Subtitles

Matt Brabender · November 16th, 2005, 11:44 PM

The boss has told everyone it's a simple case of bringing me videos and subtitle scripts to have all of their language training videos subtitled.

oh dear :(

I've done the odd sentence here and there and an endless amount of titles, but never proper subtitling. Is there an easy way to do them, other than inserting generated text onto the timeline and then matching up the timing?

Surely there's an easier way.
Do I need a 3rd party plug-in or different piece of software.

Douglas Spotted Eagle · November 16th, 2005, 11:48 PM

http://www.vasst.com/product.aspx?id...e-c510a01b4d3f Subtext tool might help you.

Matt Brabender · November 17th, 2005, 04:02 AM

Thanks, I'll try it and see how we get along.
Apart from using that, is the way I was doing it the same way others do it?

Tony Rockliff · November 17th, 2005, 11:16 AM

I also got fed up with the incredibly time-consuming process of inserting subtitles by hand and this subtext program looked like a godsend. Unfortunately I could never get it to work and it comes with no instructions or help info. If you have any luck figuring it out, please let me know what you did. Thanks. And yes, what you are doing is how I do it until I find a better, faster way.

John Rofrano · November 17th, 2005, 12:57 PM

First, my apologies for SubText not having any documentation. This is on our todo list. ;-)

For creating subtitles you can use SubText in two ways. Both involve having a text file that has one subtitle sentence on each line of the file. This is good for sending out to translators and having them return it with the translated text.

The first option is to create regions from events. SubText will import each line of the file and create a region around each event on the selected track. What you have to do to prepare for this is to split your events into sentence sized chunks before running SubText. So every time someone speaks a line, make a split just before it and that’s where SubText will place the subtitle.

The second option is to have SubText use the existing regions on the timeline. This gives you more control over the start and stop time of the subtitle. To prepare for this, create a region on the timeline every time someone says a line. Have the region’s length be the duration that you want the subtitle to remain on the screen. Then run Subtext and point to your TXT file that contains the actual subtitle text and SubText will label the regions with the subtitle text.

After using either of these options, you can use the second tab in SubText to generate the .SUB file that DVD Architect needs to create the real subtitles on the DVD.

If you are creating subtitles for several languages, then the second options is best. You place you regions once, and then run SubText with each of the translated language files and save them as DVDA .sub files.

Does this explanation help?

~jr

Tony Rockliff · November 17th, 2005, 01:19 PM

Thank you John, this helps a great deal! A couple of questions:

1) I don't use DVD Architect, I frameserve to Procoder or TMPGEnc and then author in DVD Lab Pro (which I believe accepts .SUB files). Do you happen to know if DVD Lab Pro will accept the .SUB files that SubText generates?

2) How/where do I control how the subtitles look - i.e. what font and color they use, dropshadow, screen placement etc.?

Thanks,

Tony

Harry Marr · November 17th, 2005, 02:06 PM

i don't think that you can change the font, etc of the subtitles. i'm not sure but i think that the DVD player just reads the text and overlays the subtitles in its own font.

Tony Rockliff · November 17th, 2005, 02:12 PM

Well I think I've answered my own questions. Where I'd adjust the font size, color, dropshadow etc. is in the subtitle editor in DVDLab Pro (works fine on its own internally generated subtitles).

But I just tried an experiment using Subtext and it worked fine to add the subtitles to the regions in Vegas and then I generated the .sub file.

Unfortunately, while DVDLab Pro sees the subtext .sub file and has an import .sub option, when I import the .sub file no subtitles are imported :)

Oh well, so close...

John Rofrano · November 17th, 2005, 02:34 PM

Tony, I didn’t think that DVDLab Pro uses the same SUB format as DVDA and you have proved that. I'll try and find documentation on their format and will look into adding that capability to a future version of SubText.

~jr

Tony Rockliff · November 17th, 2005, 03:09 PM

Thanks John, that would be very useful indeed as there are a number of us who prefer DVDLab Pro. It can import .sub, .srt, ssa, .son and .sst subtitle files if that's any help.

Tony

Matt Brabender · November 17th, 2005, 04:35 PM

Thanks everyone

That gives me plenty to go on - damn this forum is good.

Emre Safak · September 24th, 2006, 07:20 PM

Is it possible to convert a SRT file to a DVD Architect Subtitle script?

November 16th, 2005, 11:44 PM	#1
Matt Brabender Major Player Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 230	Subtitles - how? The boss has told everyone it's a simple case of bringing me videos and subtitle scripts to have all of their language training videos subtitled. oh dear :( I've done the odd sentence here and there and an endless amount of titles, but never proper subtitling. Is there an easy way to do them, other than inserting generated text onto the timeline and then matching up the timing? Surely there's an easier way. Do I need a 3rd party plug-in or different piece of software.

