Subtitling in Premier Pro + Ageisub

[Varun_Kapoor]

Hello Folks,

Lately, I have been making subtitles in Ageisub. The default file format is Advanced Substation Alpha and the biggest benefit it offers is the styling options for the subs. I've done Italics, bold, has a black background etc. Now, Premier pro doesn't accept Advanced Substation Alpha format but SRT. However, when exporting the file to SRT, it is pone to loss of all the formatting. Now the only options available to me is to import SRT into the premier and do the formatting manually to each sub, which is a tedious process.

Is there anyway, I can preserve the formatting in the premier pro while importing file from Ageisub? Or is there any other file format which preserves the formatting and premier pro happily imports?

Any help would be highly appreciated.

Thanks,

[Stan Jones]

What specific dot version of Premiere? Things have changed in recent versions.

I have been meaning to do some tests on this, but so far have not.

But now, you can select all captions in a stream, and set font characteristics. If all your font formatting is the same for all captions, that may be an option.

Are you burning in or exporting a sidecar? Are these open captions?

[Stan Jones]

Played with this a bit. I'm sure there are advantages, but I use SubtitleEdit (latest version 9/8/18). Latest version of Aegisub is 2014.

Yes, PR does not import the Aegisub format. Will the forum let me say it is .ass?

I tried converting to .srt: yes, font formatting stripped (at the AEgisub export level). PR imports .stl, but there are issues (Imports as Open Subtitling).

In any event, the possible options depend on whether you are burning in, looking for a sidecar file, or wanting to embed Closed Captions.

[Varun_Kapoor]

Thanks, Stan for the comprehensive answer.

I want to burn subtitles into the video file. So, Open captions would be preferred choice for me.

Is there anything else I can try?

[Stan Jones]

If you are formatting all your captions the same, it is as simple as my suggestion above. "Export as" .srt from Aegisub, import to PR, open in source monitor (or add to timeline), then in the captions panel, "...select all captions in a stream, and set font characteristics."

If not, "save as" the Aegisub file to .stl. Import to PR. In the project panel, right click, Modify -> Captions -> Open Captions as type. The rest is important, and depends on your source footage/sequence settings. Set the size, framerate, and par. See how close that gets you.

[Varun_Kapoor]

As far as my captions formatting is concerned, there are few italics words in there (last resort is to do it manually while exporting the .srt into PR). However, I wanted something in PR by which it import ageisub file directly with all the formatting.

[Stan Jones]

Got it. Try the second method.

[Varun_Kapoor]

Hi Stan,

I do have a solution in mind. See if it's possible.

Like in Ageisub, the code for the italics is {\i1} word {\i0}.

Now, if I get the background code, for italics in PR, I can replace all the ageisub italics code with PR's in excel and save the file as txt or srt. The only condition is, when I import the .srt into the PR, it recognizes the italics code and automatically italicize the words. I tried <i> word <\i> in PR, in the captions text box, but no success, rather it printed the word with code.

Am I able to clearly convey my thought?

Thanks

[Stan Jones]

PR respected the italics code on import, so I'm not sure you need to do that.

I assume in Aegisub, you have some characters/words marked with italics. "Export subtitles" -> Export (select no templates) -> Add name and set save as type to .stl (EBU tech 3264, 1991) -> Click Save. "Export to EBY STL" format dialogue comes up. Under Display Standard, set to Open Subtitling. Setting to teletext imported to PR, but italics did not transfer. Set framerate.

Import to PR. Right click -> modify -> Captions -> change standard to Open Captions. Set framerate, pixel sizes, and par.

Italics are correct. Background opacity changed to 100 behind all italicized sections, but I found that I could select all captions in the caption panel, and change background color and/or opacity without changing italics. Also font color and size.

What do you get when you try this?

[Varun_Kapoor]

Hey Stan,

Thanks for the solution, it worked fine up to a certain extent, however, the next issue is, for the lines where an intermediate word is italics, either the space between the adjacent words vanishes, or the italicized words repeats itself twice, or some of the text before the italics words misses out. I know its kind of weird, but I don't know where to tap now. Do you think it has something to do with "Export to EBY STL" settings? I tried to change the text encoding to UTF-8, however, then PR poses error as 'File headed error'.

Any idea where should I tap to rectify the issue.

Thanks for the help!

[Stan Jones]

While I'm pondering, how many total captions in the stream? How many/what proportion have italics?

