Most Common Questions

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1.1. I keep getting only 20 images. Why?

If you have not purchased TitleFactory you are running in DEMO mode.  The DEMO mode has a 20 image limit.

If you have purchased and activate TitleFactory on your machine then Go to the Process Settings Window and change the Max Images setting. 

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1.2.  Will TitleFactory automatically take multiple sentence paragraphs and create 1 title per sentence?

TitleFactory will attempt to place multiple sentences on each image, only if they can fit, and if they are part of the same paragraph (which should be the same person talking). TitleFactory actually forces a split on images based on paragraphs, not sentences, since a person's running dialog in a script usually is in a paragraph. However, TitleFactory will only place a single sentence on multiple images when the first sentence on the image cannot fit entirely on the image.

Rules for how TitleFactory processes sentences and paragraphs can be found at:
Help  > TitleFactory >      Placement Rules

or simply go here.

This is also part of the delivered documentation.

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1.3. Does it understand standard script format so that it can tell the difference between screen direction and narration?

Script format! Unfortunately, there are loads of 'standard' script formats. We attempt to differentiate between dialog and direction by allowing you to specify characteristics of lines (Paragraphs) that should be ignored (are not dialog). These are specified on TitleFactory's input settings window.

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1.4. Can TitleFactory be used to create overlay text for video?

TitleFactory can be used to create images from text for any purpose including video.  When using TitleFactory for anything but DVD, you will probably want antialias on and you may want to include drop shadows.

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1.5. Does TitleFactory support closed captions?

TitleFactory does not support closed captions, only open captions.

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1.6. What is the difference between open and closed captions

Closed captions require special decoding hardware and/or software to exist on the media player (TV set, computer, etc) in order to view the captions.  They require special line 21 (In some countries) or  text encoding (in other countries) and are not burned onto the video image.

Open captions for DVD are just like subtitles.  They can be turned on or off and are not burned onto the image.  However, they do not require any special decoding hardware or software on the media player supports subtitles.

Open captions for Video (non-DVD) are burned into the image.  The problem with this is that a separate video is required for each language that is needed.

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1.7. How does TitleFactory support open  captions?

TitleFactory does not treat captions much differently than subtitles.  The only difference is that a caption block (a colored-filled rectangle) will be placed behind the text for easier viewing.  Any color can be used for this block although black is the norm.

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1.8. What is a good way to organize the TitleFactory projects.

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1.9. How can I reduce flickering of subtitle text on DVD or Video.

Flickering could be caused by:
-characters are too thin (increase font size or use bold fonts)
-no stroke used (this outlines the characters but may have little effect on flickering)
-used of index bmps for DVD authoring packages that do not support them (only Impression DVD Pro requires indexed bmps)

Remember, DVD only supports 4 colors.   If you create a thin non-antialiased line on TV, it will flicker.  Antialiasing and/or shadowing can be used with video to eliminate flickering because there is a gradual transition (or smoothing) of the character colors.  But antialiasing and shadow are not supported in DVD because it creates tens of colors.

ReelDVD, and other Sonic products support two strokes and the ability to make them semi-transparent (reduce contrast) which gives a shadow effect.  Make one stroke black, and the other charcoal.  Then make the charcoal color semi-transparent. TF supports this but if you want them semi-transparent then you will have to modify the file. This is described in the documentation or here:

http://www.titlefactory.com/TitleFactoryDocs/preparing_sss_text.htm

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Capabilities

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Question

2.1.   I Want to extract close caption text from a DVD or MPEG file into a text file.  Do you have something that can do this?

Answer

TitleFactory does not support DVD ripping functions. Try a web search on SubRip or Subripper.  These utilities capture subtitles from DVDs.  Note that these are not the same as 'closed captions'.  TitleFactory takes a text transcript and creates subtitles and their timing for DVD production along with many other subtitling functions.

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Question

2.2.    For Karaoke we will need to color just one word that is spelled actually and the rest of the subtitle face should have a different color. Can TF do this?

Answer

We do not currently have the ability to color some text in one color and the rest in a second color on the same image.  Different images, however, can have different settings (styles) which include text color and other settings.

