--- title: "How to add a metallic text with Claude (tested prompt and script)" description: "\"PREMIUM\" fades in above the bottle in polished gold letters with a dark bronze rim, and a white glint slides across them once from left to right. Install one skill and ask Claude Code, or run the Python script we tested yourself." url: https://www.recharm.com/effects/metallic-text --- # How to add a metallic text with Claude "PREMIUM" fades in above the bottle in polished gold letters with a dark bronze rim, and a white glint slides across them once from left to right. Made by the script on this page, from our own test clip. ## Get this effect 1. ### Switch to Code in your [Claude Desktop App](https://claude.com/download) 2. ### Install the skill (once) ``` Install the Recharm video effects skill: download https://recharm-growth-staging.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/website/downloads/recharm-video-effects.zip and unzip it into ~/.claude/skills ``` 3. ### Ask for the effect ``` Add a metallic text to input.mp4 Text: PREMIUM Metal: pale gold, gold, dark band, bright gold, deep gold ``` ## Several videos, several effects, one ask Put your clips in the folder, mention them with @, and ask for everything at once. Claude runs one tested script after another on each clip, then joins them. Add a metallic text to **@clip1.mp4**, put a sale badge on **@clip2.mp4**, give **@clip3.mp4** a VHS look, then join all three with crossfades. ## Settings you can change Ask Claude to change any of these, or edit them at the top of the script. | Setting | Default | What it does | | ------------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `TEXT` | `PREMIUM` | The headline. | | `START` | `0.5` | Second the text fades in. | | `Y` | `0.16` | Text center, 0-1 down the frame. | | `METAL` | `pale gold, gold, dark band, bright gold, deep gold` | Gradient stops from the top of the letters to the bottom; swap in greys for chrome. | | `EDGE` | `(90, 55, 10)` | Outline color. | | `GLINT_START, GLINT_END` | `1.2, 2.0` | Seconds the glint takes to cross the text. | | `GLINT_TILT` | `25` | Glint angle from vertical, in degrees. | ## Without the skill Don’t want to install the skill? Paste this prompt into Claude Code and Claude writes the script itself. ``` Add metallic gold text to input.mp4: the word "PREMIUM" in a heavy bold font (Arial Black or similar) at a font size of 15% of the frame width, centered horizontally at 16% down the frame. Fill the letters with a vertical gold gradient running from the top of the letters to the bottom: (255, 240, 170) at the top, (240, 195, 75) at 35%, a dark band of (160, 105, 25) at 50%, a bright (250, 215, 110) at 62% and (185, 130, 35) at the bottom, blended smoothly between those stops. Give the letters a 3 px dark bronze (90, 55, 10) outline and a soft black drop shadow (60% opacity, offset 4 px right and 6 px down, 6 px blur). The text fades in from 0.5 to 0.8 seconds, with nothing on screen before 0.5 seconds, and stays to the end. From 1.2 to 2.0 seconds a glint slides once across the letters from left to right, starting 60 px left of the text and ending 60 px right of it: a band tilted 25 degrees from vertical with its top leaning right (like /), pushing the gold toward white by 95% at its center (falling off over about 9 px either side) plus a softer 35% glow falling off over about 35 px, shown only inside the letters' gold face, not on the outline or the video. Use Python with Pillow and numpy to draw the text, gradient and glint (don't use ffmpeg's drawtext filter) and ffmpeg to put it on the video, keep the audio, and save it as output.mp4. ``` ## Run it without Claude This is the exact script we tested. Save it as `metallic-text.py` and run: ``` python3 metallic-text.py input.mp4 output.mp4 ``` ``` #!/usr/bin/env python3 """Metallic text: a polished gold headline fades in, then a white glint slides across the letters. Usage: python3 metallic-text.py input.mp4 output.mp4 Needs ffmpeg, Pillow and numpy (pip install pillow numpy). """ import json import math import subprocess import sys from pathlib import Path import numpy as np from PIL import Image, ImageDraw, ImageFilter, ImageFont TEXT = "PREMIUM" # the headline START = 0.5 # second the text fades in FADE_IN = 0.3 # seconds the fade in takes Y = 0.16 # text center, 0-1 down the frame SIZE = 0.15 # font size as a share of the frame width METAL = [(0.0, (255, 240, 170)), # gold bands from the top of the letters (0) to the bottom (1): (0.35, (240, 195, 75)), # pale highlight, warm gold, a dark horizon line, (0.5, (160, 105, 25)), # a bright reflection under it, deeper gold