LiveType was a

computer program A computer program is a sequence or set of instructions in a programming language for a computer to execute. Computer programs are one component of software, which also includes documentation and other intangible components. A computer progra ...

developed by Apple Inc. to create animated title sequences for

video Video is an Electronics, electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving picture, moving image, visual Media (communication), media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, whi ...

projects. It was discontinued with the release of Final Cut Pro X, Motion 5, and Compressor 4.

History

LiveType originated from a product called "India Titler Pro," by the Oregon-based company Prismo Graphics, founded by Tom Langmacher and Mary Massey (now Mary Wolf). Prismo Graphics hired Dave Howell of Pablo Media to write the software's code. Prismo Graphics, as well as the software, was acquired by Apple in June 2002. The program first appeared as part of

Final Cut Pro Final Cut Pro is a series of non-linear editing, non-linear video editing software programs first developed by Macromedia, Macromedia Inc. and later Apple Inc. The most recent version, Final Cut Pro 10.6.4, runs on Macintosh, Mac computers power ...

4 in April 2003. It was updated to version 1.2 in the following year; this version was then included in Final Cut Express HD in 2005. Version 2 of LiveType was then released with version 5 of Final Cut Pro, and this was included in version 3.5 of Final Cut Express in May 2006. The program was packaged with Final Cut Studio until version 3. It is still packaged with Final Cut Express; it is not available to purchase separately.

Features

LiveType 2 includes over 11 gigabytes of content - including fonts, textures, objects, templates and effects. It can import any standard media files and can create text tracks whose style can be meticulously specified. In the canvas, the contour that the text follows can be edited, so that the titles can be on curved or shaped paths. All attributes of each title or character can be changed and keyframed, including the size,

drop shadow In graphic design and computer graphics, a drop shadow is a visual effect consisting of a drawing element which looks like the shadow of an object, giving the impression that the object is raised above the objects behind it. The drop shadow is o ...

, outline, extrusion, glow, opacity and tracking of the text.

LiveFont

A 'LiveFont' is one of the program's key features. These are fonts with animated characters. Examples of the LiveFonts shipped with LiveType are animated handwriting, smoke writing, fire, and blinking LED characters. It is also possible to create custom LiveFonts, but the necessity of generating a separate movie file for each letter makes the file sizes very large.

Templates

Apart from text, there is a wide range of animated objects and textures that can be added to a sequence, and there are a number of templates - such as title themes and

lower third In the television industry, a lower third is a graphic overlay placed in the title-safe lower area of the screen, though not necessarily the entire lower third of it, as the name suggests. In its simplest form, a lower third can just be text ...

s - in both

PAL Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a colour encoding system for analogue television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25 ...

and

NTSC The first American standard for analog television broadcast was developed by National Television System Committee (NTSC)National Television System Committee (1951–1953), Report and Reports of Panel No. 11, 11-A, 12–19, with Some supplement ...

formats that can be opened. Any image or movie file can also be placed and edited oMacWorld Review of India Titler Pro 1.0 in the canvas.

References

Video editing software {{Mac-software-stub sv:LiveType