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 program ...

developed by

Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company ...

to create animated title sequences for

video Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syst ...

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 video editing software programs first developed by Macromedia Inc. and later Apple Inc. The most recent version, Final Cut Pro 10.6.4, runs on Mac computers powered by macOS Big Sur 11.5.1 or later. The ...

4 in April 2003. It was updated to version 1.2 in the following year; this version was then included in

Final Cut Express Final Cut Express was a video editing software suite created by Apple Inc. It was the consumer version of Final Cut Pro and was designed for advanced editing of digital video as well as high-definition video, which was used by many amateur and ...

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 Final Cut Studio is a discontinued professional video and audio production suite for Mac OS X from Apple Inc., and a direct competitor to Avid Media Composer in the high-end movie production industry. It was developed from 2005 to 2011. Three ...

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 of ...

, 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