<p>Some general advice on motion graphics / rolling text, i dont know KDEnlive so i dont know how to achieve that in your specific software.</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Make scrolling speed fit your framerate. If your framerate is 25fps, the text should scroll at 25 / 50 / 75 / 100 / 125 etc. pixels per frame.</p></li>
<li><p>If you are using a progressive scan playback device like a projector or a computer screen, make sure your project is set to be in progressive and not interlaced. If necessary, de-interlace video that was shot interlaced before using it in the project.</p></li>
<li><p>Never use fonts or graphics that have lines which are only 1px, if you need to do that, duplicate the layer and put a copy of the graphics with a very soft gaussian blur (1 or 2px blur) in the background.</p></li>
<li><p>Put a soft shadow around the font, also very subtle, 1 or 2px dissolved shadow.</p></li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-09-29T11:37:14.200Z
Did I understand this correctly? Given I use frame rate f, I should let the text scroll n*f px per frame with n∈ℕ? I don't really see how that would matter.
UTF-8
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-09-29T11:41:49.930Z
You cannot get smooth motion if the text movement is not synced with the framerate, or what would you imagine the NLE would do i.e. when moving 27pixel / frame at a 25fps framerate?
Hans Meiser
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-09-29T11:47:51.633Z
Quote from: https://helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/using/creating-editing-text-layers.html

When animating text to move vertically—for scrolling credits, for example—move the text vertically at a rate in pixels per second that is an even multiple of the field rate for the interlaced video format. Such a rate of movement prevents a kind of twitter that can come from the text movement being out of phase with the scan lines. For NTSC, good values include 0, 119.88, and 239.76 pixels per second; for PAL, good values include 0, 100, and 200 pixels per second.
Hans Meiser
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-09-29T11:48:16.527Z
but yes, i mixed up px/frame and px/s ;)
Hans Meiser
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-09-29T14:35:31.640Z
Ah, ok. That makes sense. So for non-interlaced video, it just means that one should move the text an integer number of pixels per frame. I find this description way more intuitive than bringing seconds in for no reason whatsoever and it's less prone to error.
UTF-8
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-09-30T20:39:10.593Z
I tried moving the text at exactly 10 px per frame (which is considerably slower than what I used before but makes the math really easy) (only viewed it on my laptop display) but it didn't help at all.
UTF-8
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-09-30T21:13:16.173Z
I think it would be easier if you uploaded an example clip somewhere
Hans Meiser
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-09-30T22:08:12.037Z
[The original one](https://www.dropbox.com/s/qt1qwaxj78nbqzg/untitled.mp4?dl=1) (30 fps). [The original one with double speed](https://www.dropbox.com/s/6znmrsp68fr7182/untitled60fps.mp4?dl=1) (60 fps). [The one with 10 px per frame.](https://www.dropbox.com/s/kyd12fbpk8tm4av/untitled%2010%20px%20per%20second.mp4?dl=1) (30 fps). All are 1080p clips.
UTF-8
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-09-29T10:24:35.087Z
2016-09-29T10:24:35.087Z
Hans Meiser
<p>I want to have a text scroll through a video. I use Kdenlive for editing and rendering and it supports having a scrolling text and simply made it black text on a white background.</p>

<p>It scrolls very fast, way faster than would be readable. Which is intended. However, it should still look crisp (appearing clear, sharp, etc.).</p>

<p>When I stop at any point in the video, the text is as sharp as it could be. However, when playing the video, the text looks blurry.</p>

<p>It doesn't appear to be a player issue. I tried 3 different players, same thing. When I take a screenshot while playing the video, the text looks sharp, too.</p>

<p>I use a 60 fps LCD laptop monitor with 4 K resolution scaled to 1920 px x 1080 px by the operating system and tried 30 fps and 60 fps video.</p>

<p>The problem vanishes when I stand 4 m or more back.</p>

<p>Is this a known problem and is there a solution? Like using colors which aren't as different as black and white for the text and the background or actually lowering the frame rate or showing smaller/bigger text or anything?</p>

<editing>
Scrolling Text Looks Bad
UTF-8
# Scrolling Text Looks Bad

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-09-29)

I want to have a text scroll through a video. I use Kdenlive for editing and rendering and it supports having a scrolling text and simply made it black text on a white background.

It scrolls very fast, way faster than would be readable. Which is intended. However, it should still look crisp (appearing clear, sharp, etc.).

When I stop at any point in the video, the text is as sharp as it could be. However, when playing the video, the text looks blurry.

It doesn't appear to be a player issue. I tried 3 different players, same thing. When I take a screenshot while playing the video, the text looks sharp, too.

I use a 60 fps LCD laptop monitor with 4 K resolution scaled to 1920 px x 1080 px by the operating system and tried 30 fps and 60 fps video.

The problem vanishes when I stand 4 m or more back.

Is this a known problem and is there a solution? Like using colors which aren't as different as black and white for the text and the background or actually lowering the frame rate or showing smaller/bigger text or anything?

**Tags:** editing


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2016-09-29. Score: 1

Some general advice on motion graphics / rolling text, i dont know KDEnlive so i dont know how to achieve that in your specific software.

* Make scrolling speed fit your framerate. If your framerate is 25fps, the text should scroll at 25 / 50 / 75 / 100 / 125 etc. pixels per frame.
* If you are using a progressive scan playback device like a projector or a computer screen, make sure your project is set to be in progressive and not interlaced. If necessary, de-interlace video that was shot interlaced before using it in the project.
* Never use fonts or graphics that have lines which are only 1px, if you need to do that, duplicate the layer and put a copy of the graphics with a very soft gaussian blur (1 or 2px blur) in the background.
* Put a soft shadow around the font, also very subtle, 1 or 2px dissolved shadow.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Did I understand this correctly? Given I use frame rate f, I should let the text scroll n*f px per frame with n∈ℕ? I don't really see how that would matter.  
> **username_1**: You cannot get smooth motion if the text movement is not synced with the framerate, or what would you imagine the NLE would do i.e. when moving 27pixel / frame at a 25fps framerate?  
> **username_1**: Quote from: https://helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/using/creating-editing-text-layers.html  When animating text to move vertically—for scrolling credits, for example—move the text vertically at a rate in pixels per second that is an even multiple of the field rate for the interlaced video format. Such a rate of movement prevents a kind of twitter that can come from the text movement being out of phase with the scan lines. For NTSC, good values include 0, 119.88, and 239.76 pixels per second; for PAL, good values include 0, 100, and 200 pixels per second.  
> **username_1**: but yes, i mixed up px/frame and px/s ;)  
> **username_0**: Ah, ok. That makes sense. So for non-interlaced video, it just means that one should move the text an integer number of pixels per frame. I find this description way more intuitive than bringing seconds in for no reason whatsoever and it's less prone to error.  
> **username_0**: I tried moving the text at exactly 10 px per frame (which is considerably slower than what I used before but makes the math really easy) (only viewed it on my laptop display) but it didn't help at all.  
> **username_1**: I think it would be easier if you uploaded an example clip somewhere  
> **username_0**: [The original one](https://www.dropbox.com/s/qt1qwaxj78nbqzg/untitled.mp4?dl=1) (30 fps). [The original one with double speed](https://www.dropbox.com/s/6znmrsp68fr7182/untitled60fps.mp4?dl=1) (60 fps). [The one with 10 px per frame.](https://www.dropbox.com/s/kyd12fbpk8tm4av/untitled%2010%20px%20per%20second.mp4?dl=1) (30 fps). All are 1080p clips.  

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