Looking for a video editor that makes adding text/overlays easy

Support Software & Applications
1

I have been using Kdenlive to edit videos, but adding text as an overlay is quite a faff.

(You need to create a title clip separate from the video, guess the location of the text, save, check, re-edit the title clip, move the text, save, check, re-edit, etc. because you cannot edit the title clip/text with the video as a background and dynamically see where your text is in the frame. Plus, keyframing movement to a text overlay is at least quadruple the effort.)

So, I am looking for a video editor that will make adding text/overlays to a video way easier.

Anyone who has worked with Openshot, Shotcut, Flowblade, Cinelerra, Lightworks or Davinci Resolve who can comment on this particular use case before I start downloading and spending time? Or maybe an altogether other suggestion what application to use?

2

Yes you can:

  • place the cursor timeline on the frame you want as background
  • edit the title
  • check “Show background”
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3

*facepalm* That’s a big improvement!

Still, I need to make a lot of title clips and drag them around on the timeline. If only there was something like a continuous, keyframeable (text)overlay that at each keyframe you could change what it was showing and work on that by dragging through the timeline. Hope my explanation makes sense!

4

If the text changes, i think there is no choice but to make distinct titles.

But if the text is (globally) the same, you may find some effects useful, such as:

5

Thanks! Those I have used before, but as you say, changing texts means lots and lots of title clips. (Right now I have 20 frames of text, 20 frames no text, 20 frames next text, etc., etc.)

Too bad also that you can’t stick the movement of a title clip to the motion tracker, so you could have a text follow an object on the screen more naturally instead of only plotting a straight line between the start/end viewport of the title clip.

6

You can try to use Movavi.

It’s an easy-to-use video editor with an intuitive interface that allows you to easily add text or overlays. Adding text is very easy with it, no more back and forth with separate title clips. Plus, it got a lot of inbuilt effects that I easily apply to my TikTok videos, which is a fun bonus. I’ve even been able to stabilize and reverse video and equalize sound with it. On this link, you can read about all its features.

7

Hey, thanks for answering after all this time! I’m afraid your suggestion isn’t really going to work for me. It’s a closed source Windows app. I am looking at minimum for a Linux native app and I really would prefer it to be open source.

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8

Would Gaupol be any use? Its for adding/Editing subtitles. Its in the Repo.

9

Thanks! That does not really fit my purposes either. I’m still looking for a simple way to add ‘fun’ text to a video. That means placing it in different parts of the screen and in some cases having the text move along a path so that it appears to ‘stick’ or ‘belong’ to an object in the video. Like you see in some meme videos :smiley: