Build a reusable YouTube intro and save it as a template

Build a channel intro once and every later video can open with the same one. This recipe makes the intro, then saves it as a template you can drop into any project.

Build the intro

1. Create a project and open Aspect ratio. Choose Widescreen, labeled YouTube.
2. Give the intro a background. Upload a short clip or a logo image from Media, or generate a background in AI Gen under Image, which spends credits. Put it on the main track.
3. Set the length of the intro. Select the background, open Trim and drag Trim end. A still image stretches as far as you need. A video clip can run as long as its own file.
4. Press T, open Text in the right panel (or double-click the title in the preview) and replace "Your text" with your channel name.

Keep the intro short. It sits in front of every video, and a long one costs viewers' patience each time.

Style the title

1. Select the title. Open Font, Size and Color in the right panel and set the look. Outline and Shadow keep the text readable over a busy background.
2. Open Animate, choose an in animation for the arrival and an out animation for the exit, and set the Length of each.
3. Open Text and find Styles. Press Save style, name it, and press Save. The look is stored as a chip, so you can apply it to any title in any project with one click.

Add an effect and a sound

1. Open Effects and look under Moving. Drag Glitch or Light leak onto the timeline over the moment the title lands.
2. Open Sound FX, search the Library for "impact", and click + to add a hit at the playhead. Move the playhead to the moment the title appears before you click.
3. Press Space to play the whole intro and adjust the timing until the picture, the effect and the sound land together.

Save it as a template

1. Select every item in the intro. Click one, then Shift-click or ⌘-click the others: the background, the title, the effect and the sound.
2. In the timeline toolbar, click the button whose tooltip reads Save the selection as a reusable template. In a narrow window it is Save template in the Timeline tools menu.
3. Open Media. The template appears as a card at the top of Assets, with its length and the number of items. Click the card to expand it and see what it holds.

A template keeps its media by reference. Adding it back puts editable clips, titles and effects on the timeline, so you can change the video title in each new project.

Reuse it in the next video

1. In the card's menu, choose Add to Library. The template is now available to every project.
2. In a new project, open Media, switch to Library, hover over the template and click + (Add to this project).
3. The template lands at the playhead, so move the playhead to where the intro should start before you click. Once a template is in a project's Assets list, its + reads Add to timeline.

Update the title text and you are ready to record.

Put it to work

Open DepCut, build the intro once and save it for every video that follows.