Palmier Pro caption templates
Caption styling is where an agent most easily produces something ugly: it pairs a font with a size that doesn't suit it, picks a neon color that fights the footage, or stacks an outline + background + shadow that no editor would ship. This skill replaces that guesswork with a default. Every value below was read out of a real Palmier project and confirmed against rendered frames.
Hard rules
- Pick exactly one template. Paste its config verbatim. Do not blend two templates, do not "improve" a color, do not add an outline or background a template doesn't have.
- No style at all is a valid answer. If the user just says "add captions" with no aesthetic intent, call
add_captionswith nostyle/animation/transform— the app's own default is clean and correct. Reach for a template only when the user signals a look ("bold", "podcast", "TikTok", "make them pop", "match my brand", names a vibe). - Match orientation. Vertical templates are authored for 1080×1920, horizontal for 1920×1080. Using the wrong set gives text that is comically large or unreadably small — see Porting across canvas sizes.
- Fonts outside this catalog are fair game — but verify them. Palmier's font list is far larger than the 13 families used here; this catalog is a curated slice, not the available set. Set whatever font the user asks for. What doesn't change: after setting an unfamiliar font, render a frame with
inspect_timelineand confirm it actually resolved instead of silently falling back to a default. - Always verify. After
add_captionsorupdate_text, runinspect_timelineon a frame inside the caption range and actually look at it.
Workflow
- [ ] 1. get_timeline — canvas width/height, fps, which track has speech - [ ] 2. Pick ONE template from the picker below (or none — see rule 2) - [ ] 3. add_captions with that template's exact block - [ ] 4. inspect_timeline mid-caption — confirm it renders as described - [ ] 5. Report the template name you used
Restyling captions that already exist? Skip to Switching a template on existing captions — it is not just passing the new style.
Picker
Ask what the video is, not what color the user likes. The left column is the answer to "what is this?"
Vertical (1080×1920 — Reels / TikTok / Shorts)
| Use it for | Template | Look |
|---|---|---|
| Default vertical. Talking head, any topic | Clean Creator | White Inter bold, soft shadow, lower-third. Safe everywhere. |
| Punchy retention edit, keyword emphasis | Keyword Yellow | Inter bold, active word pops yellow |
| Music / lyric / high-energy | Karaoke Fill | Poppins bold, words fill in left-to-right |
| Max energy, big phrases | Phrase Pop | Manrope 72 bold, gold word pop |
| Podcast clip, understated | Minimal Podcast | Inter on a rounded translucent black pill |
| Podcast clip, modern | Modern Podcast | DM Sans bold, sky-blue active word |
| Playful, bouncy | Bounce | Poppins 76, word-by-word pop |
| Loud hook / cold open | Punch Zoom | Anton 100 ALL CAPS, dead center |
| Meme / reaction | Meme Classic | Impact ALL CAPS, thick black outline |
| One word at a time, hypnotic | One Word | Inter bold, single word, centered |
Horizontal (1920×1080 — YouTube / web / landscape)
| Use it for | Template | Look |
|---|---|---|
| Default horizontal. Anything | Podcast Clean Captions | Helvetica Neue, white, bottom. Invisible in a good way. |
| Broadcast / interview / accessibility | Documentary | Arial on a translucent black bar, full sentences |
| Emphasis without shouting | Number Callout | Inter bold, active word turns orange |
| Highlighter effect | Marker Highlight | Dark text under a sweeping yellow block |
| Clean, designed, brand-safe | Floating Pill | Dark text on a white rounded pill |
| Aggressive emphasis | Shake Emphasis | Anton CAPS, red word pop |
| Editorial / essay / interview | Editorial Serif | Georgia, quiet, no gimmicks |
| Film / trailer / title-card feel | Cinematic Title | Avenir CAPS, wide tracking, centered |
| Two-line / translation stack | Bilingual Stack | Inter bold, sits higher for a second line |
| Big graphic statement over a backdrop | Footage Stencil Bold | 120pt CAPS knocked out of the footage ⚠️ see gotcha |
| Tech / terminal / hacker | Typewriter Terminal | Green Courier on a black bar, types out |
| Comic / gaming / loud | Comic Book POW | Yellow Impact, black outline, hard drop shadow, tilted |
| Ambient, barely-there | Minimalist Whisper | Tiny lowercase grey at the very top |
| Retro / VHS / 80s | Retro VHS | Cream Courier CAPS with cyan fringe, over+underlined |
| Wedding / luxury / lifestyle | Elegant Wedding Serif | Times New Roman, warm cream, tracked out |
| Kids / cartoon / family | Kids Cartoon Bubbly | Pink Comic Sans, white outline, purple shadow |
| Reel-style over landscape footage | Instagram Reel Bold Yellow | Yellow Helvetica CAPS, black outline, centered |
| Meme bar / hard-cut humor | TikTok Meme Bottom Bar | Black CAPS on a solid white bar at the very bottom |
The catalog
Every block below is a complete add_captions payload. Copy it whole. Add trackIndex only if auto-detection picks the wrong speech track.
