If you’ve spent some time editing with DaVinci Resolve, then you may have grown curious about different ways to create your own animated titles. DaVinci Resolve Fusion titles are a great way to build your own animated title sequence.
In this article, you will understand how to animate your own titles within Davinci Resolve Fusion and turn them into a template that’s easily accessible and adjustable within the edit tab. Plus, you’ll find some useful templates so that no matter what your timeline or budget, the visual effects within your DaVinci Resolve project will be top-notch!
Summary
Part 1: What is Fusion?
Fusion is a free tool that comes within DaVinci Resolve. The Fusion tab, available on both the paid and free versions of DaVinci Resolve, is a great way to introduce motion effects or 3D effects to your project.
This includes animated titles. In fact, you can even use the tool to create your own title templates. These templates can be saved for easy access from your Edit tab, along with the native title templates that DaVinci Resolve provides, located in the Toolbox of your Effects Library, under the Titles heading.
Part 2: How to Create an Animated Fusion Title
If you’re looking for DaVinci Resolve Fusion titles free of charge and you don’t like the templates provided, then this is the best place to start. This example will show you how to create and animate a simple title, all within DaVinci Resolve Fusion.
Step 1: Create Your Fusion Composition
In order to start your animation, you will need to add a fusion composition to your timeline.
- In your project, go to the Edit tab.
- Click on your Effects Library. Go to Toolbox > Effects.
- Click and drag a Fusion Composition onto your timeline.
- Select the Fusion Composition element, and click on the Fusion tab along your bottom panel.
Step 2: Add Nodes to Create your 3D Title
Now you have a composition, it’s time to start adding some nodes to it that will build up your title effect. There are many options, so here’s a simple example to get you started.
- In the panel just above your node workspace, click on the corresponding icons to add a node for Text 3D, Merge 3D, Camera 3D, Spotlight and Renderer 3D.
- Click on the Text 3D Node to select it, and click on the Inspector header in the top right of the screen
- Enter your desired text in the text box. You can change the size and font at this stage, too.
- Click again on the Inspector icon to collapse the text format window.
- Right-click on the Merge 3D node and select View On > Left View to preview that node in the left preview window.
- Right-click on Renderer 3D node and select View On > Right View to preview that node in the right preview window.
- Right-click on the left preview window and select Views > Quad View. This allows you to better view your planes of animation.
Step 3: Adjust Your Node Parameters
Next, you need to start changing the values of the parameters within the nodes you have added. There is more than one possible way to do this, but you can follow this example to get you started!
- Select Camera 3D Node in your node workspace.
- Click on the blue arrow in the bottom right quadrant of your left preview window and drag it to the left to pull your camera backward. Continue dragging until your text comes into view on the right preview window.
- Select the Render 3D Node and click on the Inspector icon in the top right of the screen
- Select the box that says Enable Lighting. This will mean you the lighting effects you’re about to apply will be visible.
- Select Spotlight in the node workspace.
- In the bottom right quadrant of your left-hand preview window, drag the blue arrow left. This will pull back the Spotlight you’ve placed. Keep dragging it back until you can see the light fall on the text in the right-hand preview window.
- Increase the Spot light’s Penumbra Angle in the right-hand Inspector panel to soften its edges.
- Select the Text 3D Node and scroll down on the right-hand Inspector panel.
- Expand the Extrusion section and increase Extrusion Depth. This increases the depth of your 3D text.
- Click on the Transform icon in the Inspector panel
- Go to the Rotation section and decrease the Y value by dragging the corresponding wheel to the left. This is a quick way to slightly tilt your title and bring out some of the extrusion depth without adding extra light.
Step 4: Animate Your Node Parameters
Add keyframes to your parameters to animate your title.
- Select the Spot Light Node.
- Go to the inspector panel and click on the Transform icon.
- Navigate to the start of your timeline by dragging the playhead to zero on the bar located underneath your preview windows.
- In your Inspector panel, click on the diamond next to the X-axis wheel in the section called Translation. This will add a keyframe.
- Drag the same Translation X-axis wheel to the left. This will reposition your spotlight; for this example you want it to just touch the left side of your title.
- Drag the timeline playhead to the far right so that it’s at the end of your sequence.
- Readjust the Translation X-axis wheel to the right, until the spotlight has almost left the right side of your title. This will automatically add a new keyframe and animate your title.
- Press the Play icon on the bar underneath the preview windows. Remember that the first playback may be slow as the effect renders.
Step 5: Save as a Template
Now it’s time to make sure you can easily access your new title animation in the future, and save it as a template. You can even select which parameters you want to be adjustable in the saved version of your template from a list of all the Nodes available in your composition.
- Click anywhere in your node workspace, and drag a selection across all of your nodes apart from the Media Out node.
- Right-click on any selected node, then select Macro > Create Macro
- From the dropdown menu, tick the boxes you want to be adjustable in the template. For this example, you can choose Styled Text, Font, and Size under the Text title subheading.
- Enter a name for your Macro in the text box.
- Click on Close and select Yes when prompted if you want to save your changes.
- Find where the Blackmagic Design folder is on your operating system.
- Go to Blackmagic Design > DaVinci Resolve > Fusion > Templates > Edit > Titles. Click Save.
- Restart DaVinci Resolve.
- Open your project.
