How to Make Editable Rolling Credits for XPression in Rundown Creator

If you’ve ever wanted to automate editable rolling credits for your broadcast or live production workflow using Ross XPression, this tutorial shows you how. This capability requires both the free Rundown Creator XPression plugin and the Studio version of Ross XPression (as the latter supports scripting).

This setup allows producers and editors to quickly modify credits directly in Rundown Creator, then have those updates automatically sync into XPression — with live-preview and edit capabilities right in the Sequencer.

In XPression (Layout Mode): Creating the Scene Group

Follow these steps to prepare your project for rolling credits.

1. Open your project
2. Switch to Layout Mode
3. Create a new Scene Group and name it CREDITS
4. Set the Scene Group Effect to Roll
   • Direction: Bottom to Top
   • Suggested Speed: 5.000
     
5. (Optional) Select Blank Page on Start and Treat Last Page as Full
6. Create a layer object
7. Add a text object to that layer object and name it Names
   
8. Assign your desired credits font to this text object
9. Create a new Scene and drop it into the Scene Group
   
10. Press F2 and rename the scene to NAMES
    
11. Add a text object called Credits and assign your scene font
    
12. Right-click on the scene and select Edit Script Events
    
13. Add the following script:
    

Dim Crawl as xpSceneGroup
Self.GetParent(Crawl)

Dim ParentText, Text as xpTextObject
Crawl.GetObjectByName("NAMES", ParentText)
Self.GetObjectByName("CREDITS", Text)

Text.Text = ParentText.Text

14. Save Changes
15. Start the Rundown Creator XPression Plugin
    

In Rundown Creator: Building the Editable Credit Script

1. Log into Rundown Creator
2. Open the Script Editor
3. Insert the following:

<xpression
	id=""
	scene="CREDITS"
	Names="

4. Enter your list of names and positions, for example:

Executive Producer:
Name Here

Director:
Name Here

Technical Director:
Name Here

5. Close the command by adding:

">

6. Save and Close
   
   

You’re Done!

Your credit scroll will now appear within your show’s imported group of graphics on the Sequencer side of XPression.

Any changes made in Rundown Creator will automatically update once saved.

Bonus Tip: Editable Preview and Styling

When you click on your rolling credit item in the Sequencer, the published text item is editable — just like any other text field. You’ll also see a visual preview in the preview monitor (this is what you initially created in the first scene of the Scene Group).

To stylize your preview to match your on-air look:

• Copy the text object from the scene NAMES
• Rename it from Credits to Names

If you’d like to include a sponsor graphic or logo (like in theatrical credits), simply:

• Create an additional scene
• Drop it onto the same CREDITS Scene Group
• Add your logo or artwork