------------------------------------------ SubTitler - Demo Release v2.02 (c) 1996-1997 Ott M. Aaloe Release date 13. October 1997 ------------------------------------------ This document tries to explain in brief all functions and features of the SubTitler. In order to understand it all you should at lease have some basic knowledge of the Amiga and video work. In this doc you will find a term 'VTR Mode' - this means the mode where Time Code is read from RS-232 (i.e. from VTR). For quick start, you could load the demo subtitle file that came with SubTitler and play it back with Player mode to get the basic idea of what the SubTitler is, and what it is not capable of. NB! Some parts of the SubTitler (especially Displayer mode and functions connected with external Time Code) won't work exactly like described here. For example, in Player mode, if VTR mode is used, normally subtitles are synced to the external timecode (and also this docs claims it) but due to fact that this IS a limited demo version syncing is not actually possible. So in other words all features described here work in full version but *may* not work with demo. 1. Installation and Setup 1.1. Connecting Amiga to VTR Amiga is connected to the VTR with standard serial cable. Be sure to turn the power off before you connect the devices to each other. There are two different methods depending on the VTR you're using. The following table illustrates cables for Sony and Panasonic. Amiga Sony Panasonic 1 1 1 2 3 2 3 2 3 Pin # 4 N/C 4 5 N/C 5 6 20 6 20 6 N/C 7 7 7 As you can see, the main difference is that Sony uses flipped TXD/RXD and DSR/DTR. So you just have to be sure which cable you need, otherwise your Amiga won't receive any data from your VTR. 1.2. Installing the SubTitler software If you don't have Hard Disk, copy all files from archive to a disk and start SubTitler by just booting from it (NB! You should have diskfont.library and reqtools library also on that disk). Otherwise you should install SubTitler to Hard Disk by running HDInstall script. The installation procedure is quite simple. Just follow the onscreen instructions (such as where and what to install). 1.3. Setting up Setup can be altered by opening a menu with the 'Right Mouse Button' from the upper left corner of the screen and choosing your desired menu item. As Setup is saved to SubTitler.info file there is also the possibility to change the setup manually. To read more about manual Setup editing and settings that can only be altered by editing SubTitler.info file, refer to Chapter 1.3.5. 1.3.1. Editor Setup Work dir Set the default directory for your subtitle files. Backup dir Set the default directory for your backup files. Backup level Set how many backups are made (0-5). Set 0 if backups are not needed. Editor warn Lets you specify how many characters can be shown in one, single row. If you enter more symbols than defined here then the editor outputs red coloured symbols instead standard black ones (to warn you that characters won't fit in row in displayer mode). 1.3.2. Displayer Setup Show preview If set, preview of the next page is shown during Recorder mode. Show Time Code If set, the current Time Code is shown during Recorder and Player mode. Center titles If set, all subtitles will be centered. Screen Mode Set screen mode for Displayer. Available modes are HiRes-4,HiRes-8, Super HiRes-4 and SuperHiRes-8 (Number means number of colors). Last mode available only on AGA Amigas. NB! Be sure to have enough free memory to use 'Super HiRes 8' mode as it requires ca 900K free Chip RAM. Select Font Set font for Displayer. Note that fonts that come with SubTitler are grouped as Standard and Super Hires (SH extension). So be sure you set the font according to your Displayer Screen mode. NB! Due to a technical reasons, in demo, you can choose font only from Tool Types (SubTitler.info file) 1.3.3. RS-232 Setup Enable Parity Checking If set parity checking is enabled. Odd Parity If set, Odd Parity is used. Otherwise Even Parity is used. Disable XON/XOFF If set, XON/XOFF is disabled. Set Baud Rate Set needed baud rate for serial (most devices work with 9600). Default settings for Sony and Panasonic are shown in following table: Menu Setting Sony Panasonic Enable Parity Checking Set Set Odd parity Unset Set Disable XON/XOFF Unset Set Baud Rate 9600 9600 NB! Sony uses 8 data bits while Panasonic uses 7. You should run 'Serial Preferences' to change this parameter (from SYS:Prefs drawer). 1.3.4. Time Code Setup Available Time Code modes follow: Simulated Choose, if you don't need external Time Code. Sony UVW For Sony Betacam VTR. Panasonic For Panasonic SVHS VTR. 1.3.5. Tool Types Overview All SubTitler settings are saved to SubTitler.info file. To change settings manually, go to WorkBench, click on the SubTitler Icon once and choose Icon > Information from WB's menu. NB! Settings marked with (*) can be changed only by hand. Overview of the Tool Types recognized by SubTitler: TITLEDIR = Default work directory. BACKUPDIR = Backup directory. PALETTEFILE = (*) Name of the file to load palette from. If file cannot be loaded default palette is used. CENTREX = Displayer's screen Center coordinate - all subtitle centering is aligned to this coordinate. DISPLAYERMODE = 1 - HiRes 4, 2- HiRes 8, 3-Super HiRes 4, 4-Super HiRes 8 DISPLAYERFONT = Name of the font for Displayer. DISPLAYERFONTSIZE = Displayer font size. LINEX = X coordinate of the subtitles. LINEY = Y coordinate of the first line. LINESPACE = Space between lines in pixels. LINEUPY = (*) Y coordinate of the first line if lineup effect ([1]) is used. PREVIEWX= = X coordinate of the Preview box in Displayer mode PREVIEWY= = Y coordinate of the Preview box in Displayer mode SHOWPREVIEW = TRUE / FALSE. Preview is shown in Displayer if set to TRUE. TIMECODEMODE = 0 - simulated, 1 - Sony, 2 - Panasonic. EDITWARNING = Number of visible characters in row. BACKUPLEVEL = number of backup levels. CENTRETITLES = TRUE / FALSE. All subtitles are centered if set to TRUE. SERIALBAUD = Baud rate for serial port. SERIALFLAGS = Settings for serial port. PICTUREDIR = (*) Default graphics directory. CLOSEWB = TRUE / FALSE. If set to TRUE SubTitler tries to Close WorkBench (too get more free memory). 