Subtitles in Scenarist

[stk]

hello...

i was wondering if anyone knows a guide for adding selectable subtitles in Scenarist...


i donwload MaestroSBT (wich i read somewhere i need it for converting the subtitles to Scenarist)


but that all i know....
i've read the guide that come with Scenarist a few times, but its very confusing..

so basically i want a step by step indication of what do i have to do..
or maybe a guide somewhere...


that would help me a lot


thanks

-StK

[stk]

anyone?

[SLICK RICK]

Did you ever stop and think maybe no one here can help you?

SLICK RICK

[budz]

Try using DOOMS guide.
http://www.doom9.org/index.html?/mpg/dvd2one.htm
I saw some guides for using scenarist.

[ubiquity]

what do you mean by selectable subtitles?

you can indeed add subs in scenarist which is a very boring process.
but someone has to do it.!

first
1. read the manual
2. a subtitle consists of a subpicture layer associated with a mpeg file in a track.
3. you need to create the subpicture layer and choose a language for it.
3. open the preview window
4. choose de subtitle edit mode (button with a magenta square and a 'T')
5. in the simulation window write the time code you want the sub to start
6. insert the subtitle pressing the 'T+' button (3rd button in the preview window left corner)
7. write the text
8. repeat steps 5 to 7 to create other subtitles.

you can adjust its duration and style in
edit object\subpicture and highlight\advanced effects

you can also import a subtitle script file

[The_Pioneer]

hello...

i was wondering if anyone knows a guide for adding selectable subtitles in Scenarist...
-StK

In the User Manual (for V 2.7), pages 48-52 & 116-120.

If you don't understand the manual you should be using a different program to create your dvd's. Scenarist has arguably the best manual for any software I've ever used - given the power of the program that is. I'm not suggesting that 11 year olds are going to be using it anytime soon.

[stk]

Hi again


first, thanks budz and ubiquity...

budz, thanks i've serch DOOMS guide for scenarist but its a "how to re-author a commercial dvd) and it dont explain nothing about subtitles...

ubiquity, by selectable subtitles i mean, subtitles that can be turn on or off...

thanks for the pointers by the way

i've already add subtitles that way... (writing the subs manually) (wich is a very boring process as you said) and by the way i've read the manual a few times..



for "The_Pioneer"
i do understard the manual...
i've done a lot of things already, i've created a few dvds, but the "only" part i dont understand yet is the "sublayer/subpictures" part...
I really thing Daikin should rewrite their manual for that part.


well back to the subtitles...


what i really want is to import a sub file (sub station alpha sub) to scenarist...

what I do:

1. With MaestroSBT i convert my .ssa to .sst (scenarist sub)
2. Generate the bitmaps (i use, WIndows BMP 4 Bits) with MaestroSBT
3. Import the script and the bitmaps to scenarist
4. Author & burn the dvd

all work fine...
i can play my dvd with the selectable subtitles but...


the colors look weird...

they look red, almost unreadable...

the question basically is why is this happening?, how can i set the colors?


thanks

[ubiquity]

"the colors look weird!
right!
"
So:
when you export the bmp's for the subtitles in maestro
leave the color scheme as it is. And ensure that 'sticky colors' are turned on. (sticky colors will overwrite the colors from 'style' but do choose the font and font size) The file will be outputted as you say weird (blue, red, black and white, as in "E2, E1, P, B" in scenarist)
When making a new file in scenarist choose the color convertion as you want. When you import the subttitles. They'll change.

whish you luck beucause you'll need a lot of tryouts to make it right!

[stk]

WoW

that's fast!

i'll give it a try

thanks a lot!

[The_Pioneer]

for "The_Pioneer"
i do understard the manual...
i've done a lot of things already, i've created a few dvds, but the "only" part i dont understand yet is the "sublayer/subpictures" part...
I really thing Daikin should rewrite their manual for that part.

I was a little harsh with my comments - probably had a bad day.

I don't use subtitles so it wasn't exactly fair for me to comment. I took a look at the particular chapters and you're not wrong in saying that it could be explained better.

Maybe you'll be telling me how to do it when I come to the forum sometime in the future!

[SaSi]

@The_Pioneer,

I must argue your comment that Scenarist has one of the best manuals ever written. I have read it from cover to cover quite a few times and have written several thousands of pages of application s/w manuals myself. I believe I am in a position to claim that whoever wrote the manual just explained the obvious about commands and options and left out the essence.

@stk,
Regarding subpictures:

You're on the right track with what you are doing. Having spent endless nights and days reading and experimenting, may I suggest a couple of shortcuts:

a. Create a small 5 minute video segment with appropriate subpictures and work with this. Scenarist will be much faster compiling every experiment you make. You will have to make quite a few until you understand the process. You can use PowerDVD or whatever to verify coloru schemes.

b. Before you make things right willingly (not by accident), you need to understand the colour palette and colour map issues on the DVD authoring.
You will need this both for subpictures and for menu creation, as button behaviour is around the same subpicture colour schemes.

The idea of the colour mapping is that the subpictures use 4 separate monochromatic colours to define areas. Scenarist processes these colours and converts them to other, depending on the colour map you use.

In general, when you generate subtitles with MaestroSBT for Scenarist and use the defaults and create a new scenario in Scenarist and use the default palette, you should not have any problems.

In subtitles, you could use just two colours. White for the background and black, red, blue or whatever for the letters. You could then map (within scenarist or in the subtitle script file) the letter colour into white so that you get white letters and map white into transparent so that you get white letters on transparent background - the movie.

This has problems, as letters appear flat and don't look positively well on bright scenes.

To counter this, we are given the opportunity to define the character outline.

If you have white letters with black outline on a transparent background, letters are very legible.

The problem now is visual. They will look pixelated and awfull.

For this reason, a third colour is introduced, to manage anti-alias. This is something added between the characters and their outline, softening the outline of each character.

MaestroSBT does a fine job in rendering the script (SSA script) into 4 colour BMPs. You just need to make colour mapping in the Scenarist subpicture script correct.

I will try to dig out my notes on that and post them.

Good luck.

[freestyler]

no more daikin, sonic bought them out quite a few years ago

[The_Pioneer]

@The_Pioneer,

I must argue your comment that Scenarist has one of the best manuals ever written. I have read it from cover to cover quite a few times and have written several thousands of pages of application s/w manuals myself. I believe I am in a position to claim that whoever wrote the manual just explained the obvious about commands and options and left out the essence.

Fair enough but the Manual does allow someone with little understanding, to create DVD's of a high quality. Perhaps I should withold my opinion until I actually start using more of the functions of the program.