Colors follow Palmier's defaults: text color omitted = white; outline.color / background.color / shadow.color omitted = black.
Vertical — 1080×1920
Clean Creator
White Inter bold in the vertical safe zone. The default for any short-form talking head.
json{ "maxWords": 3, "animation": "fadeIn", "style": { "fontName": "Inter", "fontSize": 64, "bold": true, "shadow": { "enabled": true, "blur": 8, "offset": { "x": 0, "y": 3 }, "color": "#000000", "opacity": 0.5 } }, "transform": { "centerY": 0.72 } }
Keyword Yellow
Same body as Clean Creator, one size up, active word pops yellow. Retention edits.
json{ "maxWords": 3, "animation": "popIn", "highlightColor": "#FFD900", "style": { "fontName": "Inter", "fontSize": 70, "bold": true, "shadow": { "enabled": true, "blur": 8, "offset": { "x": 0, "y": 3 }, "color": "#000000", "opacity": 0.45 } }, "transform": { "centerY": 0.72 } }
Karaoke Fill
Words fill in white left-to-right as spoken. Music, lyrics, high tempo.
json{ "maxWords": 3, "animation": "wordReveal", "highlightColor": "#FFFFFF", "style": { "fontName": "Poppins", "fontSize": 66, "bold": true, "shadow": { "enabled": true, "blur": 0, "offset": { "x": 0, "y": 3 }, "color": "#000000", "opacity": 0.55 } }, "transform": { "centerY": 0.72 } }
Phrase Pop
Biggest of the vertical body styles, gold word pop. Maximum energy.
json{ "maxWords": 3, "animation": "popIn", "highlightColor": "#FACC15", "style": { "fontName": "Manrope", "fontSize": 72, "bold": true, "shadow": { "enabled": true, "blur": 10, "offset": { "x": 0, "y": 4 }, "color": "#000000", "opacity": 0.55 } }, "transform": { "centerY": 0.72 } }
Minimal Podcast
Non-bold Inter on a rounded translucent black pill, sitting low. Understated podcast clips.
json{ "maxWords": 3, "style": { "fontName": "Inter", "fontSize": 54, "background": { "enabled": true, "color": "#000000", "opacity": 0.65, "cornerRadius": 16, "padding": { "x": 24, "y": 14 } }, "shadow": { "enabled": true } }, "transform": { "centerY": 0.85 } }
Modern Podcast
DM Sans bold with a sky-blue active word. Cleaner and cooler than Keyword Yellow.
json{ "maxWords": 3, "animation": "fadeIn", "highlightColor": "#5CC8FF", "style": { "fontName": "DM Sans", "fontSize": 62, "bold": true, "shadow": { "enabled": true, "blur": 0, "offset": { "x": 0, "y": 2 }, "color": "#000000", "opacity": 0.4 } }, "transform": { "centerY": 0.72 } }
Bounce
Large Poppins with a per-word bounce. Playful, no color accent.