2. Using SubTitler 2.1. Editor Text editing part consists of three fields. The middle one is the editable area, above and beneath it are preview sections. To edit the text, click to the middle area. Each page can have max three lines. Cursor can be moved around with the arrow keys or by clicking to your desired location. Pages can be scrolled up or down by clicking onto the upper or lower preview area of the editor, using slider gadget on the right of the editor area or using up and down arrow keys. Special effects can be achieved using special in-text commands: [1] Line is output to upper are of the screen [2] Starts Italic text. [3] Stops Italic text. [4] Line is centered. [5] Picture is loaded for background. To understand the in-text commands better study the demo subtitle file that comes with SubTitler. Note that the 'Line - up' effect ([1]) can be added by simply activating the gadget at the beginning of the line. You can add subtitles to the page even if effect [5] is used (i.e.: a picture is loaded for background). Obviously, the picture's palette is used so you just have to be sure that picture's and font's palette match. Also note that the effects [2] and [3] (italic text start/end) can be anywhere in text while effects like [1], [4] and [5] must be at the beginning of the line, effect [1] being the leftmost. So if the text has to be up and centered then just start the line with '[1][4]' and after the effects add the text itself. The printing of the subtitles in Displayer is adjusted in a way that that lowest line is always filled. So even if you enter text to the line 1 and 2 it will be output to the place of line 2 and 3. 2.1.1. Gadgets overview Load File Loads subtitles from disk. After the subtitles have been loaded, SubTitler also tries to load the Time Code. Time Code file have the same name as subtitles but has ".tc" extension. By default, the file requester won't show Time Code files but if you want to see them you can always edit the pattern field of the file requester. After file is loaded, it will be processed. Lines will be spread to different pages and all ASCII character will be remapped. Please note that the characters are remapped only once, and only if subtitles were not edited with SubTitler's editor. This is assumed by missing Time Code file. After you save file, remapped characters are saved and also a Time Code file is saved (even you haven't recorded any). So if the Time Code file is available this means characters are already remapped and further remapping is not done. ASCII remapping is needed to make MS-DOS text files compatible with SubTitler. Keyboard shortcut: L Save File Save function is disabled in demo version. Current page Jumps directly to any page in memory. Enter the page number you wish to go and press Enter. Keyboard shortcut: C Start Player Starts the Displayer in Player mode. More about Player mode in Chapter 2.3.2. Keyboard shortcut: P Start Recorder Starts the Displayer in Recorder mode. More about Recorder in Chapter 2.3.1. Keyboard shortcut: R Time Code I / O Refer to Chapter 2.2. Keyboard shortcut: I, O VTR controls With VTR control keys you can command VTR to Rewind, Play, Fast Forward, Stop and Pause. Keyboard shortcuts: F6, F7, F8, F9 and F10 Tape Pre-Roll This gadget makes the VTR to rewind tape 3 seconds before the current 'In Time Code'. If the previous page's 'Out Time Code' is less than 3 seconds before the current page's 'In Time Code' then the tape will be 'pre rolled' to just after previous page's 'Out Time Code'. Pre Roll helps to continue work if you must stop during recording. An example: Something went wrong - you inserted a subtitle a bit too early. Now exit the recorder (by hitting the Escape key). Choose the page that got shown too early, press the 'Pre Roll' gadget (tape will be rewound 3 seconds) and lastly press the Recorder gadget to return to the Recorder again. The tape starts to play and you will be about 3 seconds away from the place you made the mistake. Note! If Simulated Time Code mode is used then instead of Tape rolling, internally generated Time Code will be set to 3 seconds before the current 'In Time Code'. Keyboard shortcut: T Test TC to end Tests Time Code accuracy from current page to the end. If an error situation occurs during the test, the editor will jump to the page error was in, and a warning message is displayed. So to be sure everything is ok, test your subtitles before the air/final recording. Keyboard shortcut: E Insert Page Inserts an empty page before the current page. Empty page will become active and current one moved down. Delete Page Erases current page from memory. Picture Adds picture to the current page. Search Searches for string entered to upper string gadget. Keyboard shortcut: A Replace Searches for string entered to 'Upper string gadget' and if found waits user's confirm to replace it with string entered to 'Lower string gadget'. Search / Replace The cycle gadget selects the Replace mode. If 'Search' is selected replace mode searches for single matches and waits for confirm to replace or search next. If 'Replace All' is selected all 'found' matches will be replaced. 