How to make a border around text?

Question

Level 3

610 points

How to make a border around text?

In my latest FCE project, I made a solid color matte clip (dark blue) to set below my titles to give the text a colored background (these titles are not overlaid on video clips, so without the colored matte, the background would be the default black of the Timeline, and I don't want black).

Anyway, so here I have this nice white text overlaid on a dark blue background, looking pretty good, and now I'd like to put a decorative rectangular white border around the text, a thin white line, or a maybe a double white line, sort of like a pinstripe, to elegantly (I hope) enclose the text in a sort of box.

What would be the best way to create such a border? Could I make one on a transparent layer in Photoshop (I have CS-2,) and then import it into FCE as a clip to set the text above? Or is there a simpler way to do it, within FCE?

Any suggestions would be welcome.

Tom

G4 Quicksilver 1 GHz DP, Mac OS X (10.4.9), 1.5 GB of RAM

Posted on Apr 3, 2008 12:13 AM

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Answer 1

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

150,974 points

Apr 3, 2008 1:24 AM in response to Tom Baker1

Make your text using Title 3D. It can have up to five edges and five drop shadows.

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Answer 2

Apr 3, 2008 3:05 AM in response to Tom Baker1

Piero's free "Frames" filter will do exactly what you want:-

http://web.mac.com/piero.fiorani/PieroFFCEEffect/Frames.html

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Answer 3

Tom Baker1 Author

Level 3

610 points

Apr 3, 2008 9:26 AM in response to Ian R. Brown

Thanks, Tom, but Title 3D seems to only dress up the individual letters of the text, and I'm trying to get a line border around the whole clip.

And thanks also, Ian. I downloaded that Piero frames generator, and now I'm trying to figure out how to open a .zip file like that. Stuffit Expander seems to ignore it. Gotta be some way . . .

Tom B.

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Answer 4

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

150,974 points

Apr 3, 2008 9:33 AM in response to Tom Baker1

I guess I don't understand what you mean. Do you mean like a box around the text? You can do it using a color matte and the mask shape filter applied twice, once inverted to cut out the hole, and then normal, but a little bigger to make the shape you want.

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Answer 5

Apr 3, 2008 9:36 AM in response to Tom Baker1

You don't unzip it !

You simply drag it to HD>Library>Application Support>Final Cut Express Support>Plugins.

Then when you open FCE it should appear with the Generators in the "pf" section.

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Answer 6

Tom Baker1 Author

Level 3

610 points

Apr 3, 2008 9:51 AM in response to Ian R. Brown

Yes, Tom, that's what I want, a box around the text, all the text, just thin line or pinstripe. Your solution sounds good but I'll have to learn how to use a mask shape filter on a matte. Never tried that before.

Well, Ian, this "PieroF Frames" download has the icon of a brown box with the word "zip" and a picture of a C-clamp on it, and its name ends in .zip. The Finder's "Get Info" identifies it as a"zip archive." Doesn't that mean it's a compressed file that needs to be uncompressed before use? But Stuffit Expander does nothing to it.

Tom B.

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Answer 7

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

150,974 points

Apr 3, 2008 9:59 AM in response to Tom Baker1

What happens when you double click on it? When I download it, it's a text file in .fxscript format.

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Answer 8

Tom Baker1 Author

Level 3

610 points

Apr 3, 2008 10:40 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

The only option I see on that PieroF webpage is to download it as a .zip file. When I download it and double-click on the icon, I get that zoom-out effect like it's opening, but it doesn't open. Dropping its icon onto the Stuffit icons doesn't do anything either.

Anyway, I just experimented with masking off a colored matte in the way you mentioned, and I think I see how to do it: create a color matte and then lay two masks on top of it, an inner one and an (inverted) outer one, which leaves only a thin line of the color matte still showing. Is that it? For a double pinstripe, I suppose I would do that twice, i.e. create two masked-off mattes, one a little larger than the other, and stack them up on the video tracks?

It's more trouble than the Piero frame generator, no doubt, but effective. Thanks!

Tom B.

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Answer 9

PieroF

Level 5

4,283 points

Apr 3, 2008 10:48 AM in response to Tom Baker1

Hi, you can try this link PieroFFrames_Generatorv0.8.fxscript: it is not zipped. You should get a text file (.fxscript) that you can simply drag into the Plugin folder: see the Installation instructions in my web pages, and specifically the Note about line breaks and encoding, in case you still have problems.

Piero

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Answer 10

Tom Baker1 Author

Level 3

610 points

Apr 3, 2008 11:38 AM in response to PieroF

OK, thanks PieroF, I got the script and dropped into the Plugins folder specified (the main Library folder), but even after a couple of restarts of FCE the frames generator doesn't appear among or within any of the video filters under the Effects menu. Guess it doesn't work with my setup for some reason (this is FCE HD 3.5 with OS 10.4.9 I'm using). I run into these computer mysteries all the time, and have just learned to accept them rather than get uptight about any of it.

Guess I'll go with Tom W's method of masking off mattes, then. A bit slow and cumbersome, with all the adjustments, but it works.

Tom B.

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Answer 11

Apr 3, 2008 11:53 AM in response to Tom Baker1

I told you that it appears in the GENERATORS menu not the Effects.

To open the Generators click the button at the bottom right of the Viewer. It has an icon like a filmstrip with the letter "A".

It is well worth using.

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Answer 12

PieroF

Level 5

4,283 points

Apr 3, 2008 11:54 AM in response to Tom Baker1

It is a generator: you should look under the Video Generators (not filters) or use the small Generator button on the bottom right of the viewer window.

Piero

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Answer 13

Tom Baker1 Author

Level 3

610 points

Apr 3, 2008 1:16 PM in response to PieroF

Hmmmm- As far as I can tell, on your instructions page for installing the plug-in it's referred to as an effect and the reader is instructed to look for it under filters. That was my take anyway. A little confusing there.

Well, no matter, it's not in the Video Generators in the Effects tab, nor under the little button in the Viewer with the filmstrip on it. It's nowhere in the program under any name that I can find. And yet I dropped that file exactly where instructed within the Library > etc. folder. Too bad, I would have liked to try it. Thanks anyway for trying to help.

Tom B.

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Answer 14

Apr 3, 2008 2:14 PM in response to Tom Baker1

You are obviously doing something wrong because it works for everyone else.

There are at least 2 Libraries on your computer. Are you using the correct one ?

It should be placed in the Hard Drive Library NOT your personal user one.

This is where it goes:- HD>Library>Application Support>Final Cut Express Support>Plugins

I have just checked and I see that Piero has given both places. So if it doesn't work in one, try it in another.

By the way, you have to close down FCE whilst you put in the plugin. Then when you launch FCE the plugin should appear.

Message was edited by: Ian R. Brown

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Answer 15

PieroF

Level 5

4,283 points

Apr 3, 2008 2:55 PM in response to Ian R. Brown

Thanks Ian, I see you read the instructions carefully !
Yes, this is the first time I hear this plugin cannot be installed at all, at least with FCE HD 3.5 and 4 (while I know that FCE 2 has problems with fxscript plugins).

Tom B. just one more attempt: I'm not sure you tried all detailed instructions for the text only download. After downloading the .fxscript file you have to make sure it has the proper +Line Breaks = Unix+, and +Encoding = Unicode (UTF-8, no BOM)+; it should have them, but I know somebody found them wrong after download. This can be checked and fixed only with text editors like the free TextWrangler (not TextEdit). This is not an issue with the .zip version.
Another check: have you tried with other plugins in my page ? I know it is not your priority, but it might help me understand what is your problem...

Thanks

Piero

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