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Sci-Fi Cockpit Title Card — End-to-End Example

A complete, reproducible example of a "sci-fi cockpit HUD" title card: neon outlined text, soft glow, a faint micro-grid overlay, and thin accent bars. The finished output is a transparent PNG you drop into ForgeAssembler as a segment.

This doc is still novice-friendly — every step tells you exactly what to click — but the result is more elaborate than the white-on-transparent and black-cutout starter cards. Read one of those first if this is your first time in Figma.

What you'll build

A single title card, exported at one or more of ForgeAssembler's supported resolutions, with:

  • Transparent background
  • Large bold title text with a cyan neon outline
  • Soft cyan drop-shadow glow around the text
  • Faint micro-grid overlay across the frame (optional)
  • Magenta accent bars above and below the title (optional)

What you need

  • A free Figma account: figma.com.
  • A web browser.
  • 30–45 minutes.

Step 1 — Create a new Figma file

  1. Sign in and click + Design file on your dashboard.
  2. Rename the file at top-left to Title Cards — Sci-Fi Cockpit.

Step 2 — Create a frame at your target resolution

  1. Press F (Frame tool).
  2. In the right sidebar, set W and H to your target pixel size from the table below.
  3. Click on the canvas to drop the frame.
  4. Rename it in the Layers panel — e.g. SciFi / 1920x1080.
  5. Remove the frame's fill: in the right sidebar Fill section, click the eye icon to hide it (we want transparency).

ForgeAssembler resolutions

Name in ForgeAssembler Width × Height Aspect
1080p (default) 1920 × 1080 16:9
1440p 2560 × 1440 16:9
4k 3840 × 2160 16:9
uw_1080p 2560 × 1080 21:9 UltraWide
uw_1440p 3440 × 1440 21:9 UltraWide
4_3_hd 1440 × 1080 4:3
3_4_hd 1080 × 1440 3:4 portrait
9_16_hd 1080 × 1920 9:16 portrait

UltraWide and 16:9 sizes give you the most room for this HUD look. The portrait sizes work — just plan on more vertical stacking and smaller accent bars.

Step 3 — Define your color palette

These hex codes are the cockpit theme. You can paste them verbatim or adapt.

Name Hex Used for
Cyan Primary #00E5FF Title outline, glow, grid
Magenta Accent #FF2BF0 Accent bars, secondary highlights
HUD White #F2F2F2 Title fill color
Grid Cyan #00E5FF at 6–12% opacity Micro-grid lines

You'll apply these as Fills and Strokes on specific layers. No need to create Figma Color Styles unless you want to reuse them across many files.

Step 4 — Add the title text

  1. Press T (Text tool).
  2. Click near the center of the frame and type your title — NIGHT RUN, INTERCEPT, WILD RIDE, etc.
  3. In the right sidebar:
  4. Font: Inter (weight Bold or Black) works. Fancier picks: Orbitron or Rajdhani (both free on Google Fonts, added via Text styles → Browse fonts).
  5. Size:
    • 1080p → 180–240
    • 1440p → 240–320
    • 4k → 360–480
    • UltraWide sizes → 200–280
    • Portrait sizes → 140–200
  6. Alignment: Center.
  7. Letter spacing: bump slightly — around +20 to +40 units — for a more technical feel.
  8. Fill: #F2F2F2 (HUD White).

Center the text on the frame: select both text and frame (Shift + click), then use the alignment buttons in the right sidebar (Align horizontal centers, Align vertical centers).

Step 5 — Add the neon outline

  1. With the text selected, in the right sidebar scroll to Stroke.
  2. Click the + to add a stroke.
  3. Stroke color: #00E5FF (Cyan Primary).
  4. Stroke width:
  5. 1080p → 4–6 px
  6. 1440p → 6–8 px
  7. 4k → 8–12 px
  8. Scale proportionally for other sizes.
  9. Click the three-dot icon next to the stroke width to open stroke options. Set Position to Outside (looks best on title text).

The text should now look like bright white letters with a cyan edge.

Step 6 — Add the soft cyan glow

  1. With the text still selected, scroll to Effects in the right sidebar.
  2. Click + to add an effect. It defaults to Drop shadow.
  3. Click the sun icon next to it to open shadow settings:
  4. Color: #00E5FF at 40% opacity.
  5. X offset: 0
  6. Y offset: 0
  7. Blur: 12 (scale up for larger resolutions — try 24 for 4k).
  8. Spread: 0
  9. Click + again to add a second drop shadow (for a wider bloom):
  10. Color: #00E5FF at 20% opacity.
  11. Blur: 32 (or 64 for 4k).

Two stacked shadows give a close, intense glow plus a wider soft bloom.

Step 7 — Add magenta accent bars (optional)

Two thin bars — one above, one below the title — selling the HUD feel.