- Go to the Edit tab and go to Effects Library > Titles.
- Click and drag your title template into your composition.
Part 3: Quick Tips & Hacks for Using Fusion
Before we get started in our title tutorial, let’s cover some of the basics that you will need to know in order to use the Fusion software. Remember, it’s a powerful program with a lot of functionality, so let’s concentrate on some of the basics, to begin with. For a further in-depth look at the workspace and how to create other visual effects with Fusion, you can also learn how to use DaVinci Resolve Fusion in 15 minutes.
Timeline
- You can easily identify a Fusion clip on your Edit timeline as it will have three stars at the top of it.
- When you preview a template that you have created with Fusion in the Edit tab, it will automatically be justified in the center. This can be easily changed in the Inspector tab.
- When adding nodes to the workspace, each will have its own unique parameters that can be controlled in the Inspector panel. For finer control of the values of each parameter, you will usually find that you can adjust them by dragging the corresponding wheel to the left or to the right or change the value in the text box next to it by using the right and left keys or manually entering the desired number.
Title Editing & Effects
- Some of the options you’ll use regularly to animate titles include:
- Tracking: Available in the Text subheading of your Inspector panel in Fusion when your text node is selected, this property allows you to increase or decrease the kerning, or space between each letter of your text.
- Write On: Pulling these two sliders either way, which are found at the bottom of the Text subheading in the Inspector panel, will create the effect of text coming in or out letter by letter. Make sure your text node is selected to view them in the Inspector panel.
- Opacity: Located under the shading tab, keyframe this property to create an animation of your text fading in or out.
- Layout: This subheading of your Inspector Panel includes a range of adjustable parameters to modify the positioning of your text. Make sure your text node is selected to view and adjust these settings.
- Within DaVinci Resolve’s Edit tab, you will also have access to dozens of quick and easy title templates. This includes six title templates and 43 Fusion Title effects, all of which are customizable within your Edit tab
Nodes Flow
- Nodes flow from left to right, and this is the direction that Fusion will read the instructions you are creating through your composition of multiple Nodes.
- To set up your workspace efficiently, right-click on your Media Out node and select View On > Right View. This will allow you to preview the final effect on your right-hand screen at all times.
- You can right-click on any Node at any time and select View On > Left View to view it on the left-hand preview window. This can be useful for viewing your progress or manually moving some elements at times.
- You can delete a Node by clicking once on the right -hand half of an arrow. It should turn blue when you hover over it and disappear after you click.
- By adding at least two keyframes on the same property with different values, you will have introduced an animated element to your node.
Part 4: 15 Awesome DaVinci Resolve Fusion Resources to Download
While you now know how to make your own Fusion title templates, for some projects it might be better for your timeline and budget to find another creative solution. Motion Array has a library of DaVinci Resolve-friendly templates and macros on offer for those situations. Here are fifteen of our favorites!
1. Modern Titles 2.0
This simple, slick title template is a great place to start for any titles you may need for your project. You can even customize many elements such as font, size, and background color.
Download now
2. Tropical Summer Watercolor Pack
Rather than a text title element in itself, this template includes backgrounds and textures that you can use to create beautiful openers or title pages for your project.
Download now
3. Rich Logo Glitch
If you decide that in addition to your title your project needs a modern, glitchy logo reveal, then this may be the template for you.
Download now
4. Instagram Live Stream
If your project needs a more stylized way to present text, you may find that this Instagram Live styled template is right for you. You will also be able to edit other elements within this creative social media-style template.
Download now
5. Food Menu
This template combines animated text, and dynamic media assets. This is perfect for promotional projects related to food and more!
Download now
6. Dynamic Slideshow
This template is a great way to efficiently create a sleek and stylish montage, including a variety of title placeholders.
Download now
7. Game Logo Reveal
This is a great option if you’re looking to use a graphic element rather than text for your title. The graphics are minimal, with fun shapes and graphics that would be perfect as the intro to any gaming video.
Download now
8. Auto-Resizing Titles Lower Thirds
This highly customizable lower thirds template will make creating minimalistic titles for your project a breeze.
Download now
9. FDT 9000
This macro has a modern, sci-fi feel. It includes a text and logo reveal that’ll be ideal for any of your futuristic projects.
Download now
10. Arcade Machine
Once you’ve taken care of your titles, this arcade graphic is a great way to enhance the retro feel of your project.
Download now
11. Christmas Greeting
For holiday-based projects, this macro with adjustable colors and text is a great way to send the season’s greetings!
Download now
12. Text Message
For short or long messages, this text-based macro is a customizable way to include stylized text messages in your project, without the time it would take to create the graphics yourself.
Download now
13. Tungsten Light
This bright, professional text effect can be customized to suit a variety of projects.
Download now
14. Hologram Macro
Another ideal addition for sci-fi-style projects, this macro allows you to customize your elements into a futuristic hologram design.
Download now
15. Quotes Titles
This template uses fun shapes and textures to display your text, which is ideal for displaying quotes or citations.
Download now
After creating your own, you should now understand some of the basics of creating DaVinci Resolve Fusion titles, and you have access to some great templates. So now there’s no excuse not to be using great, custom titles in your projects!
Who knows, maybe this is just the start of you making the most of the amazing functionality Fusion has to offer to make your project’s visuals even better.
