Best font at DVinfo.net

Philip Younger · March 9th, 2010, 06:32 PM

When doing a text overlay - white letters over the video picture - what is the best, clearest font to use? I've been using Arial, at 16 or 18 point for denoting a place or subtitles, but is there a better choice to use?

Don Bloom · March 9th, 2010, 08:19 PM

Pretty mush any of the non serif non script fonts generally work the best although for certain things I have had luck with certain script fonts.
99% of the time I use either Arial or Verdana with a drop shadow and it works fine.

Chris Harding · March 10th, 2010, 01:48 AM

Hi Philip

For weddings my brides seem to love Monotype Corsica but if you do an overlay with that and then one with Verdana the sharpness of Verdana and the fuzziness of the previous one are hugely evident!!!

It would actually be interesting to know what other font types work well as overlays????

I find unfortunately that anything with "curves" tends to lose a lot of sharpness, even with a shadow!!!

Anyone else find a font that works well and has crisp edges????

Chris

Philip Younger · March 10th, 2010, 03:52 AM

Thanks guys.
'
@Don: I'd fogotten about the shadowing, that might add to what I want to achieve (difficult background in places)

@Chris: I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one to think this question worth further investigation. When I've finished my current project (tearing my hair out with it!) I may do a series of tests using different fonts on differing backgrounds - so if you have any suggestions for test backgrounds.....

Mike Kujbida · March 10th, 2010, 04:56 AM

One trick to getting a slightly cleaner font is to set the frame size (in the Generated Media window) to double your project size.
For example, set it to 1440 x 960 for SD NTSC.
This has no adverse effect that I've ever found and will not affect anything in your project.

March 9th, 2010, 06:32 PM	#1
Philip Younger Major Player Join Date: May 2008 Location: Warwickshire Posts: 207	Best font When doing a text overlay - white letters over the video picture - what is the best, clearest font to use? I've been using Arial, at 16 or 18 point for denoting a place or subtitles, but is there a better choice to use?

March 9th, 2010, 08:19 PM	#2
Don Bloom Inner Circle Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 6,609	Pretty mush any of the non serif non script fonts generally work the best although for certain things I have had luck with certain script fonts. 99% of the time I use either Arial or Verdana with a drop shadow and it works fine. __________________ What do I know? I'm just a video-O-grafer. Don

March 10th, 2010, 01:48 AM	#3
Chris Harding Inner Circle Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Perth, Western Australia Posts: 8,441	Hi Philip For weddings my brides seem to love Monotype Corsica but if you do an overlay with that and then one with Verdana the sharpness of Verdana and the fuzziness of the previous one are hugely evident!!! It would actually be interesting to know what other font types work well as overlays???? I find unfortunately that anything with "curves" tends to lose a lot of sharpness, even with a shadow!!! Anyone else find a font that works well and has crisp edges???? Chris

March 10th, 2010, 03:52 AM	#4
Philip Younger Major Player Join Date: May 2008 Location: Warwickshire Posts: 207	Thanks guys. ' @Don: I'd fogotten about the shadowing, that might add to what I want to achieve (difficult background in places) @Chris: I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one to think this question worth further investigation. When I've finished my current project (tearing my hair out with it!) I may do a series of tests using different fonts on differing backgrounds - so if you have any suggestions for test backgrounds.....

March 10th, 2010, 04:56 AM	#5
Mike Kujbida Inner Circle Join Date: May 2005 Location: Windsor, ON Canada Posts: 2,770	One trick to getting a slightly cleaner font is to set the frame size (in the Generated Media window) to double your project size. For example, set it to 1440 x 960 for SD NTSC. This has no adverse effect that I've ever found and will not affect anything in your project.