---
title: "Screen Text"
url: "https://help.maxon.net/rg/en-us/Content/html/screen-text.html"
description: "Universe Screen Text is designed to imitate text scrolling up a screen. The plugin can generate random text streams, or you can enter your own text and …"
---

# Screen Text

Universe

## SCREEN TEXT

![av-club-main](https://help.maxon.net/rg/en-us/Content/Resources/Images/Universe-Screen-Text_universe.jpg)

Universe Screen Text is designed to imitate text scrolling up a screen. The plugin can generate random text streams, or you can enter your own text and set up a text scroll. The scrolling text can slowly reveal itself as if it's being typed in. Alternatively, text lines can appear all at once, or one line can display at a time.

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### Presets & Video Walk-Through

Screen Text presets deliver one-click shortcuts to get you to a convincing scroll of text lines. Find our presets via the blue **Open Dashboard...** button or the **Choose a Preset...** button below it.

![Image: Uni_Text_ScreenText_presets.png](https://help.maxon.net/rg/en-us/Content/Resources/Images/Uni_Text_ScreenText_presets.png)

As with all other Universe tools, you can modify or create a Screen Text look and then save it under its own name by pressing the **Save Preset...** button.

If you'd like a visual overview of the plugin before diving into this guide, we recommend giving [our Cineversity tutorial](https://cineversity.maxon.net/en/tutorials/getting-started-screen-text) a watch.\
[![Image: Uni_Text_ScreenText_video.png](https://help.maxon.net/rg/en-us/Content/Resources/Images/Uni_Text_ScreenText_video.png)](https://cineversity.maxon.net/en/tutorials/getting-started-screen-text)

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### Modify the Effect

- **Edit Text** launches a modular window with options to customize the text input for the effect with standard alignment, font, font size, font style, color, line spacing, and character spacing options.\
  ![Image: Uni_Text_ScreenText_EditText.png](https://help.maxon.net/rg/en-us/Content/Resources/Images/Uni_Text_ScreenText_EditText.png)
- **Position** controls the coordinates control point that sets where within the frame your text will appear.
- **Scroll Rate** adjusts the line-by-line speed at which text types onto the frame.
- **Rate Random** adds random variance to Screen Text's scroll rate. You may observe that higher values can slow text output.
- **Scroll Offset** determines how much text is already output prior to the animation's starting frame.
- **Shift Lines Up** toggles whether text moves upward as more lines appear, or if it stays in position as lines type downward.
- **Line Shift Start** controls which line (from the top of the source), once completed, begins the scrolling adjustment on the rest of the text block assuming that **Shift Lines Up** is enabled. For example, with a value of 5, scrolling would begin as the sixth line begins to display.\
  ![Image: Uni_Text_ScreenText_LineShiftStart.png](https://help.maxon.net/rg/en-us/Content/Resources/Images/Uni_Text_ScreenText_LineShiftStart.png)
- The **Text Settings** controls — **Font Size**, **Font Color**, **Justification**, **Line Spacing**, and **Horizontal Tracking** — echo the same controls found in the **Edit Text** window.
- **Cursor**
  - **Use Cursor** toggles whether a cursor accompanies the reveal of text.
  - **Cursor Type** provides four options for the cursor's appearance:  **Solid Box** (the default), **Inverted Square**, **Underline**, and **Vertical Bar**.
  - **Use Text Color** toggles whether the cursor is the same color as the text.
  - **Cursor Color** provides a swatch that dictates the cursor color if *Use Text Color* is disabled.\
    ![Image: Uni_Text_ScreenText_CursorColor.png](https://help.maxon.net/rg/en-us/Content/Resources/Images/Uni_Text_ScreenText_CursorColor.png)
  - **Cursor Blink** controls whether the cursor alternates between visible and invisible as text displays.
  - **On Duration** determines how many frames the cursor remains on screen when **Cursor Blink** is enabled.
  - **Off Duration** determines how many frames the cursor is hidden when **Cursor Blink** is enabled.
- **Randomization**
  - **Random Characters** adjusts the amount of randomized lettering applied to the text input.
  - **Preserve Spaces** toggles whether spaces in your text inputs are included in the randomized text animations.
  - The **Random Characters** subgroup contains toggles that define which types of characters (upper/lower case, numbers, hexadecimal, etc.) appear within randomizations, as well as what **Number Limit** or **Character Limit** (A-Z) is in place.
    - **Random Seed** adjusts the formula, and subsequently the variations, used to create the random effect.
- **Effects**
  - **Enable Glow** toggles a glow around the text. You can also fine-tune the effect's brightness (**Glow Intensity**) and spread (**Glow Radius**), as shown below.\
    ![Image: Uni_Text_ScreenText_Glow.png](https://help.maxon.net/rg/en-us/Content/Resources/Images/Uni_Text_ScreenText_Glow.png)
  - The **Enable Scan Lines** checkbox toggles an array of dark lines that overlay the text, mimicking the effect of scan lines in old CRT displays. You can adjust scan line width with **Scan Line Thickness**, the spacing between lines (**Scan Line Spacing**), and **Scan Line Opacity**. Below, we zoomed in on our text to show how a **Scan Line Spacing** of 8 only leaves enough room for three scan lines per row at our current font size setting.\
    ![Image: Uni_Text_ScreenText_ScanLineSpacing.png](https://help.maxon.net/rg/en-us/Content/Resources/Images/Uni_Text_ScreenText_ScanLineSpacing.png)
- **Foreground Opacity** and **Background Opacity** control the opacity of the text (the foreground) or the layer to which the text has been applied (background), complete with the standard **Blend Mode** options that adjust how the text overlay interacts with the underlying layer.