Text and Lower Thirds

Text overlays are the most common overlay type — used for lower thirds (name/title bars), headlines, score displays, and any on-screen text.

Creating a text overlay

  1. Add a Text source to a slot (tap + → Text)
  2. Enter your text content
  3. Configure the appearance (font, size, color, background)
  4. Position the overlay on screen
  5. Toggle it on when you want it visible

Text properties

Property Description
Text content The text to display
Font Any installed font (e.g., Futura-Bold, Helvetica)
Font size Size in points
Text color RGBA color
Background color RGBA color (set alpha to 0 for no background)
Bold Bold style
Italic Italic style
Uppercase Force all text to uppercase
Text alignment Left, center, or right
Corner radius Rounded corners on the background
Padding Horizontal and vertical padding around the text

Lower third recipe

A lower third is a text overlay positioned at the bottom of the screen:

  1. Create a text source with the person’s name (or name + title on two lines)
  2. Set a background color with some transparency (e.g., dark blue at 80% opacity)
  3. Set corner radius to 4–8 for rounded edges
  4. Set padding for comfortable spacing
  5. Position the overlay in the lower third of the screen (Y around 0.8)
  6. Toggle on when the person is speaking, toggle off when done

Updating text live

You can change the text content at any time — even while the overlay is visible. This is useful for:

  • Updating scores during a sports broadcast
  • Changing the name/title for different speakers
  • Displaying real-time information

OSC control

Text overlays can be fully controlled via OSC:

Address Args Description
/pmix/overlay/{n}/text string Set text content
/pmix/overlay/{n}/fontSize float Set font size
/pmix/overlay/{n}/fontName string Set font name
/pmix/overlay/{n}/textColor float x4 Set RGBA text color
/pmix/overlay/{n}/bgColor float x4 Set RGBA background color
/pmix/overlay/{n}/bold int 0/1 Set bold
/pmix/overlay/{n}/italic int 0/1 Set italic
/pmix/overlay/{n}/uppercase int 0/1 Set uppercase
/pmix/overlay/{n}/textAlignment string left, center, right
/pmix/overlay/{n}/cornerRadius float Background corner radius
/pmix/overlay/{n}/padding float, float Horizontal, vertical padding

This makes it possible to build automated lower-third systems using TouchOSC or Companion.