json{ "maxWords": 3, "animation": "wordPop", "style": { "fontName": "Poppins", "fontSize": 76, "bold": true, "shadow": { "enabled": true } }, "transform": { "centerY": 0.72 } }
Punch Zoom
Anton 100 ALL CAPS, dead center, two words at a time, no animation. Cold opens and hooks.
json{ "maxWords": 2, "style": { "fontName": "Anton", "fontSize": 100, "bold": true, "fontCase": "uppercase", "shadow": { "enabled": true } } }
Meme Classic
Impact CAPS with a thick black outline, hard against the bottom. Shadow is deliberately off.
json{ "maxWords": 3, "style": { "fontName": "Impact", "fontSize": 72, "bold": true, "fontCase": "uppercase", "outline": { "enabled": true, "width": 9, "color": "#000000" }, "shadow": { "enabled": false } }, "transform": { "centerY": 0.88 } }
One Word
One word at a time, centered. Hypnotic pacing; produces ~3.5× as many caption clips.
json{ "maxWords": 1, "style": { "fontName": "Inter", "fontSize": 52, "bold": true, "shadow": { "enabled": true, "blur": 8, "offset": { "x": 0, "y": 3 }, "color": "#000000", "opacity": 0.5 } } }
Horizontal — 1920×1080
Podcast Clean Captions
Plain white Helvetica Neue at the bottom, no animation. The horizontal default.
json{ "maxWords": 5, "style": { "fontName": "Helvetica Neue", "fontSize": 40, "shadow": { "enabled": true, "blur": 4, "offset": { "x": 0, "y": 3 }, "color": "#000000", "opacity": 0.5 } }, "transform": { "centerY": 0.9 } }
Documentary
Arial on a translucent black bar, full sentences, hard bottom. Broadcast and accessibility.
json{ "maxWords": 8, "style": { "fontName": "Arial", "fontSize": 42, "background": { "enabled": true, "color": "#000000", "opacity": 0.45 }, "shadow": { "enabled": true } }, "transform": { "centerY": 0.9 } }
Number Callout
White Inter bold; the active word recolors orange and scales. Emphasis that stays readable.
json{ "maxWords": 5, "animation": "highlightPop", "highlightColor": "#FF6B00", "style": { "fontName": "Inter", "fontSize": 54, "bold": true, "shadow": { "enabled": true, "blur": 8, "offset": { "x": 0, "y": 3 }, "color": "#000000", "opacity": 0.5 } }, "transform": { "centerY": 0.8 } }
Marker Highlight
Dark text with a yellow block sweeping across the active word. ⚠️ Un-highlighted words are #111111 with no outline — they wash out over light footage. Use Number Callout instead if the plate is bright.
json{ "maxWords": 5, "animation": "highlightBlock", "highlightColor": "#FFD23F", "style": { "fontName": "Inter", "fontSize": 52, "bold": true, "color": "#111111", "shadow": { "enabled": false } }, "transform": { "centerY": 0.85 } }
Floating Pill
Near-black text on an opaque white rounded pill. Brand-safe and designed-looking. Shadow off.
json{ "maxWords": 5, "animation": "popIn", "style": { "fontName": "Inter", "fontSize": 46, "bold": true, "color": "#1A1A1A", "background": { "enabled": true, "color": "#FFFFFF", "opacity": 1, "cornerRadius": 40, "padding": { "x": 28, "y": 16 } }, "shadow": { "enabled": false } }, "transform": { "centerY": 0.82 } }
Shake Emphasis
Anton CAPS with a red word pop. The loudest horizontal option.
json{ "maxWords": 5, "animation": "wordPop", "highlightColor": "#FF2A2A", "style": { "fontName": "Anton", "fontSize": 62, "bold": true, "fontCase": "uppercase", "shadow": { "enabled": true, "blur": 8, "offset": { "x": 0, "y": 3 }, "color": "#000000", "opacity": 0.5 } }, "transform": { "centerY": 0.78 } }
Editorial Serif
Georgia, not bold, no accent color. Essays, interviews, anything that shouldn't shout.