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Parsing

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Question

3.1.   I need to use title factory to subtitle in Asian languages. I have attached a Korean text file for you to see. I have split the file up into 2 line subtitles. However, when I "Load Text" it creates 1 line for each title. Why is this? How can I keep my 2 line subtitles?

Answer

It looks like your input is already parsed exactly the way you want it.  On the input settings window, you should specify 'Exact' in the text mode setting.  This will preserve the text as it was  input.   If I am mistaken and you do want TitleFactory to re-parse your input, then you should make sure that you specify 'Character-Rule' for Parsing type parameter on the process settings window.  This is required for Asian 'character-based' scripts.  Also, the text mode setting in this case should be 'Wrapped'.

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Question

3.2.  I am using TitleFactory to parse my script into subtitles.   How should I set up TitleFactory to prevent making a new line after each period that is within an abbreviation?  In other words, I have abbreviated text (abbreviations), such as "St." (for saint) and it seems that TitleFactory treats these like end of sentence punctuation marks. 

Answer

TitleFactory cannot distinguish between end of sentences and abbreviations so there is nothing that you can do within TitleFactory.  (We had considered having an abbreviation list in the past but have not implemented it, and it still may not work perfectly).  Outside of TitleFactory you could change you abbreviations and then change them back after TitleFactory processes the input.  For example, change all "St." to "St*" on your input and then change them back in the Timecoded Text  file.  If you have lots of abbreviations, you could do this with a scripting tool (such as Perl) in a batch mode.

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Question

3.3.  I have a file that already has timecoded subtitles and want the output image files to be the same.  TitleFactory, however, is re-parsing the input and changing the image files. 

Answer

Specify "Timecoded" and "Exact", on the Input Settings Window,

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Question

3.4.  I am letting TitleFactory parse a script file and set "Max Characters per line"32 characters.  If the 2 lines of subtitles are more than 32 characters, then no problem, BMP is in 2 line.  But if the total characters are less then 32 then 2 lines become one line and I get one line BMP.

Answer

TitleFactory only forces two lines if the characters is greater than the "Max Characters per line". This is the way it works.  It does not force two lines when it is not necessary to do so.  Sorry!  The feature that you are requesting is not available.

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Question

3.5.  Hello I bought a TitleFactory one month ago and now I don't know how I can do to import the text file without TitleFactory don't divide the text.  For example if I have a sentence "today it's a beautiful day" How I can do that TitleFactory import the sentence on two line in this mode 
" Today It's a
beautiful day"

instead

"Today It's a be
artful day"
 

Answer

If you do not want TitleFactory to re-parse the input then use the Textmode called 'Exact' on the Input Settings Window.

You will need to have a blank line between the text for each image.  For example, the file can contain the following text between the ''.

Today It's a
beautiful day.

But tomorrow it is
supposed to rain.

I was going to go to
the beach tomorrow.


Also make sure that 'Balance' is not checked on the Process Settings Window.  Three images will be produced exactly as shown.

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Question

3.6.  I click to make my subtitles, with the option "coalesce" on 100%, so that the end timecode should be the beginning timecode of next subtitle... However, it does not seem to work correctly. How can I correct that problem? I have different works with 600 subtitles... so I would prefer not to have them corrected manually!!!

Answer

Prior to TF 3.0 BLDP, "Coalesce" only worked when parsing script files that result in many subtitles produced for a particular paragraph in the input text file.  It is meant to make the timecodes associated with one person speaking have timecodes in which the ending timecode is the same as the next timecode's staring time.  This will cause a DVD player to reduce delays between the subtitle displays. If you have running text, such as narration in a documentary, and you want "coalescent" timecodes then put the text in the same paragraph before letting TitleFactory parse the text.

After TF 3.0 BLDP, you can convert and coalesce timecodes "on the fly", that is, after they have been generated or loaded.

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Question

3.7.  I downloaded of your program for test, because I bought the Adobe Encore and I want to do DVDs with subtitles. However, when I try to create the images of the legend, it gives me an error that is below, but I didn't find in any part of the program the options to alter these configurations. Which is the problem?

