questions about how to create switched subtitles

[leper]

Hi, I have a slight problem and I thought I'd ask you guys here at the forum. I've tried looking through some guides for creating switched (multiple choice) subtitles but I can't seem to find a solution that fits my needs. This is my problem:

I'm creating self made film, using game engines as input. It's commonly called machinima btw. Anyway, these films are recorded using the program called Fraps. The films are then post processed, edited, cut, resized and whatnot, so in the end, they don't comply to any dvd standards or anything like that. But that is not my goal either, I want to distribute them over a webpage anyway, using an xvid codec or similar. I would, however, like to give my viewers the option of downloading subtitles to these films and since I want to have subtitling in different languages, the obvious solution would be to use some kind of switched subtitle file, just like those that can be found on dvd's.

Now, the guides I've been looking at are all explaining how to create a new dvd with switched subtitles, or a svcd with switched subtitles, but this is not what I want. I don't want to burn it to a dvd, I just want the user to download a file and then use vobsub to have it subtitled as the film plays.

My question is therefore, is it possible to create such switched subtitles that will fit my purpose? Is there some tool that will help me out?

I did learn how to create the different subtitles, using MaestroSBT, but I haven't figured out how to put them all into one file. I know you can use DVDMaestro, but since my film isn't dvd-compliant that way would prove very time consuming. I'd have to first convert my xvid to mpg, resize it to fit dvd standards, compile a new dvd and then extract the subtitles from the dvd. There must be a quicker way to do this, or is there not?

I'm looking forward to some input here. Thanks / leper.

[mats.hogberg]

Take a look at SubStation Alpha. That will produce subs in .ssa format. IIRC, VobSub can render .ssa files, if not it's easy to convert .ssa to a format VobSub handles. What's left, is to name the sub the same as the AVI (except for the extension) and put it in the same dir as the avi. Now, when the avi is played, VobSub will display the subs on the AVI.

/Mats

[Baldrick]

or use Subtitle Workshop and make srt subs.

[leper]

Take a look at SubStation Alpha. That will produce subs in .ssa format. IIRC, VobSub can render .ssa files, if not it's easy to convert .ssa to a format VobSub handles. What's left, is to name the sub the same as the AVI (except for the extension) and put it in the same dir as the avi. Now, when the avi is played, VobSub will display the subs on the AVI.

/Mats

Ah yes, but does .ssa handle multiple language/subtitles in the same file, or do I have to create seperate ones for each language? And if I have to create seperate ones, how do I fix it easily so that the users won't have to rename files or anything like that.

[mats.hogberg]

No, no subtitle format (that I know of) handles multiple languages in the same file. In the case of DVd they are seprate files, that gets muxed as separate streams.
You could provide several links to your AVI (AVI with Turkish subs | AVI with Swedish subs | Etc...) and deliver them in prepackaged ZIPs. You might even take a look at the Matroska container format - I wouldn't be surprised if it supports selectable subs - But I think it requires some special player...

/Mats