Setting Text Size and Scroll Speed on a Rythmo Band

It's one of the most stubborn points of confusion for people just starting out with the rythmo band. Three things that have nothing to do with each other get jumbled together: text size, band height, and scroll speed. And on top of that, there's a myth still going around: "if I make the text bigger, it'll scroll faster." That's wrong, and it's worth explaining why.

Three settings, three different jobs

Text size is about reading comfort, full stop. Larger characters are easier to read from a distance, but they don't change the speed at all.

Band height is how much room it takes up at the bottom of the image. You set it so the band stays readable without eating into the part of the image that matters, especially faces and lips.

Scroll speed, finally, is how fast the text moves across the screen. And it's this setting, and this one alone, that decides the sync.

Why "bigger = faster" doesn't hold up

The idea comes from a visual impression: bigger text fills the screen faster, so people assume it goes by faster. Except speed has nothing to do with letter size. It depends on the timecode: each line is anchored to a precise moment in the video. Whether the text is tiny or huge, it reaches the reading mark at exactly the same moment.

In other words, you can double the size of your characters without touching your sync one bit.

Setting each one for what it actually does

In Voxdub, take the three settings one at a time. Turn the text size up until the voice actor can read without squinting, based on their screen and how far away they are. Adjust the band height so it doesn't cover the mouths on screen. And for the sync, work on the timing of the lines: the text should reach the reading mark exactly when the character speaks.

That's where everything happens, and nowhere else.

In short

Text size is comfort. Band height is screen real estate. Scroll speed is the sync, and you set it through timing. Three independent settings: making the text bigger will never make it scroll faster.

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