Cannot force-fit the text associated with timecode 5, within 34 characters per line and 2 lines per image. The 'characters per line' and/or 'lines per image' setting must be increased.

Answer

The 'characters per line' and 'lines per image' are on the output settings window.  You usually get this message if you specify 'Exact' or 'Timecoded' (on the input settings window and the number of characters on at least one of the lines has exceeded the 'characters per line' on the output settings window.

One other thought.  You can turn balance off on the process settings window.  If you are using the Exact option on the input settings window, the characters per line is checked if the balance option is checked.  Balance will balance, for example, two lines of input even if Exact is specified unless the balance option is unchecked.

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Question

3.8.  I'm trying without success to import a simple document from Microsoft Word  into TitleFactory.  The message says:  Title Factory Error  Cannot open text file  F Programs/Title Factory  3.0/Sample/its_unwrapped txt invalid argument

 Is it possible to have in a simple guide how to import a text?  In the tutorial 1 the exercise text is already there, what is not clear is  how to import a text.
 Also, how you put a text into UTF8 format?

Answer

The input must be a text file, not a word document.  Please read about input file types in the docs.  The simple answer is to save your word file as a text document.  Do not copy and paste ; do a save as....."Plain Text ,txt format."  The latest versions of Word let you specify an encoding when saving the Word document as a text file.  Choose the Unicode (UTF8) encoding format.  Notepad also supports some encoding conversions.

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Timecoded Text File Inputs

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Question

4.1.  I have a file in the following format that I can't seem to get TitleFactory to recognize the timecodes:

1 00;00;10;18 00;00;14;04 Sucedió en el año 1525.
2 00;00;14;16 00;00;16;25 Había una sola iglesia oficial.
3 00;00;16;25 00;00;20;10 Todos los escritos y las ceremonias eran en latín,
4 00;00;20;10 00;00;23;11 idioma que la mayoría de la gente no entendía.
5 00;00;23;11 00;00;28;17 La traducción al inglés de la Biblia y su
distribución habían quedado prohibidas,
6 00;00;28;17 00;00;30;22 bajo pena de muerte.

Each line is preceded with a number before the timecode starts....I went through all the supplied definitions, and couldn't find one that worked. Is there a wild card for numbers that could be used in the Group 1 definition?

Answer

You need to define a new timecode definition using the timecode definition window.  there is no default definition that has the semi-colon as a delimiter. that is the problem.   it is easy to create a new definition based on one that already exists.

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Question

4.2.  I cannot get any text to load into TitleFactory.  I am sending you my input file and input setting window snapshot.

Answer

The input file does not look like it should be defined as "wrapped" but rather as "timecoded" on the Input Settings Window.  Once you select "Timecoded" then you need to tell TitleFactory what format it is.  I can't tell the best to use but I a, guessing that multi-line may be correct.

Scripts,Fonts

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Question

5.1  I'm producing a dual-language program.  I have the English in one text file, the Italian in another.  They are delimited exactly the same as to the content (i.e.. the Italian translation is on the same line in the text file as in the English).  I've gone through and used TitleFactory  to tap out the subtitles for the English version.  Now I simply want to apply the timecodes produced by TitleFactory  to the Italian text file.  How would I do this easily?

Answer

Assuming that you want a new timecoded definition file with the old timecodes with the new text, this is what you can do. With TitleFactory you can load a timecoded text file or load one that it just created, and then overlay either the timecodes or text with another text file.  In other words, if English text and associated timecodes are displayed on the Main Window, you can perform an open for the new Italian text file, and a Load text.  The previously displayed timecodes will still appear on the Main Window with the new Italian text.  You can then write out both the old timecodes with the new Italian text to a new timecoded definition file of your choosing.

If you are using Impression DVD, then all you have to do is change your timecoded text file to point to the folder with your Italian image files.

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Question

5.2.  Can we create new subtitles in your product or we have to import .txt file for this purpose?

Answer

There are several ways to enter subtitle text into TF.  You can load text from a text file (for example, a part of a script), create a text file (on the input settings window), insert text directly on the main window, or load text from a timecoded text file.