[Varun_Kapoor]

Let's just say there are total 600 lines (some files extend up to 800 lines) of subtitles, each line having, on an average, 50 characters with 2 italic words. This is just an average. However, there are lines with no italics at all, and some lines with more than 2 italics (Comprises of words that are foreign to the English language)

Anyhow, how does the percentage of italics affect the formatting in the end result?

[Stan Jones]

I was just trying to get an idea how much manual work would be involved in manual work. Answer: too much! Then again

No success finding a better method. I looked at using a closed caption option to bring into PR and then convert, but either had trouble making the conversions I tried or got problems like the ones you describe.

[Varun_Kapoor]

Yes, the manual labor is too much.

What do you think is causing the formatting issues in PR? Why are the italics words acting weird?

For me, I think, the best solution is to replace the ageisub italics code to PR italics code (in excel), however, for that, I need to know the code first.

Any help from Adobe people would be appreciated.

[Stan Jones]

What format/file type are you trying to use for import to PR? I don't see that it helps to edit the A S A file itself. And some of these formats use code that can't be edited like that.

Clarification, since I got confused... I concluded that Aegisub strips formatting when I do a simple export to srt. But I was doing font color as the test, and now that I focus on italics as the critical element, I have discovered that Aegisub keeps the italics in the exported .srt. Some of my confusion was that PR strips formatting when exporting Open Captions as srt, including italics code. But PR will import formatting from srt if there is formatting.

So try again from Aegisub using "Export Subtitles" as srt. Import to PR and see what you have regarding italics.

The export from Aegisub is nice clean srt, with <i> and </i> setting off the italics. PR appears to be interpreting these correctly including spaces. If not, you could try editing in a text editor (I would not use Excel for that), but I don't know what would be better.

[Varun_Kapoor]

Hey Stan,

Thanks for another solution.

Okay here are the results after export to .srt from Ageisub: If the complete line is italicized, then PR accepts fine, however, if there is a word in a line which is italics, then PR simply prints the <i> word <\i>. Any solution?

Moreover, what do you mean by "If not, you could try editing in a text editor". What I should edit in the text editor? I assume I should know the code, in PR, which is to be replaced in the text editor.

Please clarify.

Thanks. 

[Stan Jones]

Varun_Kapoor  wrote

Okay here are the results after export to .srt from Ageisub: If the complete line is italicized, then PR accepts fine, however, if there is a word in a line which is italics, then PR simply prints the <i> word <\i>.

I tested such a bit, and that was not my finding. I tested further, and it does not matter in my samples if I italicize a whole line, a single word in the middle of a caption line, or from the middle of a line to the end. The imported .srt in PR has the italics correct.

What do you mean by "prints"? I am viewing in the source and program monitors.

Varun_Kapoor  wrote

Moreover, what do you mean by "If not, you could try editing in a text editor". What I should edit in the text editor? I assume I should know the code, in PR, which is to be replaced in the text editor.

I think the <i>word</i> is the right code for PR. Once Aegisub exports it to srt, it has only this code, not the {\i1}word{/i0}. 

[Varun_Kapoor]

Okay, this may sound weird, but what happening is totally out of my mind. When I tried the same practice, exporting to SRT and importing to PR in a MAC, running Mac OS Mohave, PR 2018, I get <i>word<\i> on the source monitor and not actual italics. However, If I follow the same practice on a Windows, Win 10, PR 2018, I do get italics, for a full line as well as for an intermediate word.

Here I found another catch. In ageisub my font is Helvetica, and when I exported to SRT and then to PR, the font is Arial, however, I do get the italics but cannot change the background box, opacity. It somehow greyed out on 100%. Secondly, If I select all the subs in PR, and try to change the font to Helvetica, I lose the italics totally. Now, I see that fonts package also plays a role in PR.

[Stan Jones]

Good thinking on the Mac vs PC.

Yes, I get the same: changing font removes italics. I have some ideas, but will be a bit before I can test.

[Varun_Kapoor]

Kindly post your ideas once you get the results.

Thanks for all your help.

[Stan Jones]

No joy. I cannot find a way to get the srt import to default to any other font.

And my tests to set the font prior to import are unsuccessful. You can add font info to an srt, but it is added to every line, and when read by PR, it has the same effect as changing the font: the line level font command is used, and all other sub-line level font tags are removed.

And using the stl/EBU doesn't work because the font is ultimately set by the player. (PR has no font selection.)

So far, the closest I can find is using a PC and accepting Arial as the font.

I hope for someone who knows more than I do to come tell us we're overlooking something that will work.