Add a text overlay
Applies to: Pearl-2, Pearl Mini, Pearl Nexus, Pearl Nano
Text overlays are useful to add information like a title, location, or the date and time in to layouts in your channel. You can add text to any layout using the custom layout editor. The following table lists shortcut codes that you can enter and the resulting content that appears on screen.
Overlay text shortcut codes
| Item | Shortcut code | Example |
|---|---|---|
| date format: yyyy-mm-dd | %F | 2019-01-26 |
| date format: mm/dd/yy | %D | 01/26/19 |
| year | %G | 2019 |
| month (01) | %m | 01 |
| month (Jan) | %b | Jan |
| month (January) | %B | January |
| day of the month | %d | 26 |
| weekday (Thu) | %a | Thu |
| weekday (Thursday) | %A | Thursday |
| time (24-hour clock) | %T | 20:40:45 |
| hour (24-hour clock) | %k | 20 |
| hour (12-hour clock) | %I | 08 |
| minute | %M | 40 |
| second | %S | 45 |
| millisecond | %#m | 378 |
| channel name | %c | Camera Feed 1 |
| AM/PM | %p | AM |
| am/pm | %P | am |
| time zone | %Z | EST |
If you use a non-monospaced font, the size of the text overlay changes as the letters, numbers, and the length of words change. Use a monospaced font to maintain a consistent size for the text overlay (assuming the total number of characters in the text string doesn't change).
You can include certain international characters in text overlays.
Add a text overlay using the custom layout editor
- Log in to the Admin panel as admin.
- From the Channel(s) menu, select the channel and click Layout(s). The custom layout editor opens.
- Click Add new item and select Text. The new item is added to the layout editing area and to the top of the list of items. The Text settings also appear.
You can change the order in which items appear on the layout editing area by re-arranging the order the items appear in the list beneath Add new item. Items at the top of the list appear in front, and items lower down the list appear behind.
- In the Text field, type what you want to appear in the text overlay. Include Overlay text shortcut codes as needed. Press Tab or click outside the text field to refresh the preview in the custom layout editor.
For example, if you enter:
%A %B %d, %G. Live streaming channel Input A.
The resulting text is displayed:
- Select the Font, Font size, and Text color. You can also change the default Line spacing in percentages. For a mono-spaced font, use Droid Sans Mono.
Limitations: The maximum supported text size is 500 px. Padding values must not exceed the frame size. Do not enter negative padding values.
- Resize the overlay text box using the padding settings.
The handles on the corner of the overlay text box are not click-and-drag and do not resize the text box. To resize the text box, use the padding fields to add space above, below, and on either side of the text.
- In the layout editing area, click and drag to move the overlay text box or enter values in the manual position value fields along the side and bottom of the layout area.
- Click Save.
Device differences
- Pearl Nano: the Admin panel menu name is singular ("Channel" menu, not "Channel(s)").