Select a text layer and open Text to edit its words, system font, alignment, 2D outline and shadow, and 3D extrusion.
Text Layers
Text layers render customizable typography directly onto the stage: stream titles, chat prompts, announcements, room rules, or karaoke subtitles.
You can add a text layer to the scene in two ways:
- Inventory: Type your text in the Text tab in the Inventory and click Add to Scene.
- Clipboard paste: Press ⌘/Ctrl+V anywhere on the window to paste plain text from the clipboard as a new text layer. When a text field is focused, the shortcut retains standard text editing behavior; in Stream Mode, plain text pasting is blocked to prevent accidental leaks of sensitive tokens or passwords.
Text layers work across both 2D and 3D spaces: in 2D, they render as crisp screen-aligned vector quads in the layer stack; in 3D, they become Blender-style extruded geometry meshes that receive real-time stage lighting and shadows.
When a text layer is selected, the details panel displays the Text section:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Text | Plain multiline text, up to 10,000 characters. Edit directly in the textarea with native IME support |
| Font | Installed system font families. The combobox displays a live sample of the text's first non-blank line in each font, alongside its style count and localized alias. If a target machine lacks the selected face, it falls back to the nearest weight in the family or the platform default sans-serif |
| Style | Genuine font faces provided by the family (e.g. Regular, Bold, Semibold, Italic), avoiding synthetic faux bolding |
| Size | Font size in pixels. In 3D space, pixels map at 1000 px per world unit (metre) |
| Color | Primary fill color of the text |
| Alignment | Horizontal alignment: Left, Center, Right, or Justify. Also sets which edge stays anchored as text expands or shrinks |
| Vertical Alignment | Vertical alignment: Top, Middle, Baseline (first line baseline), or Bottom |
| Letter Spacing | Extra tracking between characters in em units (default: 0) |
| Word Spacing | Extra spacing added to space characters in em units (default: 0) |
| Line Height | Line box as a multiplier of font size (default: 1.25×) |
| Shear | Slant angle factor from −1 to 1, providing an italic look for fonts without native italic styles |
Layout and Text Box
Text layers feature a configurable layout box to manage layout boundaries:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Width and Height | Text box dimensions in pixels. Leaving a dimension at 0 sizes that side to fit the text automatically. Setting a positive width enables automatic word wrapping (with CJK kinsoku and Latin word-breaking rules) |
| Overflow | Behavior when text exceeds box bounds: Overflow (spill past the box), Scale to Fit (automatically downscale text to fit within the box), or Truncate (clip overflowing lines) |
2D Styles and Plate
In 2D space, text layers are rasterized with dedicated vector shaders, featuring built-in outline, shadow, and background plate controls without needing layer post-processing effects:
- Outline: Width (px), Color, and Corners join style (Round, Sharp, or Beveled).
- Shadow: Opacity (%), Color, Offset X and Offset Y (px), and Blur radius (px).
- Background: Draws a backing plate behind the text with Opacity (%), Color, Padding (px), and Corner Radius (px).
2D text re-rasterizes at discrete scale steps during stage scaling, window resizing, and high-resolution export, ensuring glyphs and strokes remain tack sharp.
3D Geometry and Materials
In 3D space, text outlines are converted into extruded solid polygonal meshes with dedicated 3D controls:
| Control | Description |
|---|---|
| Extrude | Extrusion depth along the Z axis in em units (0 to 5) |
| Bevel | Bevel depth along glyph edges in em units, giving highlighted 3D contours |
| Bevel Resolution | Number of subdivision steps for the bevel curve (1 to 10) for smoother rounded edges |
| Roughness and Metalness | Standard PBR surface material properties from 0 to 1 |
| Emission | Makes the text glow in its own color, combining with scene Bloom for a neon sign look |
| Face Camera | When enabled, the text turns toward the camera every frame, ignoring placement rotation |
Outlines and drop shadows on 3D text layers are powered by Layer Effects (such as Outline and Drop Shadow).
Karaoke and Live Text
Text layers integrate with automation sequences and external control integrations:
- Karaoke Lyrics: Through the automation Lyrics action, an
.lrcfile can be sung word-by-word on a text layer. The panel provides Sung Color and Sung Outline (2D only) controls to wipe across words during playback. - Live Text: Unsaved temporary text that displays on stage immediately, without saving to scene files or adding history steps. You can push it to text layers from:
- Automations
- the Stream Deck Set Text action
- the MCP Server
set_texttool - the Plugin API
object.setTextmethod (with thetransientflag)
- Restoring Saved Text: While temporary live text is active, the panel displays a Live Text status row and a Show Saved Text button. Clicking it restores the saved text immediately. Editing the text in the panel or switching scenes also dismisses live text.
Last updated on October 21, 2026