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Question

5.3.  What are the languages supported by you product?

Answer

So far we have not found a script that we could not handle.  The input, however, must be in a UTF-8 format for non-ASCII scripts.  The language script support can be found in the documentation or here:

http://www.titlefactory.com/Docs/script.htm

One user indicated that he was trying TitleFactory with Kannada.  I have not heard back from him, so I am assuming that he was successful.

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Question

5.4.  Can we use bmp files for  Sonic DVD Creator?

Answer

I do not know of anyone who has used TitleFactory with DVD Creator.  At least 1 version of DVD Creator does not support subtitles.  TitleFactory has been used with Sonic Scenarist and ReelDVD which use .tiff files and a timecoded text format called SST-2.  I do not know if DVD Creator can import subtitles that TitleFactory creates, although I am relatively confident that it can.  If you can send some documentation about the DVD Creator subtitle format, then I can tell you if it can be supported or I can add the support.

Samples of the timecoded text files are in the documentation or can be found here:

http://www.titlefactory.com/Docs/timecoded_formats.htm

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Question

5.5.  I am using Czech language using fonts with diakritik characters. Are these fonts supported by TitleFactory .  Can I install these fonts and where?

Answer

TitleFactory supports any TrueType font.  These have a .ttf file extension and are placed in the C:\Windows\Fonts directory.  If you can place and recognize diakritik in a text file then TitleFactory should recognize it and process it correctly. 

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Question

5.6.  We need TitleFactory currently for creating Arabic subtitles on a DVD project. But I have not found a way in the manual and in the demo to access this feature. Can you tell me what system configuration we need to import Arabic txt files and to see Arabic letters in the output or preview file.

Answer

The text files must be in UTF8 (Unicode) format.  Also, the font that you choose must also support UTF8 as well as the Arabic Character set.  You can use a free program such as BabelMap or TrueType Explorer to look at the Unicode support in the font.  There is a setting on the input settings window that also indicates whether the text is ASCII or UTF8  format.  We have found that changing this to UTF8 also helps.

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Question

5.7.  We specialize in foreign language subtitling. Can your software allow the importation (and display the characters correctly) of: Greek. Russian, Arabic, Hebrew.  We tested Korean, traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese as well as Japanese all with success. Does the software have any other language limitations?

Answer

Cyrillic scripts (such as Greek and Russian) are no problem but make sure that the text is in UTF8.  This can be done with notepad.

For Hebrew and Arabic, make sure that the text style definition specifies Hebrew or Arabic encoding.  People have used TitleFactory for both Hebrew and Arabic and several Indian scripts, as well.

There are two implemented algorithms used for Arabic but the results are virtually the same depending on where you get your input.  My suggestion would be to check it out, however.  We have not heard any complaints.

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Question

5.8.  I have an Arabic script. The output text file displays the characters correctly but when imported into DVD Studio Pro or Encore they get screwed up....any suggestions?

Answer

Make sure that the output format, when you write the file,  specifies UTF8, not ASCII. 

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Question

5.9.  Could you tell me if it is possible for title factory to create Korean, Chinese, Hebrew etc. subtitles?  If so, how do I go about it?

Answer

TitleFactory supports Korean, Chinese, Hebrew etc. subtitles as long as the input is in UTF-8 .txt format.  Although the User interface does not support these character sets, the subtitle images as well as the report will be created correctly.

You can create UTF-8 formatted text in Notepad and many other text editors. Of course you will also need a font that supports UTF-8 (Unicode) as well as the alphabet.   Most fonts already support Unicode.  You can find out if your fonts supports Unicode by getting some freeware such as BabelMap, FontMap, and TrueType Explorer.

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Question

5.10.  I am attaching four font files for you. the problem I am facing is that I need the bold typeface on the BMP but in the style definition window I get only the normal fonts where as the fonts are also in  bold type face. can you please look in the problem fast?
 

Answer

The font that you are using has some bizarre non-standard naming conventions.

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Question

5.11.  Your demo version does not support Russian fonts. It gives me the window No Text To Parse. Can you program support Russian?

