Text Overlays

Text overlays let you add on-screen text to your videos -- titles, labels, callouts, chapter markers, or any other text you want viewers to see. They appear directly on the video during playback at the times you choose.

What Are Text Overlays?

Text overlays are custom text elements that sit on top of your video. They're different from captions or subtitles -- instead of transcribing what's being said, text overlays are whatever you want them to be. A title card, a location label, a call to action, a chapter heading, a fun comment.

What You Can Control

Each text overlay has several settings you can adjust:

• Content -- The actual text that appears on screen.
• Timing -- When the text appears and when it disappears (start and end time).
• Position -- Where on screen it shows up (top, center, or bottom; left, center, or right).
• Size -- How big the text is. Text fills the area it's given, so just ask for it larger or smaller.
• Style -- A ready-made look (colors, background, outline) that you can customize with your own colors and font. See Text Styles for the full list.

Adding Text Is Easy

Just describe what you want in the chat:

"Add the text 'Introduction' from 0:00 to 0:04 at the top center."

"Put 'Subscribe!' at the bottom of the screen from 0:15 to 0:20, large size."

See Adding Text to Videos for detailed instructions and more examples.

Multiple Text Overlays

You can add as many text overlays as you need to a single project. Just be mindful of overlapping -- if two text elements appear at the same time in the same screen position, they may cover each other. StarZero Agents will warn you if this happens.

Browsing Text Styles Visually

When you ask to browse text styles, StarZero Agents opens a visual style gallery with live previews — the same kind of gallery used for caption presets. Select a style, optionally describe customizations, and apply it in one click.

What Text Overlays Cannot Do

Text overlays start from a ready-made style, and you can change the colors, font, and background from there (see Text Styles). Here's what's not available:

• Background shapes other than a rounded box
• Animated text (text that moves, fades in/out, or types on)
• Per-character styling (different colors for different letters) — single words can have their own look, individual letters can't

For animated or fully designed text, ask for a motion graphic, or use the Premiere Pro Export to continue editing in a professional video editor.

Looking for image or graphic overlays?

For logos, badges, illustrations, and other visual overlays, see Overlays and SVG Graphics in the Visual Effects section.