Fit text in a box and write vertically

First look at the screen before any text is added. In this example a heading, a menu and a note go to the right of Mahiro, from top to bottom.

1. 1Check the open area for the text in the preview.
2. 2Click Text below the preview. One text clip is added.

↘Red arrows and white labels are guide annotations ＋ Enlarge with callouts

1. 1
   Check Check the open area for the text in the preview.
2. 2
   Action Click Text below the preview. One text clip is added.

Check Each time you choose Text, a text clip is added on a new top row. This example uses it three times to make three texts.

The first text now reads the heading, with font size 48, moved to the upper right (position X 290, Y -270). Scroll the properties panel on the right down to find the controls for the box.

1. 1Auto-fit starts as Fit the box to the text: the box matches the length of the text exactly.
2. 2Box width and Box height are empty at first. While empty they are decided automatically.
3. 3To make the box visible, we clicked Background box under Effects to turn it on.

↘Red arrows and white labels are guide annotations ＋ Enlarge with callouts

1. 1
   Check Auto-fit starts as Fit the box to the text: the box matches the length of the text exactly.
2. 2
   Check Box width and Box height are empty at first. While empty they are decided automatically.
3. 3
   Action To make the box visible, we clicked Background box under Effects to turn it on.

Check At this point the background box hugs the text. Its colour and padding are covered in the effects guide.

Give the heading a box of a fixed size, larger than the text.

1. 1Enter 440 for Box width and 110 for Box height, confirming each with the Tab key.
2. 2Check that Wrap text in the box is now ticked and that Auto-fit has changed to Adjust only when it overflows (shrink the text).
3. 3Check in the preview that the background box has grown to the 440 × 110 box. The text sits at the top of the box.

↘Red arrows and white labels are guide annotations ＋ Enlarge with callouts

1. 1
   Enter Enter 440 for Box width and 110 for Box height, confirming each with the Tab key.
2. 2
   Check Check that Wrap text in the box is now ticked and that Auto-fit has changed to Adjust only when it overflows (shrink the text).
3. 3
   Check Check in the preview that the background box has grown to the 440 × 110 box. The text sits at the top of the box.

Check In this example, entering the width and height switched the wrap and auto-fit settings automatically. The Auto button beside each field clears the value and returns it to automatic (not used in this guide). The screen also says the white handles on the four sides of the text in the preview change the box; this guide enters numbers.

Alignment offers three horizontal and three vertical choices. Vertical alignment takes effect once the box has a height.

1. 1Click Middle, the centre button in the lower row of Alignment.
2. 2Check that the text has moved to the vertical centre of the box.

↘Red arrows and white labels are guide annotations ＋ Enlarge with callouts

1. 1
   Action Click Middle, the centre button in the lower row of Alignment.
2. 2
   Check Check that the text has moved to the vertical centre of the box.

Check Horizontal alignment starts as Centre. The upper row is left, centre and right; the lower row is top, middle and bottom. Middle is the only one actually switched in this guide.

This is the second text. We chose Text again and entered the menu on three lines. Right after entry it is horizontal and appears at the centre of the screen.

1. 1Enter the text line by line in the Text field. Pressing Enter inside the field starts a new line. Confirm with the Tab key when done.
2. 2Click Vertical in Writing direction.

↘Red arrows and white labels are guide annotations ＋ Enlarge with callouts

1. 1
   Enter Enter the text line by line in the Text field. Pressing Enter inside the field starts a new line. Confirm with the Tab key when done.
2. 2
   Action Click Vertical in Writing direction.

Check This screenshot was taken before choosing Vertical. The next one shows how it looks afterwards.

In vertical writing the lines run from right to left, so the first line is at the right. We set the font size to 44, the position to X 330 and Y 70, and turned the background box on.

1. 1Check that Vertical is selected.
2. 2Enter 1.8 for Line spacing. In vertical writing this widens the gap between the lines.
3. 3Check in the preview that the three lines run from right to left with space between them.

