7.2 Text Components

Basic Text

Displays a user-defined text. You can adjust the color, font type and justification (left, centered, right). If you need more advanced formatting features you can use one of the rich text components.

Rich Text

Same as the basic text, but additionaly offers line spacing and drop shadow attributes. 

Direct Rich Text

This component supports direct processing of 'rich text'. You can copy a RTF formatted text from Apple’s TextEdit and paste it into the input field of this component in the Inspector. Alternatively you can edit the text in the input field by using the Fonts panel. Select a part of the text and apply the desired settings. Please note that line spacing is not supported and you cannot edit the "Rich Text" input port in just:live/just:play later. 

Rich Text (From File)

Same as the 'Direct Rich Text' component, but this one takes its data from a RTF file, which has to be specified in the Inspector. Also there is a 'Refresh Period' attribute which sets the interval in which the text file is being read.

Typewriter Text

This is an animated text component which displays the defined text letter by letter (like an old typewriter machine).

XML Text

Displays parsed data from a XML or RSS file. Apart from that it has the same attributes as the 'Rich Text' component. To parse XML data a XPath has to be specified. The 'Refresh Period' value defines after how many seconds the provided XML file will be parsed again. When a composition begins to run, the XML file is read out initially. So with the default refresh period setting of "60", the XML file will be parsed again after one minute (when being run in the composition:builder preview or the playout). Also note that by default the XML Text component uses an RSS feed from Apple. If you have no internet connection it's a good idea to create a local XML file and change the XPath – otherwise this component won't display anything. You can also use one of the existing XML files in the "Extras" folder inside of the composition:builder directory.

XML Text (No Caching)

Same as the XML Text, but this one does not cache parsed data at all, that means there is more overhead when using this component, but it will always stay up-to-date (also depending on the 'Refresh Period'). Using many instances of this component may lead to playout latency (eventually resulting in staggering playout and/or rejection by the just:out engine).  A refresh period that often polls data may add to this behavior. In contrast the normal 'XML Text' component can be used for data where up-to-dateness is not top priority. Note that both components do definitely update when the composition is loaded the first time.

Scrolling Text / From File / From XML

Displays the text which is defined in the Inspector with a 'scrolling' animation, i.e. the text moves across the screen from right to left – or from left to right. Alternatively there are two other variations of this component: The "from File" component loads the text from a file. The "from XML" component parses a XML depending on the specified XPath. 

Fading Text

Shows multiple text elements (one after another) separated by a fade-in and fade-out animation. You can specify the fade duration and other attributes in the inspector. Alternatively there are two other variations of this component: The "from File" component displays the content of a text file and the "from XML" component parses a XML depending on the specified XPath. 

Flipping Text

Shows multiple text elements (one after another) separated by a 'flip' (X- or Y-axis) animation. Alternatively there are two other variations of this component: The "from File" component displays the content of a text file and the "from XML" component parses a XML depending on the specified XPath.