json{ "maxWords": 5, "animation": "fadeIn", "style": { "fontName": "Georgia", "fontSize": 50, "shadow": { "enabled": true, "blur": 0, "offset": { "x": 0, "y": 2 }, "color": "#000000", "opacity": 0.4 } }, "transform": { "centerY": 0.82 } }
Cinematic Title
Avenir CAPS with wide tracking, centered, static. Reads as a title card rather than a caption.
json{ "maxWords": 3, "style": { "fontName": "Avenir", "fontSize": 48, "fontCase": "uppercase", "tracking": 8, "shadow": { "enabled": true } } }
Bilingual Stack
Plain Inter bold sitting higher than a normal lower-third, leaving room for a translation line beneath.
json{ "maxWords": 5, "animation": "fadeIn", "style": { "fontName": "Inter", "fontSize": 54, "bold": true, "shadow": { "enabled": true, "blur": 8, "offset": { "x": 0, "y": 3 }, "color": "#000000", "opacity": 0.5 } }, "transform": { "centerY": 0.74 } }
Footage Stencil Bold
120pt CAPS knocked out of the layers below. ⚠️ Requires a distinct backdrop under the caption track — over the same footage it renders invisible. get_timeline does not report fillMode, so it reads back looking like an ordinary group.
json{ "maxWords": 5, "animation": "wordPop", "style": { "fontName": "Inter", "fontSize": 120, "bold": true, "fontCase": "uppercase", "tracking": -2, "outline": { "enabled": true, "width": 10, "color": "#000000" }, "shadow": { "enabled": false } } }
Then, in a second call, switch the group to stencil fill:
json{ "captionGroupId": "<from add_captions>", "fillMode": "footage" }
Typewriter Terminal
Terminal green Courier, lowercase, typing out on a near-black bar. Tech and dev content.
json{ "maxWords": 8, "animation": "typewriter", "style": { "fontName": "Courier New", "fontSize": 42, "fontCase": "lowercase", "color": "#33FF66", "background": { "enabled": true, "color": "#0A0A0A", "opacity": 0.85, "cornerRadius": 0, "padding": { "x": 32, "y": 18 } } }, "transform": { "centerY": 0.85 } }
Comic Book POW
Yellow Impact CAPS, heavy black outline, hard offset drop shadow, tilted 4° and sitting high. Gaming and comedy.
json{ "maxWords": 5, "animation": "wordPop", "style": { "fontName": "Impact", "fontSize": 96, "bold": true, "fontCase": "uppercase", "color": "#FFDE00", "outline": { "enabled": true, "width": 12, "color": "#111111" }, "shadow": { "enabled": true, "blur": 0, "offset": { "x": 6, "y": 6 }, "color": "#111111", "opacity": 1 } }, "transform": { "centerY": 0.45, "rotation": -4 } }
fontSize reads back near 95.98 — Palmier auto-fits long captions. Author 96.
Minimalist Whisper
Tiny lowercase grey at 80% opacity, parked at the top of frame. Ambient; not for accessibility.
json{ "maxWords": 5, "animation": "fadeIn", "style": { "fontName": "Inter", "fontSize": 30, "fontCase": "lowercase", "tracking": 3, "color": "#EAEAEACC", "shadow": { "enabled": false } }, "transform": { "centerY": 0.1 } }
Retro VHS
Cream Courier CAPS with a cyan chromatic fringe offset left, over- and underlined, top of frame.
json{ "maxWords": 5, "style": { "fontName": "Courier New", "fontSize": 44, "fontCase": "uppercase", "tracking": 4, "color": "#FFF8E7", "underline": true, "overline": true, "shadow": { "enabled": true, "blur": 0, "offset": { "x": -3, "y": 0 }, "color": "#00E5FF", "opacity": 0.8 } }, "transform": { "centerY": 0.12 } }
Elegant Wedding Serif
Times New Roman in warm cream with light tracking, low in frame. Weddings, luxury, lifestyle.
