TextAlive
An Integrated Design Environment for kinetic typography

2014-2023
CHI '15
ACM CHI '15 Honorable Mention Award

News

9/18/2020
TextAlive App API was released, a JavaScript library for developing "lyric apps" (cf. lyric videos) that show lyrics synchronized with the music playback. The programming contest usng the API in Hatsune Miku "Magical Mirai 2020" was also announced.
9/6/2019
TextAlive was used to author videos for Hatsune Miku.
8/20/2018
Once again, TextAlive was used to author videos for Hatsune Miku.
2/10/2018
TextAlive was used to author videos for a live performance by a renowned virtual singer, Hatsune Miku. The live performance was recorded and its exerpt as well as the rendered full HD 60fps video for "Round off the Square Earth" are available on YouTube.
10/16/2016
TextAlive was used to author videos for a live performance by a Japanese idol group, Bellring Shoujo Heart. The rendered full HD 60fps videos are available on YouTube (asthma, ROOM 24-7).

For more detailed news, please refer to the Japanese event page.

Abstract

This paper presents TextAlive, a graphical tool that allows interactive editing of kinetic typography videos in which lyrics or transcripts are animated in synchrony with the corresponding music or speech.

While existing systems have allowed the designer and casual user to create animations, most of them do not take into account synchronization with audio signals. They allow predefined motions to be applied to objects and parameters to be tweaked, but it is usually impossible to extend the predefined set of motion algorithms within these systems.

We therefore propose an integrated design environment featuring

  • GUIs that designers can use to create and edit animations synchronized with audio signals,
  • integrated tools that programmers can use to implement animation algorithms, and
  • a framework for bridging the interfaces for designers and programmers.

A preliminary user study with designers, programmers, and casual users demonstrated its capability in authoring various kinetic typography videos.

Presentation materials

CHI 2015 Fast-forward

CHI 2015 Slides

Example videos

TextAlive Online
2015-

TextAlive Desktop
2014-2015

Publications

Cite this!2015CHI '15

TextAlive: Integrated Design Environment for Kinetic Typography

Jun Kato, Tomoyasu Nakano, Masataka Goto
Proceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp.3403-3412
ACM CHI '15 Honorable Mention Award
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TextAlive Online: Live Programming of Kinetic Typography Videos with Online Music

2015ICLC '15
Jun Kato, Tomoyasu Nakano, Masataka Goto
Proceedings of the First International Conference on Live Coding, pp.199-205