To get the parsed text without BBCode you’ll need to use RichTextLabel.get_parsed_text()
To add delay/ silence to spaces and other characters I create an Animation at runtime and play that animation. Example:
extends Node
## The speed at which the text animation will play
@export var playback_speed = 1.5
## The speead at which each character will appear
@export var char_speed = 0.08
## The long stop delay
@export var long_stop_delay = 0.4
## The long stop characters
@export var long_stop_chars = [".", "?", "!"]
## The short stop delay
@export var short_stop_delay = 0.2
## The short stop characters
@export var short_stop_chars = [",", ";", ":"]
@onready var rich_text_label: RichTextLabel = $RichTextLabel
@onready var animation_player: AnimationPlayer = $AnimationPlayer
@onready var audio_stream_player: AudioStreamPlayer = $AudioStreamPlayer
func _ready() -> void:
rich_text_label.bbcode_enabled = true
rich_text_label.visible_characters_behavior = TextServer.VC_CHARS_AFTER_SHAPING
display("[b][wave]Hello![/wave][/b] How are you? I'm fine, I guess. I can play sounds!!! [rainbow]YAY![/rainbow]")
await animation_player.animation_finished
await get_tree().create_timer(2).timeout
display("Another sentence I can say, I'm not sure what else to say. What do you think?")
func display(text:String) -> void:
# Stop the current animation
animation_player.stop()
# Reset the visible characters to 0 and set the text to be displayed
rich_text_label.visible_characters = 0
rich_text_label.text = text
var animation = _generate_animation(rich_text_label.get_parsed_text())
# If the animation player does not have a global animation library, create one
if not animation_player.has_animation_library(""):
animation_player.add_animation_library("", AnimationLibrary.new())
var library = animation_player.get_animation_library("")
# remove the old animation if it exists
if library.has_animation("play_text"):
library.remove_animation("play_text")
# Add the new animation
library.add_animation("play_text", animation)
# Set the speed of the animation
animation_player.speed_scale = playback_speed
animation_player.play("play_text")
func play_sound(idx:int, char:String):
audio_stream_player.play()
func _generate_animation(text:String) -> Animation:
# Create a new animation with 2 tracks, one for the visible_characters and one for the play_sound()
var animation = Animation.new()
var track_index = animation.add_track(Animation.TYPE_VALUE)
var sound_index = animation.add_track(Animation.TYPE_METHOD)
animation.track_set_path(track_index, "%s:visible_characters" % get_path_to(rich_text_label))
animation.track_set_path(sound_index, get_path_to(self))
# For each character check if it should skip the sound and add a delay
# if the current character is inside one of the short/long characters array and if the next is a space
var time = 0.0
for i in text.length():
var current_char = text[i]
var next_char = null
if i < text.length() - 1:
next_char = text[i+1]
var skip_sound = false
if current_char == " ":
skip_sound = true
var delay = char_speed
if next_char and next_char == " ":
if current_char in short_stop_chars:
delay = short_stop_delay
skip_sound = true
elif current_char in long_stop_chars:
delay = long_stop_delay
skip_sound = true
animation.track_insert_key(track_index, time, i+1)
if not skip_sound:
animation.track_insert_key(sound_index, time, {"method": "play_sound", "args": [i, current_char]})
time += delay
# Set the final time to the animation
animation.length = time
return animation
Result