json{ "maxWords": 5, "animation": "fadeIn", "style": { "fontName": "Times New Roman", "fontSize": 44, "tracking": 2, "color": "#F5EFE0", "shadow": { "enabled": true, "blur": 0, "offset": { "x": 0, "y": 3 }, "color": "#000000", "opacity": 0.4 } }, "transform": { "centerY": 0.88 } }
Kids Cartoon Bubbly
Pink Comic Sans with a white outline and a purple hard shadow; active word goes orange.
json{ "maxWords": 5, "animation": "wordPop", "highlightColor": "#FF7A00", "style": { "fontName": "Comic Sans MS", "fontSize": 66, "bold": true, "color": "#FF5FA2", "outline": { "enabled": true, "width": 8, "color": "#FFFFFF" }, "shadow": { "enabled": true, "blur": 0, "offset": { "x": 4, "y": 4 }, "color": "#7A2E8C", "opacity": 1 } }, "transform": { "centerY": 0.72 } }
Instagram Reel Bold Yellow
Yellow Helvetica CAPS with a thin black outline, centered. Reel energy on a landscape canvas. Shadow off.
json{ "maxWords": 5, "animation": "popIn", "style": { "fontName": "Helvetica Neue", "fontSize": 72, "bold": true, "fontCase": "uppercase", "tracking": -1, "color": "#FFE600", "outline": { "enabled": true, "width": 5, "color": "#000000" }, "shadow": { "enabled": false } } }
TikTok Meme Bottom Bar
Black CAPS on a solid white bar pinned to the very bottom. Hard-cut meme humor.
json{ "maxWords": 5, "style": { "fontName": "Helvetica Neue", "fontSize": 46, "bold": true, "fontCase": "uppercase", "color": "#000000", "background": { "enabled": true, "color": "#FFFFFF", "opacity": 1, "cornerRadius": 0, "padding": { "x": 16, "y": 6 } }, "shadow": { "enabled": false } }, "transform": { "centerY": 0.95 } }
Parameter reference
maxWords is the density dial and the single biggest driver of feel. Palmier still breaks on natural pauses, so it is a cap, not a quota.
| maxWords | Feel | Templates |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | One word at a time, hypnotic | One Word |
| 2 | Rapid-fire | Punch Zoom |
| 3 | Standard vertical / short-form | all vertical, Cinematic Title |
| 5 | Standard horizontal | most horizontal |
| 8 | Full sentences, broadcast | Documentary, Typewriter Terminal |
animation — fadeIn (safe, default), popIn, slideUp, typewriter, wordReveal (karaoke fill), wordSlide, wordPop (per-word bounce), wordCycle, highlightPop (active word recolors + scales), highlightBlock (active word gets a colored block behind it), off. Word-timed presets read the transcript, so they cost nothing extra. highlightColor only does anything with wordReveal, wordPop, highlightPop, highlightBlock, and the popIn/fadeIn variants that carry one.
transform.centerY — 0 = top, 1 = bottom. Omitting it centers at 0.5. The catalog's positions:
| centerY | Zone | Templates |
|---|---|---|
| 0.10–0.12 | Top overlay | Minimalist Whisper, Retro VHS |
| 0.45–0.50 | Dead center | Punch Zoom, Cinematic Title, Footage Stencil Bold, Comic Book POW, Instagram Reel Bold Yellow, One Word |
| 0.72–0.74 | Vertical safe zone (above UI chrome) | most vertical, Bilingual Stack |
| 0.78–0.85 | Standard lower-third | Shake Emphasis, Editorial Serif, Floating Pill, Marker Highlight, Number Callout, Minimal Podcast, Typewriter Terminal |
| 0.88–0.95 | Hard bottom | Meme Classic, Documentary, Elegant Wedding Serif, Podcast Clean Captions, TikTok Meme Bottom Bar |
Color defaults, so you know what "omitted" means: text color defaults to white, outline.color and background.color and shadow.color default to black. shadow.enabled defaults to false — a shadow block with blur and offset but no enabled: true renders nothing.
