Using Animated Video Overlays

What are animated video overlays?

A video overlay is any logo, graphic, image or text that is displayed over your video. Video overlays are generally meant to provide important information to your audience. Adding motion to a static video overlay makes it an animated overlay. Animation can be added as a transition that introduces or removes a video overlay, or to add interest and detail to the way the overlay is displayed on screen. Animated overlays can sometimes be more effective in capturing the attention of your audience than static video overlays, as they’re generally more visually stimulating. Heavy animation should be avoided with overlays, as it may make the information you’re intending to provide to your audience more difficult to understand.

How can I use animated overlays?

Animated video overlays are a great tool to capture the attention of your audience and make information more engaging. Custom animated overlays are used frequently in mainstream media to provide information. Animated overlays are often seen in the opening sequence of TV shows to introduce the show title or episode number. Animated lower thirds overlays are extremely common in broadcasting to identify the name, position and location of athletes, reporters, celebrities, and interview participants.

Animated overlays can also be used to add interest to a logo in a commercial or promotional video.

Animated overlays are also often used by live streaming gamers and social media influencers, to introduce themselves and their channel or even to build their following by using fun custom animated overlays to ask viewers to like and subscribe.

How to create animated overlays using Pinnacle Studio

  1. Prepare your graphic overlay

    You can create graphic overlays directly inside Pinnacle Studio by combining a preset title with imported graphics of your choosing, or in a separate graphic design software. For this tutorial, a logo was created using Corel Paintshop Pro.

    Ensure that you’ve created separate files for any of the elements of your graphic overlay that you wish to animate independently.

  2. Import your overlay

    Import your overlay graphic file(s) using the import tool, or by dragging and dropping the media to the library window.

  3. Add your overlay to the timeline

    Drag the elements of your overlay to the timeline when you want them to be displayed on screen. The position of the elements does not need to be perfect, as we’ll be customizing the in and out transitions of the overlay below.

    You may find it helpful to group your animated overlay elements so they are displayed as one clip on your timeline. By nesting the elements of your custom overlay, you can control each separate part of your overlay independently, and easily apply animations to the entire group of elements simultaneously.

    If you do group as a nested clip, your clip gets saved in your library, making it easier for you to reuse in future projects.

    Add your overlay to the timeline

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  1. Animate your overlay

    Decide what motion you want to add to your overlay. You can add animation to bring your overlay in and out of view, and to add interest while it’s being displayed on screen.

    To begin animating any section of your overlay, open the Properties window by double clicking the overlay section on your timeline, or selecting it and then clicking the ‘Editor’ button.

    We will animate each section of our custom overlay individually using keyframing. Add keyframes over the duration of the overlay as required to control the opacity, position, size, rotation and other properties until you’re satisfied with the result. For help with keyframing your animation, check out this tutorial.

    Animate your overlay

  2. Add effects to your overlay

    Depending on the animation you’ve added, you may wish to add blurring or other creative effects to compliment the motion of your overlay. Access possible effects under the ‘Effect’ tab in the Editing window, or simply drag and drop the desired effects to your overlay on the timeline.

    Add effects to your overlay

    After completing these steps, you have successfully added custom animation to your video overlay! You can follow these steps to add depth to your branding, create intro sequences for gaming live streams, display episode titles, and more!

Looking for additional ways you can use animated overlays to add depth and professionalism to your next video project? View the tutorial on creating animated overlays in Pinnacle Studio:

Why choose Pinnacle Studio?

Pinnacle Studio offers unparalleled creative control, allowing you to fully customize every detail of your animations with keyframes. Pinnacle Studio is loaded with pro-caliber tools far beyond the powerful effects and property controls used to create your own custom animated overlays.

Using animated overlays to build your following on social platforms? Take advantage of Pinnacle Studio’s built in screen recording and video capture software. Producing a series of videos with a custom animated overlay to introduce each episode? Explore premium visual effects from NewBlueFX to add drama to your visual storytelling. Creating a promo video for your brand? Utilize cinema-grade color grading controls to ensure you build a consistent tone across videos.

Craft your perfect animated overlay in Pinnacle Studio and edit your productions like a pro.

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