Typewriter Video

Create professional typewriter animation videos — a VS Code-style editor where text appears character-by-character with mechanical keyboard sounds, images, and visual effects.

Required: Install the Official Remotion Skill

This skill covers typewriter-specific knowledge (segment authoring, features, storytelling). For general Remotion flexibility (compositions, animations, audio, rendering, deployment), install the official Remotion skill maintained by the Remotion team:

→ github.com/remotion-dev/remotion/tree/main/packages/skills

You can use this skill without it, but having it gives you deeper framework knowledge for advanced customization.

Step 1: Gather Requirements

Before starting, ask the user:

• Content: What text should be typed? Does the user have a script, or should you draft one?
• A-roll sync?: Standalone typewriter video, or B-roll synced to narration audio? If synced, you need word-level captions (see A-roll sync below).
• Aspect ratio: 16:9 (YouTube landscape, default), 9:16 (Shorts/Reels/TikTok), or 1:1 (Instagram)?
• Theme: Visual identity — ivory (default), dark-editor, chalk-blackboard, paper-notebook, retro-terminal, spotlight, lcd-terminal, pixel-art?
• Sound pack: nk-cream (default, smooth linear), holy-pandas (tactile bump), cream-travel (creamy full travel), turquoise (tealio-style linear)?
• Background image: Does the user have one, or should you generate one?

Step 2: Set Up the Project

Copy the template and install:

cp -r <skill-path>/assets/template/ ./my-typewriter-video
cd ./my-typewriter-video
npm install

Verify Bundled Assets

The template ships with all required assets. After setup, confirm these exist:

# Sound packs (4 packs)
ls public/sounds/key_a.wav          # nk-cream (default, 29 files)
ls public/sounds/holy-pandas/       # 8 files: GENERIC_R0-R4.mp3 + ENTER/SPACE/BACKSPACE.mp3
ls public/sounds/cream-travel/      # same structure
ls public/sounds/turquoise/         # same structure

# Fonts (for themes + Excalidraw)
ls public/fonts/Virgil.woff2              # Excalidraw handwriting font
ls public/fonts/GeistPixel-Square.woff2   # LCD Terminal + Pixel Art themes
ls public/fonts/GeistPixel-Circle.woff2   # Pixel Art theme variant

⚠️ If any asset is missing, see [Troubleshooting: Missing Assets](#troubleshooting-missing-assets) at the bottom.

Step 3: Learn the Engine

Read these in order:

1. src/Typewriter.tsx — the living tutorial. Read this first to see every feature demonstrated with inline comments.
2. [API Reference](references/API.md) — all TextSegment fields, timeline events, constants
3. [Content Guide](references/content-guide.md) — storytelling techniques (strike text philosophy, ghost text, IME placement, rhythm)
4. [Audio Guide](references/audio.md) — sound system, the critical startFrame offset gotcha, sound pack switching, volume guidelines

Step 4: Write Content in src/Typewriter.tsx

Replace TEXT_SEGMENTS with the user's content. Key references:

Typing Modes

Feature Quick Reference

Ghost text — gray autocomplete, Tab to accept:

{ text: "paragraph. ", mode: "burst", ghostText: "So we use ghost text." }

Strike-correct — type wrong, then fix:

{ text: "a framework", mode: "burst", strikeText: "something", strikeDelete: "select" }

Emoji picker — catalog search panel:

{ text: "😤", mode: "normal", emojiPicker: true }

File switching — multi-file editor:

{ text: "import React\n", mode: "burst", file: "app/page.tsx" }

Syntax highlighting — VS Code Dark+ palette (tsx, ts, javascript, bash, markdown, css):

{ text: "export default function Page() {\n", mode: "burst", language: "tsx" }

Cursor jump + mutation — edit existing code:

{ text: "'use cache'\n", mode: "thinking", insertAt: { line: 0, col: 0 } }

Chinese IME — two modes (direct 吐字 or pinyin 拼音):