Sizes are canvas points, where the canvas equals the project's pixel dimensions. Every number in this catalog is authored for a 1080-line canvas.
Porting across canvas sizes
- Same orientation, different resolution (4K, 720p): multiply
fontSize,outline.width,shadow.blur,shadow.offset,background.padding, andbackground.cornerRadiusbytargetHeight / 1080.centerY,tracking, and opacities are already normalized — leave them. - Vertical template on a horizontal project (or vice versa): don't. Pick the equivalent from the other table. The two sets are tuned differently on purpose — vertical runs 54–100pt on a 1080-wide canvas, horizontal runs 30–72pt on a 1920-wide one.
Switching a template on existing captions
update_text is a partial patch — omitted properties keep their old values. Switching from a template with an outline to one without leaves the outline on. Always explicitly clear what the outgoing template set:
json{ "captionGroupId": "<from get_timeline>", "animation": "off", "fillMode": "color", "style": { "color": "#FFFFFF", "tracking": 0, "fontCase": "mixed", "bold": false, "italic": false, "underline": false, "overline": false, "outline": { "enabled": false }, "background": { "enabled": false }, "shadow": { "enabled": false } } }
Send that reset first, then the new template's style / animation / transform in a second call. Two calls, reliably correct, beats one call that half-applies.
maxWords cannot be changed by update_text — it decides how the transcript was split. To change caption density you must delete the caption clips and re-run add_captions.
Gotchas
- Footage Stencil Bold renders invisible over a single video layer. It uses
fillMode: "footage", which knocks the letters out of whatever is below — with the same footage below, the result is pixel-identical to the footage. It needs a distinct backdrop (a color matte, a blurred copy, a b-roll layer) beneath the caption track. Also noteget_timelinedoes not reportfillMode, so a stencil group looks like an ordinary one when you read it back. - Marker Highlight only reads on the highlighted word. Its base text is
#111111with no outline; over light footage the un-highlighted words nearly disappear. That is the intended effect, but confirm the footage is dark enough — otherwise use Number Callout, which keeps the base text white. shadow.enabledis easy to lose. Several catalog templates carry shadow blur/offset values with the shadow switched off (Meme Classic, Floating Pill, Marker Highlight, Footage Stencil Bold, Minimalist Whisper, Instagram Reel Bold Yellow, TikTok Meme Bottom Bar). Copyenabledexactly; don't assume a shadow block means a visible shadow.get_timelineomits anything at its default. Reading a group back and seeing nocolormeans white, not "unset". Don't round-trip a read into a write and expect fidelity — write from this catalog.fontSizemay come back fractional (e.g. 95.977 instead of 96). Palmier auto-fits the box for long captions. Author the round number; ignore the drift on read.
Expanding beyond the catalog
When the user wants something not in the catalog, start from the nearest template and change one axis, keeping everything else:
| User asks | Change |
|---|---|---|
| "brand colors" | style.color and/or highlightColor only |
| "bigger" / "smaller" | fontSize only, ±20% steps |
| a specific font | style.fontName only — then inspect_timeline to confirm it resolved, and re-tune fontSize if the new face runs wider or narrower |
| "higher" / "lower" | transform.centerY only, ±0.05 steps |
| "more/less energy" | swap animation within the same family (fadeIn ↔ popIn ↔ wordPop) |
| "tighter" / "looser" captions | maxWords, and re-run add_captions |
| "add a background" | copy the background block from Minimal Podcast, Documentary, Floating Pill, Typewriter Terminal, or TikTok Meme Bottom Bar wholesale |
Changing two or more axes at once is how captions get ugly. If the user's request genuinely needs a new look, build it, then inspect_timeline and show them the frame before moving on.
