Text
Category:
AddIn:
Scope:
Code Snippets:
Supports Material List:
Status Screen Widgets:
License:
Visual Stimuli
Base Elements
Local
no
no
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Standard EventIDE license
In this article:
Introduction
The Text element displays text blocks on the experiment’s stimulus screen, making it ideal for presenting instructions, messages, and trial feedback.
It provides a variety of formatting options — including font type, size, weight, color, and alignment — and supports runtime text changes for adaptive, data-driven experiments.
The element is highly customizable: you can apply transparency, rotation, scaling, positional jitter, and visual effects like blurring or pixelation to the rendered text.
Key Features
Multi-line text display with customizable font, size, weight, and style.
Horizontal alignment options for precise layout control.
Auto-resizing text area for dynamically changing content.
Supports all standard EventIDE visual effects (color masking, pixelation, blurring, scrambling).
Positional jitter to prevent visual habituation.
Runtime property control for fully adaptive experiments.
Alpha masking for creating transparent text cutouts in the stimulus area.
Hardware-accelerated rendering for smooth display updates.
Properties
Name | Description | Property Class | Type |
Text Settings | |||
Text | Type your text here. Use Enter to start a new line | General | String |
Font Color | Color of the text | General | stColor |
Auto Size | Automatically resize the rendering area when text changes | General | Boolean |
Font | Select a font from the list | General | String |
Font Size | Font size when Auto Size mode is on | General | Double |
Weight | Font weight | General | Int32 |
Style | Font style | General | Int32 |
Text Alignment | Horizontal text alignment inside the text area | Design | TextAl.. |
Visual Appearance | |||
AntiAliasing | Smooth text edges when true; pixel-accurate rendering when false | General | Boolean |
Alpha Masking | Use text content as an opacity mask on the event surface | Design | Int32 |
Position | Position of the rendering viewport on the screen | General | clPoint |
Size | Size of the rendering viewport | General | clSize |
Z Order | Z-order of the element in the event | Status | Int32 |
Pivot Point | Alignment of pivot point for rotation and scaling | General | stAlig.. |
Visible | Whether the element is visible | General | Boolean |
Rotation | Rotation angle in degrees | General | Double |
Effects | |||
Transparent Color | Pixel color to make transparent | General | stColor |
Transparent Tolerance | Tolerance for transparency color selection | General | Int32 |
Color Mask | Apply multiplicative color overlay | General | stColor |
Opacity | Opacity of the rendered content | General | Int32 |
Contrast | Contrast adjustment | General | Int32 |
Brightness | Brightness adjustment | General | Int32 |
Saturation | Saturation adjustment | General | Double |
Pixelation | Pixelation level | General | Int32 |
Blurring | Gaussian blur radius in pixels | General | Int32 |
Scrambling | Proportion of scrambled voxels | General | Double |
Scrambling Grid Size | Dimensions of scrambling grid | General | clSize |
Positional Jitter | |||
Reset Jitter Now | Reset the positional jitter | Runtime Command | Boolean |
Current Jitter | Current jitter offset | Status | clPoint |
Jitter Range | Maximum jitter range, centered on position | General | clSize |
Test Jitter | Test current jitter settings | Design | Boolean |
Control | |||
Is Enabled | If false, element is omitted at runtime | Design | Boolean |
Title | Title of the element | Design | String |
Practical Use
The Text element renders a text area within the event’s viewport.
The text can contain multiple lines (created with Enter in the Text's viewpoint), and the rendering area can be set manually or automatically resized using Auto Size.
Text formatting is controlled via properties such as Font, Font Size, Weight, Style, and Text Alignment.
Because the Text element supports runtime property changes, you can update displayed text in real time — for example, showing feedback after a participant’s response, displaying countdown timers, or adapting instructions based on performance.
Examples
Pre-trial instructions – Show a block of instructions before a trial begins.
Real-time feedback – Display “Correct” or “Incorrect” after participant responses.
Scoreboards & timers – Update text dynamically to reflect accumulated score or countdown time.
Stimulus labeling – Overlay short text labels alongside visual stimuli.
Adaptive testing – Change displayed content based on variables, responses, or external signals.