Centring Text in Premiere?

[Gareth_Williams]

Hi everybody, does anybody know how to centre a text box in Premiere ? It must be so easy but all I could find on with a Google search and in YouTube videos made the text move when I did it!

“Position” under “Transform” didn’t seem to make any sense. It showed the same thing for the second value (the height value) on numerous captions but the text was still at various different heights!

I’ve got text that stays on screen for numerous seconds. Usually 5 seconds. I want to centre it and make it stay still. What is the best way to do this?

Thanks for your help,
Gareth

[Ann Bens]

[mrbobdobolina]

I don't know that I'm completely understanding your question(s)... but maybe these things might be helpful?

For your final question, the default graphic length is 5 seconds, you can go to your timeline and extend the graphical element for as long as you want by dragging on the end of it.

There's a few different ways to change text position. One changes where the text is in the "frame" of the graphic, the other one changes where the graphic is, relative to the video frame.

[Gareth_Williams]

I tried those buttons that Ann is indicating but that moved the text at a certain time. So I guess that's moving it at a certain frame. I just want to position it and it to stay still. I do know how to change the length of time the text is displayed but 5 seconds is about right for me. I'm a slow reader!

[Gareth_Williams]

I think I changed where the text is in the "frame" of the graphic (or text box) by accident, which might be why it was in different places despite having the same “position” value. Basically, I want to put the text in the text box the same on all of them and then centre the text box in the video. I will continue to experiment!

[Gareth_Williams]

Could somebody help me get to the bottom of what's going on with the “transform” and “position” settings? I would suggest forgetting the align in essential graphics because that’s pinned to a particular frame and makes the text move about.

The centre point of my video (960 x 540) is 480 and 270. I apparently have the text centred at 480 and 270 according to the “transform/position” settings but as you can see neither the actual text or the text box are centred and both are in different places. Does anybody know what’s going on here?

[Ann Bens · Accepted solution]

Set the anchor point in the middle of the text box.

Use pan behind tool and snap to program monitor guide.

[Gareth_Williams]

Thanks Ann, I couldn't find “pan behind tool”. Where is that? Anyway, I'll keep looking. Thanks again!

[Gareth_Williams]

I found the blue cross hairs in or near the middle of the text box which you can move about. Is that the anchor point in the middle of the text box?

[Ann Bens]

[Stan Jones]

Gareth,

This can be very confusing. If you get lucky, it just works. If you get unlucky, it can seem impossible.

If you don't get this with Ann's method, try this:

• Make sure you have Snap turned on in the Program Monitor: Program Monitor -> Wrench icon -> Snap in Program Monitor.
• Select the text item in the timeline. Be sure you have the Arrow/cursor selected, not the Text tool.
• Click once on the text.
• Drag it until the dotted red lines snap it to the middle.

Answers to your questions:

When you hover over the anchor point in the Program Monitor, it turns into the Pan Behind tool. (Let's ignore the fact that they don't call it pan behind in PR, only in After Effects. And notice that in the help file they don't call it anything; they just say the cursor changes.)

> I apparently have the text centred at 480 and 270 according to the “transform/position” settings but as you can see neither the actual text or the text box are centred and both are in different places. Does anybody know what’s going on here?

You probably moved it using one of the "other" transforms - Vector or Video Motion.

Stan

[Gareth_Williams]

Thanks Stan. Snap in Program Monitor is on and they are both snapped to the middle using the red dotted lines. However, that is where they were anyway! The problem is the blue cross hairs that snap it to the centre are in different places in the text boxes.

On the first caption “ERHALTE HIER” it is just at the bottom of the top line on the second caption “DEINE KOSTENLOSE” it’s towards the top of the bottom line. This positions them at different heights. This is starting to drive me up the wall now! Thanks again for your help.

[Stan Jones]

Look in the Text section of the EGP, and you will see that both images are set to Center Align (Horizontally), but "Erhalte" is set to Align Top (Vertically). Change it to match "Deine," which is Align Center Vertically. It probably won't need to be readjusted.

Just did not see that before.

Stan

[Gareth_Williams]

Thanks Stan, the main issue was the blue cross hairs not being in the same place in the text box. However, I’ve sorted it out now. You can drag the cross hairs to the middle of the text box, using the red dotted lines to snap, then you can drag the text box to the middle of the frame using the red dotted lines to snap that.

This got it to the same place regardless of the alignment value on the panel. However, I set the alignment value to centre on both text boxes, and had to position everything again!, just to make sure I had no other variables. That’s all sorted out now. I just need to fix one of the text boxes where I used the Essential Graphics Panel to position it which made it move about!

I should be able to sort that out with a bit of Google but if I get stuck I’ll make another thread for it. Thanks again for your help. 🙂

[Stan Jones]

Good luck on that last bit. See Carlos' post re keyframes. If any of the "stopwatches" are active, just click on it, and PR will prompt you to make sure it is okay to remove any keyframes. Then position.

In my tests, the position of the Anchor Point did not matter. As long as the alignment was out, they did not look right. But as i said, the multiple options can be confusing.

Stan

[Carlos Ziade]

make sure you haven't clicked any position property keyframes stopwatch by mistake,

this will keep on changing your text position value whenever you change it on where your

playhead is on the timeline.