↘Red arrows and white labels are guide annotations ＋ Enlarge with callouts

1. 1
   Check Check that Vertical is selected.
2. 2
   Enter Enter 1.8 for Line spacing. In vertical writing this widens the gap between the lines.
3. 3
   Check Check in the preview that the three lines run from right to left with space between them.

Check No box width or height is set for this menu. Left automatic, the box matches the size of the text.

The third text is a long note. We chose Text once more, entered the sentence, set the font size to 30 and the position to X 330, Y 250, and turned the background box on. On one line it is too wide, so we set only the box width and let it wrap. The screenshot shows the text after wrapping.

1. 1Enter 380 for Box width. Leave Box height empty.
2. 2Check that Wrap text in the box is now ticked.
3. 3Check in the preview that the sentence wraps at the box width into two lines.

↘Red arrows and white labels are guide annotations ＋ Enlarge with callouts

1. 1
   Enter Enter 380 for Box width. Leave Box height empty.
2. 2
   Check Check that Wrap text in the box is now ticked.
3. 3
   Check Check in the preview that the sentence wraps at the box width into two lines.

Check With only the width set, Auto-fit stayed at Fit the box to the text. The box height follows the number of wrapped lines automatically.

Make the box for the note a little shorter. Text that no longer fits is shrunk automatically to stay inside.

1. 1Enter 60 for Box height.
2. 2Check that Auto-fit has changed to Adjust only when it overflows (shrink the text).
3. 3Check in the preview that the text is smaller and still fits the 380 × 60 box on two lines.

↘Red arrows and white labels are guide annotations ＋ Enlarge with callouts

1. 1
   Enter Enter 60 for Box height.
2. 2
   Check Check that Auto-fit has changed to Adjust only when it overflows (shrink the text).
3. 3
   Check Check in the preview that the text is smaller and still fits the 380 × 60 box on two lines.

Check The Font size field still showed 30 after the text shrank. Auto-fit also offers No auto-fit (overflow), not used in this guide. After changing the box height, the Y position value had changed slightly, so check the placement in the preview once the box is set.

We extended the three text clips to the end of the project, saved (Ctrl+S) and reloaded the page. The box sizes, wrapping, alignment and vertical writing kept the same values as before saving. We then generated the avatar video with Generate pending in the toolbar. The screenshot shows playback from the beginning after generation finished, at 7.53 seconds.

1. 1From the top, the rows of the note, the menu and the heading run to the end of the project.
2. 2Click the Play button at the left. During playback it changes to the Pause mark, as shown.
3. 3Check that the avatar clip shows Preview generated.

↘Red arrows and white labels are guide annotations ＋ Enlarge with callouts

1. 1
   Check From the top, the rows of the note, the menu and the heading run to the end of the project.
2. 2
   Action Click the Play button at the left. During playback it changes to the Pause mark, as shown.
3. 3
   Check Check that the avatar clip shows Preview generated.

Check To extend a text clip, we put the playhead at the end of the project, selected the clip and pressed the E key (it extends the end time to the playhead). Adding text alone did not require the avatar video to be generated again.

Finally we exported an MP4 with Export in the toolbar. The screenshot shows the finished-video player that opened after the export, at the end of playback.

1. 1The time reads 0:09 / 0:09, which tells you the video played to the end.
2. 2Check that the heading sits at the vertical centre of its fixed-size box.
3. 3Check that the menu is vertical, with the three items from right to left. Below it is the note wrapped on two lines.

↘Red arrows and white labels are guide annotations ＋ Enlarge with callouts

1. 1
   Check The time reads 0:09 / 0:09, which tells you the video played to the end.
2. 2
   Check Check that the heading sits at the vertical centre of its fixed-size box.
3. 3
   Check Check that the menu is vertical, with the three items from right to left. Below it is the note wrapped on two lines.

Check For export settings and downloading, see the MP4 export guide. Note that before exporting we changed the Scale of the background clip from 1.000 to 1.010 so that the background image reaches the top and bottom edges of the picture; it has nothing to do with the text settings. Figures 1 to 9 were taken before that change.