at the base (0.62, (250, 215, 110)), (1.0, (185, 130, 35))] EDGE = (90, 55, 10) # dark bronze outline around the letters EDGE_WIDTH = 3 # outline thickness in pixels GLINT_START, GLINT_END = 1.2, 2.0 # seconds the glint takes to cross the text, left to right GLINT_TILT = 25 # glint angle from vertical, top leaning right (like /) SHADOW = 0.6 # drop shadow opacity behind the letters (0 = none) FONTS = ["/System/Library/Fonts/Supplemental/Arial Black.ttf", # macOS "/System/Library/Fonts/Supplemental/Arial Bold.ttf", "/usr/share/fonts/truetype/dejavu/DejaVuSans-Bold.ttf", # Linux "C:/Windows/Fonts/ariblk.ttf"] # Windows FONT_FILE = next((f for f in FONTS if Path(f).exists()), None) or sys.exit("No bold font found: add one to FONTS") def draw_mask(offset=(0, 0), stroke=0): img = Image.new("L", (w, h)) ImageDraw.Draw(img).text((w / 2 + offset[0], h * Y + offset[1]), TEXT, font=font, anchor="mm", fill=255, stroke_width=stroke, stroke_fill=255) return img def metal_fill(): """The gold bands, stretched from the top of the letters to the bottom, as an RGB array the size of the frame.""" top, bottom = font.getbbox(TEXT, anchor="mm")[1::2] pos = np.clip((np.arange(h) - (h * Y + top)) / (bottom - top), 0, 1) stops = np.array([p for p, _ in METAL]) colors = np.array([c for _, c in METAL], np.float32) column = np.stack([np.interp(pos, stops, colors[:, i]) for i in range(3)], axis=1) return np.broadcast_to(column[:, None, :], (h, w, 3)) def glint(t): """How far each pixel is pushed to white (0-1): a narrow bright core in a softer glow, sliding left to right.""" left, _, right, _ = font.getbbox(TEXT, anchor="mm") p = (t - GLINT_START) / (GLINT_END - GLINT_START) center = w / 2 + left - 60 + p * (right - left + 120) # starts and ends just off the letters yy, xx = np.mgrid[0:h, 0:w].astype(np.float32) u = xx + (yy - h * Y) * math.tan(math.radians(GLINT_TILT)) - center return np.minimum(0.95 * np.exp(-(u / 9) ** 2) + 0.35 * np.exp(-(u / 35) ** 2), 1) def overlay(t): shown = min(max((t - START) / FADE_IN, 0), 1) if shown <= 0: return blank face = fill if GLINT_START <= t <= GLINT_END: face = fill + (255 - fill) * glint(t)[..., None] # the glint lights the gold face only, not the outline rgb = face * letters[..., None] + np.array(EDGE, np.float32) * (outline - letters)[..., None] alpha = outline + shadow * (1 - outline) rgb = rgb / np.maximum(alpha, 1e-6)[..., None] # shadow pixels are black img = np.dstack([np.clip(rgb, 0, 255), alpha * 255 * shown]) return Image.fromarray(img.round().astype(np.uint8)) def probe(path): info = json.loads(subprocess.check_output(["ffprobe", "-v", "error", "-select_streams", "v:0", "-show_entries", "stream=width,height,r_frame_rate:format=duration", "-of", "json", path])) s = info["streams"][0] num, den = s["r_frame_rate"].split("/") return s["width"], s["height"], s["r_frame_rate"], float(num) / float(den), float(info["format"]["duration"]) def render(src, out): """Draw overlay(t) on every frame of src and save to out, keeping the audio.""" ff = subprocess.Popen(["ffmpeg", "-y", "-v", "error", "-i", src, "-f", "rawvideo", "-pix_fmt", "rgba", "-s", f"{w}x{h}", "-r", rate, "-i", "-", "-filter_complex", "[0:v][1:v]overlay=shortest=1,format=yuv420p[v]", "-map", "[v]", "-map", "0:a?", "-c:v", "libx264", "-crf", "18", "-c:a", "copy", out], stdin=subprocess.PIPE) for i in range(math.ceil(duration * fps)): ff.stdin.write(overlay(i / fps).tobytes()) ff.stdin.close() if ff.wait(): sys.exit("ffmpeg failed") src, out = sys.argv[1:3] w, h, rate, fps, duration = probe(src) font = ImageFont.truetype(FONT_FILE, round(w * SIZE)) letters = np.asarray(draw_mask(), np.float32) / 255 outline = np.asarray(draw_mask(stroke=EDGE_WIDTH), np.float32) / 255 shadow = np.asarray(draw_mask((4, 6), EDGE_WIDTH).filter(ImageFilter.GaussianBlur(6)), np.float32) / 255 * SHADOW fill = metal_fill() blank = Image.new("RGBA", (w, h)) render(src, out) ``` ## More text and titles - [Animated text frame **Animated text frame**](https://www.recharm.com/effects/animated-text-frame) - [Brush stroke text reveal **Brush stroke text reveal**](https://www.recharm.com/effects/brush-stroke-text-reveal) - [Burning text **Burning text**](https://www.recharm.com/effects/burning-text) - [Drop shadow text **Drop shadow text**](https://www.recharm.com/effects/drop-shadow-text) - [Echo text **Echo text**](https://www.recharm.com/effects/echo-text) ## Find 3x _winning ads_ Recharm cuts your ad footage into tagged, searchable clips: hooks, testimonials, product shots. Find the shots that win, add the effect with Claude, and ship 3x more ad edits. [Start 14-day free trial](https://www.recharm.com/get-started)