How do I add floating text to a clip? (not a title, floating text that can be moved)

Hi, Sidney,

If I understand you correctly, you want to add text to a clip and be able to move or position it anywhere in the clip that you want. Really no satisfactory way to do this with iMovie 10 titles, although I confess that I have not tried them all.

However, you can use the Preview app on your Mac to create a .png text that you can add to your iMovie clip though the Picture in Picture function, and adjust it's position anywhere you want in the clip.

To do this, put a duplicate of a random photo on your desktop. Open it in Preview. Do an Edit/Select All, and then delete. You will be asked if you want to convert to .png. Answer yes. You will then be left with a blank .png screen. While still in blank screen, go to Tools/Annotate/Text. When you select Text you will be given a box on your screen that will allow you to type in text. Type in your text and save to desktop. Then drag the saved text into your iMovie project.

In the time line, place it above the clip in which you want to use it. Then, in the toolbar at the top of your iMovie screen, click on the icon that looks like overlapping squares. Select Picture in Picture in the selection box. Your text will pop up on your preview screen. There you can drag the text and place it anywhere in the clip that you want. Then hit the Reset button to the right of your screen.

I hope that the above will accomplish what you are trying to do.

Best,

Rich

If you can't achieve the desired effect using the Scrolling Credits, Far Far Away or Ticker titles,

the only way I can think of is to create a file with the desired text on a green or blue background (outside of iMovie) and put that above a green or blue background clip in the timeline. You can then use the picture in picture facility and keyframing to move the text around on the background. See http://help.apple.com/imovie/mac/10.1/#/mova1aaa682b for details.

Share/export this to file then import the file and place it above your video clip. This time use the green/blue screen facility so that only the text appears on top of your video. See http://help.apple.com/imovie/mac/10.1/#/mov82da1338a for details.

Cumbersome, but should work.

Geoff.