Create kinetic text
create_kinetic_textGenerate animated text effects (flash, pulse, or slide) for live VJ lyric displays. Drive the animation with an LFO at a specified rate, compositing over a background or on transparent frame.
Instructions
Build a self-contained animated / kinetic typography layer — a word or line that flashes, pulses, or slides, the signature live-VJ lyric-flash effect. A Text TOP renders the text; an LFO CHOP at the given Rate (Hz) drives the animation: 'flash' gates a Level TOP's alpha/opacity hard on/off (a square wave — the text vanishes between flashes rather than turning black, so it pops cleanly in and out over a background), 'pulse' drives a Transform TOP's scale plus a Level TOP alpha fade (a sine, the text breathes), and 'slide' scrolls the Transform TOP's translate-X. Creates a new baseCOMP under parent_path holding the Text TOP, the LFO, the per-mode Transform/Level nodes, an optional Composite, and a Null output. With an input_path the text is composited OVER that source (pulled in by a Select TOP, so it can live in another container); without one it animates on a transparent frame. Rate is free-running for v1 — bind the LFO's frequency to a beat CHOP (or a Trigger to a detect_onsets channel) to lock the flashes to the tempo. This is for a single animated word/line; for a static caption or title use create_text_overlay, and for multi-line scrolling tickers/credits rolls/typewriter reveals use create_text_crawl. Returns a summary plus a JSON block with the container path, created node paths, the text/lfo/output paths, exposed controls, any node errors, warnings, and an inline preview image.
Input Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| mode | No | Animation style: 'flash' = hard on/off blink (a square LFO gates the alpha/opacity — the classic lyric-flash, the text vanishes between flashes rather than going black); 'pulse' = breathing scale-up + alpha fade driven by a sine LFO; 'slide' = the text scrolls horizontally across the frame. | flash |
| size | No | Font size in pixels (drives the Text TOP's fontsizex / fontsizey). | |
| text | No | The word or line to animate (the lyric flash). Rendered by a Text TOP. For multiple lines use \n. | DUQUESA |
| color | No | Text colour as a hex string ('#ffffff' = white). Sets the Text TOP's fontcolorr/g/b. | #ffffff |
| rate_hz | No | Animation rate in cycles per second (Hz) — the LFO frequency. Free-running for v1; bind it to a beat CHOP to fire on the actual beat. | |
| input_path | No | Optional absolute path of a source TOP to lay the text OVER. Pulled in via a Select TOP (TD wires don't cross containers) and composited under the text. If omitted, the text animates on a transparent frame. | |
| parent_path | No | Parent network where the kinetic-text container is created (default '/project1'). | /project1 |
| expose_controls | No | When true (default), expose live Text / Size / Color / Rate controls bound to the right node parameters. |