November 16th, 2005, 11:48 PM	#2
Douglas Spotted Eagle VASST Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Stockton, UT Posts: 5,648	http://www.vasst.com/product.aspx?id...e-c510a01b4d3f Subtext tool might help you. __________________ Douglas Spotted Eagle/Spot Author, producer, composer Certified Sony Vegas Trainer http://www.vasst.com

November 17th, 2005, 12:57 PM	#5
John Rofrano Sponsor: VASST Join Date: May 2005 Location: New York Posts: 516	First, my apologies for SubText not having any documentation. This is on our todo list. ;-) For creating subtitles you can use SubText in two ways. Both involve having a text file that has one subtitle sentence on each line of the file. This is good for sending out to translators and having them return it with the translated text. The first option is to create regions from events. SubText will import each line of the file and create a region around each event on the selected track. What you have to do to prepare for this is to split your events into sentence sized chunks before running SubText. So every time someone speaks a line, make a split just before it and that’s where SubText will place the subtitle. The second option is to have SubText use the existing regions on the timeline. This gives you more control over the start and stop time of the subtitle. To prepare for this, create a region on the timeline every time someone says a line. Have the region’s length be the duration that you want the subtitle to remain on the screen. Then run Subtext and point to your TXT file that contains the actual subtitle text and SubText will label the regions with the subtitle text. After using either of these options, you can use the second tab in SubText to generate the .SUB file that DVD Architect needs to create the real subtitles on the DVD. If you are creating subtitles for several languages, then the second options is best. You place you regions once, and then run SubText with each of the translated language files and save them as DVDA .sub files. Does this explanation help? ~jr __________________ Developer: VASST Ultimate S, Scattershot 3D, Mayhem, FASST Apps, and other VASST Software plug-ins Web Site: www.johnrofrano.com

November 17th, 2005, 02:34 PM	#9
John Rofrano Sponsor: VASST Join Date: May 2005 Location: New York Posts: 516	Tony, I didn’t think that DVDLab Pro uses the same SUB format as DVDA and you have proved that. I'll try and find documentation on their format and will look into adding that capability to a future version of SubText. ~jr __________________ Developer: VASST Ultimate S, Scattershot 3D, Mayhem, FASST Apps, and other VASST Software plug-ins Web Site: www.johnrofrano.com

September 24th, 2006, 07:20 PM	#12
Emre Safak Trustee Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Brookline, MA Posts: 1,447	Is it possible to convert a SRT file to a DVD Architect Subtitle script? Last edited by Emre Safak; September 24th, 2006 at 07:53 PM.

November 17th, 2005, 04:02 AM	#3
Matt Brabender Major Player Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 230	Thanks, I'll try it and see how we get along. Apart from using that, is the way I was doing it the same way others do it?

November 17th, 2005, 11:16 AM	#4
Tony Rockliff Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Dunedin, Florida Posts: 70	I also got fed up with the incredibly time-consuming process of inserting subtitles by hand and this subtext program looked like a godsend. Unfortunately I could never get it to work and it comes with no instructions or help info. If you have any luck figuring it out, please let me know what you did. Thanks. And yes, what you are doing is how I do it until I find a better, faster way.

November 17th, 2005, 01:19 PM	#6
Tony Rockliff Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Dunedin, Florida Posts: 70	Thank you John, this helps a great deal! A couple of questions: 1) I don't use DVD Architect, I frameserve to Procoder or TMPGEnc and then author in DVD Lab Pro (which I believe accepts .SUB files). Do you happen to know if DVD Lab Pro will accept the .SUB files that SubText generates? 2) How/where do I control how the subtitles look - i.e. what font and color they use, dropshadow, screen placement etc.? Thanks, Tony

November 17th, 2005, 02:06 PM	#7
Harry Marr New Boot Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 10	i don't think that you can change the font, etc of the subtitles. i'm not sure but i think that the DVD player just reads the text and overlays the subtitles in its own font.

November 17th, 2005, 02:12 PM	#8
Tony Rockliff Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Dunedin, Florida Posts: 70	Well I think I've answered my own questions. Where I'd adjust the font size, color, dropshadow etc. is in the subtitle editor in DVDLab Pro (works fine on its own internally generated subtitles). But I just tried an experiment using Subtext and it worked fine to add the subtitles to the regions in Vegas and then I generated the .sub file. Unfortunately, while DVDLab Pro sees the subtext .sub file and has an import .sub option, when I import the .sub file no subtitles are imported :) Oh well, so close...

November 17th, 2005, 03:09 PM	#10
Tony Rockliff Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Dunedin, Florida Posts: 70	Thanks John, that would be very useful indeed as there are a number of us who prefer DVDLab Pro. It can import .sub, .srt, ssa, .son and .sst subtitle files if that's any help. Tony

November 17th, 2005, 04:35 PM	#11
Matt Brabender Major Player Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 230	Thanks everyone That gives me plenty to go on - damn this forum is good.