Skip to main content

Text

A Text element is a styled text source — titles, lower thirds, captions, names, and labels rendered directly by SwitchX. Unlike an HTML overlay it needs no markup; you just type and style.

Add it: Add Element → Text…, which opens the Text Editor.

The Text Editor​

You set:

  • Content — the text to show. It can contain {placeholder} tokens that get filled in live by a script (see below).
  • Font — family and size.
  • Text colour — pick any colour.
  • Background — transparent (so it sits cleanly over other layers), or a solid colour you choose.
  • Alignment — how the text is positioned within its frame.

Live data with a script​

Text elements have a data‑in port. Connect a Script node to it and the script can fill in {placeholder} tokens with live values that update over time.

For example, a text template of:

Time: {now}

fed by a clock script that sets now to the current time, becomes a live ticking clock. Scripts can pull in counters, scores, prices, greetings — anything you can compute in Lua. See the Script node page.

What it can do​

  • Show static titles and lower thirds with full styling control.
  • Show live, changing text when driven by a script.
  • Transform and position on a canvas — drop a caption into the lower third over a camera on the other deck.

Text vs. HTML overlay​

  • Text is fast to set up and ideal for simple titles and script‑driven values.
  • HTML overlay is for richer, designed graphics (animated scoreboards, branded frames) where you want web layout and styling.