Displaying the time, the date or timecode on the screen

In addition to text you can also use ticker objects to display the current date and time in a show. In addition to this, it is also possible to display the current project time on the screen, which is actually the time code at the Locator position.

Information on how to countdown the time to the next marker can be found under Counting down to the next marker.

1. Right-click the ticker object to be used for displaying date and/or time and select Properties. Unless a ticker object is available, create one as explained in Displaying text via ticker objects.

2. Under Display date / time / timecode click on and select the corresponding type of display.

• Disabled   ...no display of date and time

• Date only    ...displays the current date only

• Time only   ...displays the current time only

• Date + time  ...shows both

• Special formatting  ...allows different, also international, date and time formats as well as combinations with text in the entry field next to it. Syntax for date and time display format.

  The following format characters produce the following information: %a ...for weekdays, abbreviated, e.g. Fr for Friday %A ...for weekdays, e.g. Friday %b ...for month, abbreviated, e.g. Jul for July %B ...for month, e.g. July %c ...for date and time in local format, e.g. 23.07.2004 11:09:58 %d ...for the day of a month as a decimal figure (01 - 31) %H ...for hours in 24-hour format (00 – 23) %I  ...for hours in 12-hour format (00 – 12) %j  ...for the day of a year as a decimal figure (001 - 366) %m ...for the month as a decimal figure (01 - 12) %M ...for the minute as a decimal figure (00 - 59) %p ...for marking mornings/afternoons in accordance with local format, e.g. A.M. / P.M. %S ...for seconds as a decimal figure (00 - 59) %U ...for the calendar week as a decimal figure, with Sunday being the first weekday (00 - 53) %w ...for weekdays as a decimal figure (0 – 6, Sunday is 0) %W ...for the calendar week as a decimal figure, with Monday being the first weekday (00 - 53) %x ...for the date in local format, e.g. 24.07.2004 %X ...for the time in local format, e.g. 11:37:49 %y ..for the year without century as a decimal figure (00 – 99), e.g. 04 %Y ...for the year including century as a decimal figure, e.g. 2004 %Z ...for the time zone (only possible if the time zone is known by the system), e.g. Western European Standard Time %%  ...for display of the percent sign in the text The additional character # allows you to enter the date in extended form, examples: %#x ...for Friday, 23 July 2004 %#c ...for Friday, 23 July 2004 11:52:08 This option is not available for all date formats.

• Locator position in timeline ...displays the current time in the timeline; reference is the time bar in the timeline.

• Locator position in object ...displays the current time relative to the text object, i.e. the reference 0:00 is the beginning of the text object.

• Countdown to object end ...counts the time within the text object back to zero; reference is the object end. During an event, this function can be used to display the remaining time in the break.

For the last three types of representing the Locator Position the following options are available:

3. When the fractional digits of the timeline time display are set to frames, the same format will also apply to the display on the screen. See also Changing time display and resolution of the timeline.

4. Next to Timecode offset you can enter an offset between the displayed time and the actual Locator position.

3. Under Comment, enter a name for the object, e.g. Date + Time or Timecode. Click on OK.

Any other editing steps, e.g. positioning, motion, effects, etc. can be performed in the ticker objects just like for normal text. See Displaying text via ticker objects.