Hi there,

I'm trying to put white text on videos (with addition transition), but it is not very visible. So I wanted to add a black outline to letters, but it is in fact transparent. However other colors are correct (red gives red outline), but always with a certain transparency.

So my question is: How can I put opaque, black outline to text?

Thank you in advance,

Zorggy.

I reply to myself...

I created a still image through the Gimp: white text, black outline, saved in png format. Again, when including the image in the video, the black outline is "removed". If the outline is red I can see it, even if it seems to be a little transparent.

Instead of "addition" transition, I tried others. The only one that shows outline of text is "alphaover", but the image is then completely burnt.

Is it so difficult to set a black outline to white text in Kdenlive?

Hi zorggy,
When you ask a question like this, it's always best to say what Distro you're using, Kdenlive and mlt Versions at the very least. Then the guys with all the brains have a better chance of answering :-)

You didn't say that the transparency setting in the outline colour selector is set to full black.

In my version it is just below the colours selector on the left.

Hello Normcross,

Thank you for your answer. That's right, I should have told all the details you ask for. Sorry for not having done that before.

So, I'm working with Linux, Fedora 15-64bit (still alive for one or two months). Kdenlive is version 0.8.2.1 and mlt (???) is 0.7.6-3

Here is how I get the text:

1) I add a title clip into my project and I directly write the text in the "Title Clip" window.
2) There are two different parameters for the outline: thickness (25) and color (black).
3) Clicking on the (black) color of outline, I get another window "Select Color". One of the parameters is "Alpha" and its value is 255.
4) In fact, everything is good in the "Title Clip" window: I get the text exactly as I want, white letters with black outline.
5) When including the title clip in the video (Video 1 is the video and Video 2 is the title clip) using the transition "addition", the text in white is correct and completely opaque, but the outline has disappeared (or is completely transparent).

Then it seems I have a problem with either the outline or with its transparency. Any idea?

It was always my belief that you should overlay the title clip on the track above the video. I use the composite transition which gives you the option, using keyframes, to fade the title in and out.

Okay, that done! I changed all the transitions from "addition" to "Composite", then "Alpha Channel Operation" parameter from "Over" to "Xor" and I got all what I wanted, problem solved!

Thank you very much, Normcross. My project is going ahead :)

Glad to hear that.