  1. Press R (Rectangle tool).
  2. Draw a thin rectangle across most of the frame width above the title. Size:
  3. Height: 4–8 px (scale up for 4k).
  4. Width: roughly 60–80% of the frame width.
  5. Fill: #FF2BF0 (Magenta Accent) at 100%.
  6. Add an Effect → Drop shadow:
  7. Color: #FF2BF0 at 30%
  8. Blur: 24
  9. Duplicate the bar (Ctrl/Cmd + D) and move the copy below the title.
  10. Use the alignment buttons to center both bars horizontally on the frame.

Tune vertical position so the bars frame the title without crowding.

Step 8 — Add the micro-grid overlay (optional)

The tiny cyan grid sells the cockpit aesthetic. It's time-consuming in Figma; skip this step for a first pass.

  1. Press R (Rectangle tool).
  2. Draw a 32 × 32 px square in a corner of the frame.
  3. Remove the fill (eye icon).
  4. Add a 1 px stroke, color #00E5FF, opacity 6%.
  5. Duplicate this square horizontally and vertically until it tiles across the frame. Figma's Ctrl/Cmd + D remembers the last duplicate direction and offset — use it after the second square to repeat along a row.
  6. Once one row is tiled, select the whole row, duplicate it downward and repeat.
  7. Group all grid squares (Ctrl/Cmd + G) and name the group Micro-Grid.
  8. Lock the group by clicking the lock icon in the Layers panel — now you can work on top of it without nudging it.

Faster alternative: use Figma's Layout grid feature on the frame. In the right sidebar under Layout grid, click + and add a Grid style with size 32 px and color #00E5FF at 6% opacity. This produces a visible grid in the editor but does not export with the frame. Use real rectangles if you want the grid baked into the PNG.

Step 9 — Export as a transparent PNG

  1. Click the frame in the Layers panel.
  2. In the right sidebar, scroll to Export and click +.
  3. Settings:
  4. Format: PNG
  5. Scale: 1x
  6. Click Export. Save as — for example — C:\Users\bruce\Videos\title_cards\nightrun_1080p.png.

Check the PNG in an image viewer: the background should be transparent, the title glowing cyan, the accent bars sharp, and the grid subtle (or absent if you skipped Step 8).

Step 10 — Use it in ForgeAssembler

A title card is just a segment whose video is a PNG.

Via the UI

  1. Launch ForgeAssembler.
  2. On the Build tab, click Add segment and point at the PNG.
  3. Set Still duration (seconds) — 3.0 is a solid default.
  4. Audio: pick Silence for a clean reveal, or Replace with file and point at an MP3/WAV sting.
  5. Add a fade_to_black joiner before and/or after for transitions.
  6. Forge.

Via project JSON

{
  "id": "seg-scifi-1",
  "type": "segment",
  "video": "C:/Users/bruce/Videos/title_cards/nightrun_1080p.png",
  "still_duration_s": 3.0,
  "audio": {
    "mode": "replace",
    "file": "C:/Users/bruce/Videos/title_cards/nightrun_sting.mp3"
  }
}

Notes on background

This card has a transparent background. ForgeAssembler Phase 1 treats the PNG as the segment's base video, so transparent areas become black in the output. That's usually exactly right for a cockpit title — the glow reads against black.

If you want the cockpit title over moving footage instead, flatten the PNG onto a still frame in an image tool before importing (see the black-cutout doc Step 9 for the same technique). True live overlay-on-video is a Phase 2 feature.

Step 11 — Make a reusable template (optional)

Once you like the result, lock in the styles for reuse:

  1. Group everything inside the frame (Ctrl/Cmd + G) and name the group TitleGroup.
  2. Select the frame and press Ctrl/Cmd + Alt + K to turn it into a component. Name it SciFi / 1920x1080.
  3. To make more titles at the same resolution: drag the component out of the Assets panel (left sidebar), then double-click the text inside the instance and type a new title. The stroke, glow, and grid stay consistent.
  4. For other resolutions, duplicate the component, resize the frame, and rescale text/stroke/glow proportionally.

Troubleshooting

  • Text looks flat, no glow. Effects aren't enabled. Go back to Step 6 and confirm both drop shadows are added and visible (click the eye icon in the Effect row if needed).
  • Stroke is inside the letters, not outside. You missed Step 5's "Position: Outside" setting. Click the three-dot icon next to the stroke width.
  • PNG exports with a color background. The frame's fill wasn't removed in Step 2. Fix the fill on the frame (not the text).
  • Glow is cut off at the frame edges. Your glow blur extends beyond the frame's bounds. Either reduce the blur or add padding by resizing the frame larger.
  • Micro-grid is visible in Figma but missing from export. You used the Layout Grid feature (which doesn't export). Redo with actual rectangles (Step 8).