video ,, life’s to short for this type of work , maybe in one of there updates they might add a feature to do something like this , without this long winded stuff , cheers Shane uk 🇬🇧

[@musicalboxbitspieces]

Ain't life too short for that kind of thing also ? You are entitled to your own opinion of course, but I have a hard time understanding why you felt necessary to write a comment that makes this method look like a waste of time. Videos like this one are a gift from heaven when you need something done but there is no magic button to do all the work for you.

[@jonrayjr421]

@@musicalboxbitspieces Thanks for your support! Sometimes we have to work hard to achieve things that aren't given to us on a plate ..... having said that, Shane has a point - it would be lovely to have an automatic feature one day that does this effect.... Until then though I hope this is useful to users.