Answer

The 'No Text To Parse' message would only come up if, all of the text was ignored due to the input parameters setting.  TitleFactory does support Russian.

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Question

5.12.  I have a unique problem. For Hebrew project, Everything is fine creating prototype. But final BMP output gives only large pixels.

Answer

ImageMagick is having problems with your fonts and I do not know why. It is probably a naming problem.  Even '-' placed in  names may be the cause of the problem.  Please download TrueType Explorer from the internet.  Its free.  Then select your font and look at the name strings of your fonts.  Compare them to something that works.    I also suggest that you try out BabelMap which is also free.

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Question

5.13.  We are doing Hebrew subtitles. the font I would like to use is called NarkisTam. the problem that arose is that I am getting the font everywhere in title factory other than the BMPs that are being generated. there I am getting only square boxes. can you please tell us as it is the requirement of our client that we use that font

Answer

Strange.  It looks like Narkisim works but not NarkisTam nor NarkisTam Light.  I have a feeling that the problem is with the font style defined in the font.  It says 'medium' instead of 'regular' or 'normal'.  I believe that ImageMagick (used by TitleFactory)  requires the name 'regular' or 'normal' but I am not sure which.

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Shadows and Strokes

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Question

6.1.  Is it possible to enlarge the Test Border (Outer Edge) because one pixel will flicker on TV.

Answer

Up to 5 pixels inner and 5 pixels outer stroke is allowed but consider this. You can use a combination inner and outer stroke with similar but different colors.  However, the outer edge color is really meant to be used to create anti-alias effect with Scenarist where you can reduce the contrast down to say, 7, in the sst header causing it to be 50% transparent.  This is a nice way to create a subtle antialias-like effect.   In this way, there should be no flicker.

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Question

6.2.  Using shadow for my DVD does not seem to work.  Why?

Answer

Shadows will not work for DVD production as the shadow will cause the image to have more than 4 colors (of which the background is 1 color).  The DVD spec only supports 4 colors maximum.  You should use stroke instead.

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Question

6.3.  After installing the new version, image creation became painfully slow. I am using 2 strokes and saving to TIFF. Is there any way to speed things up?

Answer

The stroke process is, by far, the slowest function that we have.  The graphics package that we are using has a much quicker stroke function but it doesn't work well, oftentimes placing the stoke in the wrong place.  It also doesn't support two strokes.  We had to compromise by creating our own stroke function.  The stroke speed has been vastly improved in TF 3.0P however, if it is still slow, there may be a workaround.

An alternative is to use Photoshop to stroke the characters that TitleFactory produces.  See below.

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Question

6.4.  Is it possible to use Photoshop to create a stroke instead of using TitleFactory?  TitleFactory is very slow for "stroking."

Answer

Yes.  Create the images in TitleFactory without any stroke.

Create a Photoshop action to do the following:
1. Magic wand select from the upper left corner, none contiguous. This selects all BG color in the image. Including areas within text, like a BG color inside the letter "O"
2. Inverse select (to make selection around text edges)
3. Edit>Stroke Edit>Stroke (select pixel width and stroke color). Select Location='Outside'; Blending='Normal'
4. Close and save

Batch the action in Photoshop (and avoid all of the manual work), and have it run against every file in the folder that the images were created in

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Question

6.5.  Can I use a semi-opaque text box or undercolor? Can it be slightly see-through? Is this possible, or can it just be a solid color (like black)?

Answer

The problem with DVDs is that subtitle images can only have 4 colors, and one of the colors is the background color (which is transparent).  I know that some DVD authoring packages do allow a transparency setting.  Sonic ReelDVD and Scenarist support a 'Contrast' setting in which a color can be made to be semi-transparent.  I do not know if Encore supports this feature.  To make it work with ReelDVD, you would use the Undercolor option and set the color, then specify to ReelDVD to make that color semi-transparent (with a setting from 0 to 15; 15 being opaque).

Shadows will not work with any DVD authoring packages because it will result in more than 4 colors.

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DVD Studio Pro

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Question

7.1.  What type of video can be imported AVI, QuickTime? If the QuickTime movie is timecoded will it show up in the preview window? I also use DVD studio pro (Mac). Are the subtitles exported as text files which I can then use in DVD Studio Pro?