{ text: "这是拼音模式", mode: "normal", imeInput: true }

Inline images — single or multi-row with animations:

// Single with fade
{ text: "Preview:\n", mode: "normal", image: { src: "screenshot.png", heightLines: 5, animation: "fade" } }
// Multi-row with labels
{ text: "Tech:\n", mode: "normal", image: {
    items: [{ src: "a.png", label: "React" }, { src: "b.png", label: "Next.js" }],
    width: 85, height: 100, gap: 10, animation: "slide-up", heightLines: 4,
}}

Animated checkboxes — type [ ] then auto-check with spring-pop:

{ text: "- [ ] Step one\n", mode: "burst", checkbox: { checkAfterFrames: 20 } }

Image stack — paper-pile effect:

{ text: "Headlines:\n", mode: "normal", imageStack: { images: ["a.png", "b.png"], heightLines: 8, intervalFrames: 8 } }

Theme & Sound Pack

Set in your composition (e.g. Typewriter.tsx):

import { chalkBlackboardTheme } from "./themes";

<TypewriterText
  segments={TEXT_SEGMENTS}
  theme={chalkBlackboardTheme}
  soundPack="holy-pandas"
/>

Available themes: ivoryTheme (default), darkEditorTheme, chalkBlackboardTheme, paperNotebookTheme, retroTerminalTheme, spotlightTheme, lcdTerminalTheme, pixelArtTheme

Available sound packs: "nk-cream" (default), "holy-pandas", "cream-travel", "turquoise"

Step 5: Set Background Image

Either:

• User provides: Copy to public/background.png
• Generate one: Use an image generation tool, then cp /path/to/image.png public/background.png

A subtle, blurred dark workspace or gradient works best — the template applies blur(4px) and saturate(0.9).

Step 6: Configure Aspect Ratio

Edit width and height in src/Root.tsx:

⚠️ If changing to 9:16 or 1:1, also adjust EditorWindow.tsx width and CHARSPERLINE in TypewriterText.tsx.

Don't manually calculate DURATION_SECONDS — set a rough value (20s for short, 50s for long), preview, then adjust.

Step 6b: A-Roll Sync Mode (if B-roll)

Skip this step if the typewriter is a standalone video.

Use delayFrames for absolute timing synced to narration:

{ text: "Key insight: ", mode: "burst", delayFrames: 90 } // wait until frame 90

Read the full choreography guide: [A-Roll Sync Guide](references/aroll-sync.md). It covers:

• Extracting timestamps from captions
• The OFFSET pattern for multi-chapter compositions
• 5 sync principles (Speech-Match, J-Cut, Density, PPT Standalone, Rapid Reveal)
• Timing Budget Rule — frame cost per mode, mandatory post-choreography validation
• Frame calculation for multi-chapter Series (boundary subtraction to avoid drift)

Step 7: Preview

npm run studio

Check: timing, background, content fits, note where typing ends → update DURATION_SECONDS.

Step 8: Render

npm run render

Output: out/typewriter.mp4. For multi-chapter A-roll projects, render specific compositions:

npx remotion render <comp-id> out/<name>.mp4

Project Structure

src/
├── TypewriterText.tsx    # Core engine (timeline, audio, rendering, soundPack)
├── Typewriter.tsx        # Your composition (edit this!)
├── EditorWindow.tsx      # macOS window chrome (theme-aware, chrome-less mode)
├── themes.ts             # 8 visual identities (ivory, dark-editor, chalk, paper, retro, spotlight, lcd, pixel)
├── layout.ts             # Layout presets (LANDSCAPE 1920×1080, PORTRAIT 1080×1920)
├── syntaxHighlight.ts    # Syntax tokenizer (tsx, ts, javascript, bash, markdown, css)
├── ExcalidrawCanvas.tsx  # 🧪 Beta — Hand-drawn diagram layer (rough.js + Virgil font)
├── TypewriterOverlay.tsx # 🧪 Beta — Excalidraw overlay mode (editor annotations 800×500)
├── drawing-types.ts      # 🧪 Beta — Drawing element types (rect, ellipse, arrow, line, text, etc.)
├── ExcalidrawDemo.tsx    # 🧪 Beta — System architecture diagram demo
├── ThemeShowcase.tsx     # Cycles all 8 themes (5s each, fade transitions)
├── Canvas5K.tsx          # 5K render wrapper (B-roll production)
├── EmojiPicker.tsx       # Emoji panel UI
├── ChineseDemo.tsx       # Chinese IME demo composition
├── Root.tsx              # Composition registry (1920×1080, 29.97fps)
├── emoji-catalog.json    # 50 curated emojis
└── pinyin-catalog.json   # ~180 pinyin→character mappings