2.2. Time Code As mentioned earlier, if 'VTR Mode' is not used the Time Code is simulated by your computer. Otherwise, the Time Code is read from VTR. Time Code gadgets in Editor are grouped as In and Out. 'In Time Code' represents the time after what showing of the current page is started and 'Out Time Code' is the time current page showing is ended (clear page is shown). If you edit the Time Code manually then use Enter key to move to the next Time Code field. If 'Show Time Code' is set from Settings menu then current Time Code is displayed during Recorder and Player mode. The displayed Time Code may stop for a moment or flicker during the page swapping. This is normal as the next page is generated in background and at this moment no Time Code is output (internally the Time Code counts normally). So this is like indicator showing that the next page is ready to show. Useful if pictures are loaded for background as this takes a bit time. For technical reasons the Time Code is not shown on pages where the background picture is used with effect [5]. Functions selectable from Time Code menu: Time shift Enables shifting Time Code n seconds (+ or -). Reset Sets the internally generated Time Code to zero. Not needed if 'VTR Mode' is used. Clear current Resets current page's Time Code to zero. Clear all Resets Time Code for all pages. Load Let's you load Time Code from file (form backup file for example). At the moment SubTitler can't handle negative Time Code. It will be added in the future versions if there is demand for this feature. So be sure you reset the VTR's counter (SVHS) or set the VTR's Time Code mode to TC (SONY) before you start the recording/playback. 2.3. Displayer Displayer part handles the actual subtitle showing in SubTitler. To exit back to Editor mode press 'Escape' key or click the left mouse button. Displayer can be started in two modes: 2.3.1. Recorder In Recorder mode the actual Time Code is recorded to pages. If 'VTR Mode' is used then the 'Play' command will be sent to VTR and Time Code is read from VTR, otherwise Time Code is generated internally. The following keys control subtitle appearing in Recorder mode: Space Pressing space will display subtitles in current page. Hold down 'Space' as long as you need the current subtitle to be shown. After you release 'Space', an empty page will be shown. The next time you press 'Space' the next page will appear and so on. VTR control You can control the VTR like in Editor mode with F6, F7, F8 and F9 keys. Escape Returns you to the Editor screen. If 'VTR Mode' is used then before returning to the Editor a 'Stop' command is sent to the VTR. Keypad keys Keypad arrow keys (numbers 4,8,6 and 2) change the position of the subtitles. Note that you must also hold down the 'Space' key in order to change position. If you hold down 'Space' and press the arrow keys then X and Y coordinate of the output tiles are changed. If also the 'Ctrl' key is held down then 'Up-Arrow' and 'Down-Arrow' keys change the line spacing, 'Left-Arrow' and 'Right-Arrow' keys change Center position. To align centering be sure to use 'Center' command in some of the lines otherwise you won't see changes. To change the upper line Y coordinate you should alter LINEUPY Tool Type (more about Tool Types in Chapter 2.3.5). If you want to store the subtitle position settings you made then just exit to Editor mode and select Save Setup menu at upper left corner of the screen. Do not try to change subtitle's position if you use background with effect [5]! To speed up the moving of the subtitles while setting coordinates, the movement updating is very jerky and leaves trails behind. So don't mind, just set the position and the next page is updated correctly with the new coordinates. 2.3.2. Player In player mode SubTitler runs in slave mode. In other words; playback of the subtitles takes place according to the current Time Code (read either from VTR or generated by computer). If the current page's 'In Time Code' matches the Actual Time Code then the page is shown. If VTR mode is not used, the showing starts with an empty page and is held until you click the left mouse button. After that first page is shown and internal Time Code generation starts from current page's 'In Time Code'. In 'VTR Mode' Player waits for the VTR to be in Play mode and after that, checks the Time Code from VTR. If needed, scans through pages in memory to mach current Time Code. So if you, for example, rewind the tape or search for certain part in the middle of the Player mode then the Player is always in sync with current Time Code. Until VTR is not in Play mode an empty page is shown. Normally between pages an empty page is shown but in case the pause between pages is less than 3 frames (0.12 seconds) the empty page will be skipped and going over to the next page is instant. This is useful if you display pictures on every page (slide show like) as change from one page to the next takes place in one frame without any flickering. If you need to show subtitles without empty page between two pages then the latest page's 'In Time Code' should be equal to earliest page's 'Out Time Code'.