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# Setup and Processing Options

Before processing a text clip and rendering text effects, you must set crop settings for the text layer, blur settings, text animation, softness, and whether or not you want to use prerendering. The prerendering feature accelerates the rendering process for a text layer.

Set text processing options in the Text Setup menu. To access the Setup menu, click Setup. The Setup controls are described as follows.

Auto-Softness box
  Sets the auto-softness and software sampling level. Auto-Softness mode is set by default and provides a softness equal to the display quality you see in the Text module.

Software anti-aliasing values can range from 1 to 64. A higher value increases the sampling rate, but also increases processing time. An anti-aliasing of 1 means no anti-aliasing is performed and the result is a hard edge.

TipA higher anti-aliasing value is usually needed with outlined text.

Softness box
  Defines the softness of the anti-aliasing samples.
PreRender button
  Accelerates rendering on a static layer only, such as a text roll. PreRender has no effect on text layers with animation.
Hardware Anti-aliasing Sample box
  Select a hardware anti-aliasing sampling level to accelerate edge anti-aliasing with no performance penalty. The graphics hardware automatically renders the image at full speed with approximately the equivalent of up to 32 samples of anti-aliasing (depending on your graphics card and project graphic bit depth). Hardware anti-aliasing also gives anti-aliasing during normal interaction instead of only while rendering.

You can combine hardware anti-aliasing level with software anti-aliasing to obtain the desired level of image quality. For example, with hardware anti-aliasing set to 4 samples, and with 4 samples of software anti-aliasing selected, your results should be similar to selecting 16 samples of software anti-aliasing, but with a processing time much closer to that of 4 samples. You should experiment with different combinations to determine what works best for you.

Motion Update button
  Controls the playback of animated text. When enabled, animated text is updated dynamically in the image area when you play the clip.
Play Lock button
  Controls the playback of frames and displays the playback of animated clips exclusively. When enabled, the first frame is locked while you play the clip.
Back Clip button
  Enables or disables the back clip in the scene. If you entered the Text module with a back clip, you can disable it here.

Crop button
  Creates a custom-sized crop box. Use this box to define an area in which to render text. When working with a crop box, you view all text, whether it is inside or outside the crop box. You can use the Left, Right, Bottom, and Top fields to set the size of the crop box. You can also drag the vertices at the corners of the crop box in the image window.
Crop Border button
  Displays a coloured border representing the crop area. You can change the colour by clicking the colour pot.

Wireframe colour pot
  Sets the colour of the text path. See Animating Text on a Motion Path.
Points colour pot
  Sets the colour of the vertices on a text path. See Animating Text on a Motion Path.

Global/Layer Blur box
  Sets Global Blur (default) or Layer Blur. Global Blur makes all shadows appear together, blurred with a single unique colour, on top of the background of all layers. Layer Blur blurs each layer individually according to its priority—background, blurred shadow, and fill.

When using Global Blur with prerendering, the layers are prerendered once and blurred on the front clip. These layers must not have any animation—they are static. For Layer Blur, there are two possible cases:

- All layers are static, without background. Only fill or shadow can be enabled for all layers—no blur. The layers are prerendered once and blurred on the front clip.
- Auto-Softness On, Progressive Rendering, or All Layers Static. Static layers (up to two) are prerendered once and blurred on the front clip as other layers are rendered.

Blur box
  Sets Gaussian Blur or Box Blur. Gaussian Blur uses subpixel resolution and creates a subtle effect with the Blur Shadow attribute. Gaussian has rounded, smoother edges and is better for animation; however, processing time is increased.

Box Blur has rectangular, rougher edges, but is more economical with processing time, especially if you are working on a rough draft.

Clear Undo Buffer button
  Resets the Undo entries.
Undo Levels field
  Changes the levels of Undo available in the Undo/Redo lists. The maximum level of undo is 20.

#### Topics in this section

- Processing Text Clips
- Processing Considerations