public/
├── sounds/               # nk-cream WAVs (default) + holy-pandas/, cream-travel/, turquoise/ subdirs
├── fonts/                # Virgil.woff2 + GeistPixel-Square.woff2 + GeistPixel-Circle.woff2
└── background.png        # Your background image

Troubleshooting: Missing Assets

If npm run studio shows errors about missing files, the template may need asset recovery.

Missing Sound Packs

If public/sounds/holy-pandas/, cream-travel/, or turquoise/ directories are empty or missing:

# Clone the MechSim repo (source of all keyboard sounds)
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/cjlangan/MechSim.git /tmp/MechSim

# Copy row-based packs (holy-pandas has flat structure, others use press/ subdir)
rsync -av --include='*.mp3' --exclude='*' /tmp/MechSim/audio/holy-pandas/ public/sounds/holy-pandas/
rsync -av --include='*.mp3' --exclude='*' /tmp/MechSim/audio/cream-travel/press/ public/sounds/cream-travel/
rsync -av --include='*.mp3' --exclude='*' /tmp/MechSim/audio/turquoise/press/ public/sounds/turquoise/

# Verify (each should have 8 files: GENERIC_R0-R4.mp3 + ENTER.mp3 + SPACE.mp3 + BACKSPACE.mp3)
ls public/sounds/holy-pandas/ public/sounds/cream-travel/ public/sounds/turquoise/

# Clean up
rm -rf /tmp/MechSim

Missing Fonts

If themes fail to render text (LCD Terminal, Pixel Art) or Excalidraw shows wrong fonts:

Geist Pixel fonts (required by lcdTerminalTheme and pixelArtTheme):

# Download from Vercel's Geist font releases
curl -L -o /tmp/geist-pixel.zip "https://github.com/vercel/geist-font/releases/download/1.4.01/geist-font-1.4.01.zip"
unzip /tmp/geist-pixel.zip -d /tmp/geist-font
# Copy the pixel variants
cp /tmp/geist-font/GeistPixel/woff2/GeistPixel-Square.woff2 public/fonts/
cp /tmp/geist-font/GeistPixel/woff2/GeistPixel-Circle.woff2 public/fonts/
rm -rf /tmp/geist-font /tmp/geist-pixel.zip

Virgil font (required by ExcalidrawCanvas):

# Download from Excalidraw's CDN
curl -L -o public/fonts/Virgil.woff2 "https://unpkg.com/@excalidraw/[email protected]/dist/prod/Virgil.woff2"

Missing nk-cream Sounds

If the default per-letter WAVs are missing (keya.wav through keyz.wav):

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/cjlangan/MechSim.git /tmp/MechSim
# nk-cream uses letter-named files (a.wav → key_a.wav)
for f in /tmp/MechSim/audio/nk-cream/[a-z].wav; do
  letter=$(basename "$f" .wav)
  cp "$f" "public/sounds/key_${letter}.wav"
done
cp /tmp/MechSim/audio/nk-cream/space.wav /tmp/MechSim/audio/nk-cream/enter.wav /tmp/MechSim/audio/nk-cream/backspace.wav public/sounds/
rm -rf /tmp/MechSim