Add a text overlay to a clip
Adds a text overlay to a clip. Nothing needs uploading — pass the copy directly. Font, color, position and size all fall back to the editor’s defaults.
Authorizations
API key obtained from your Tella account settings
Path Parameters
Video identifier
"vid_abc123def456"
Clip identifier
"cl_xyz789ghi012"
Body
Add a text overlay to a clip. Nothing needs uploading — pass the copy directly. When point/dimensions are omitted, a centered box 60% of the artboard wide and 25% tall is used.
0 < x <= 90071992547409915000
Start time. Milliseconds on the clip playback timeline (with cuts applied) — the same timeline as the cut transcript.
0 <= x <= 90071992547409911000
1"Welcome back"
Background behind the text. Defaults to transparent.
Defaults to none.
none, regular, squircle "squircle"
Defaults to white.
^#(?:[0-9A-Fa-f]{6}|[0-9A-Fa-f]{8})$"#FFFFFFFF"
Overlay size in artboard pixels. Absolute (not a percentage) so the overlay shape never distorts when the artboard dimensions change. Both sides must be greater than 0 — the renderer lays the overlay out into this box, so a zero or negative side has no valid meaning.
One of Tella's catalog font families. Defaults to Inter. Anything outside the catalog is rejected rather than silently falling back.
Inter, Roboto Mono, Archivo, Barlow, Caveat, DM Sans, Figtree, Lora, Merriweather, Montserrat, Nunito Sans, Open Sans, Oswald, Playfair Display, Poppins, Raleway, Roboto, Roboto Flex, Source Sans 3, Space Grotesk "Inter"
Font size in artboard pixels. Defaults to 7.5% of the video's shorter side, which is the editor's default and readable at any canvas size.
x > 081
Variable-font weight axis — 100 (thin) to 900 (black), 500 by default. Values outside the chosen font's own axis range are clamped when rendered.
1 <= x <= 1000500
Variable-font width axis, as a percentage — 100 is normal, 50 ultra-condensed, 150 extra-expanded, 100 by default. Values outside the chosen font's own axis range are clamped when rendered.
x > 0100
Top-left corner of the overlay, as a percentage of the video canvas (0-100). Relative so the anchor survives video aspect ratio changes.
Defaults to center.
left, center, right "center"
Response
OK
A text overlay on a clip
A text overlay on a clip. Unlike image and video overlays it references no source — the copy and its font live on the overlay itself.