Answer

The product supports .AVI files for the purpose of setting timecodes to text.  However, we suggest that you use .wav files which can be created from .avi files using freeware that exists on various download web sites. 

DVD Studio Pro is supported.

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Question

7.2.  We are wanting to use Subtitles on our DVD's for the hearing impaired, but are using DVD Studio Pro 2 and have found that you cannot put the black strip at the back of the subtitles.  While browsing the DVD Studio Pro 2 support forums I saw someone suggesting the use of Title Factory for this issue.  On your website it says that TitleFactory will export open captions for DVD Studio Pro, but doesn't say DVD Studio Pro 2.  Just wanna be sure for one that it does export for the later version as well.

Answer

The format for DVD Studio Pro 2 is the same that they used for DVD Maestro.  I doubt that they changed the format but I cannot confirm that it hasn't changed.

The two formats that are produced for DVD Studio Pro 2 are described in the documentation and can be found here as well:
http://www.titlefactory.com/TitleFactoryDocs/DVD_Maestro_timecodes.htm

For the first format TitleFactory also creates the images in a number of different formats.

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Question

7.3.  We are planning on using TitleFactory on a PC we have and transferring files to our Macintosh running OS X.  We are able to transfer between PC and Mac already, but just want to know if you have had any customers having problems doing it this way  I suppose its the only way to do it for DVD Studio Pro.

Answer

We are not familiar with moving files between the PC and the Mac.

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Question

7.4.  If you make the subtitles in TitleFactory and export them to a DVD Studio Pro 2 file can you still manipulate when they come in and out in DVD Studio Pro 2?

Answer

We are not familiar with how DVD Studio Pro 2 works.

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Activation and Registration

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Question

8.1.  Can I activate the product on two machines?

Answer

No, this is not allowed.  One license covers one machine.  Licenses are keyed, by default, by the email address of the purchaser.

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Question

8.2.  Can I use the same email address to purchase multiple copies of the product?

Answer

You can purchase multiple copies of the TitleFactory product using one email address, but since licenses are keyed by unique email addresses a special arrangement must be made to provide you with different registration/activation  keys.  After purchasing TitleFactory, please contact us at tfsales@titlefactory.com and we will provide you with additional keys.

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Question

8.3.  I am not sure which email address I used to buy the product.  I cannot find the order confirmation.  Can you provide this to me?

Answer

Probably yes.  Send us your name and address and we should be able to find the order.  please contact us at tfsales@titlefactory.com and we will provide you with the information.

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Question

8.4.   I decided to reinstall the TitleFactory program.  Now I’m not yet able to use it normally, it run as a demo (no more than 20 images).  Do I have to buy TitleFactory one more time??

Answer

You do not have to purchase the product again but if you completely uninstalled it, including deleting the TitleFactory folder, then you just need to re-reactivate it electronically using the same email address used to purchase the product.

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Installation

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Question

9.1.  I installed and it doesn't run.  using windows/me

Answer

Correct.  TitleFactory only works on Windows NT based systems (such as Windows 2000, and Windows XP).  See System requirements: http://www.titlefactory.com/system_requirements.htm

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Question

Question

9.5.  When I start TitleFactory, it immediately shuts down!

Answer

The internals of the software that TitleFactory is based on has problems with any folder having non-ascii-7 characters (a-z, 0-9, and specials).  This could occur if you are using a non-English version of Windows.  For example, the French version of Windows supports a folder called "Propriétaire" as opposed to "user".  TitleFactory internals write to a TEMP folder in the "user" folder.  The program terminates when it sees that the "user" folder is called "Propriétaire" .

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Question

9.6.  When I press CREATE and get an error message, "Error setting background. Exception 430: Unable to open file (white)". And then the program closes.

Answer

This is a message from ImageMagick, a software package used ny TitleFactory to write text images.  The cause of the problem is that registry entries required by ImageMagick were not populated during the installation process.  ImageMagick probably was not  installed correctly.  That is, there is a checkbox that should have been checked during the TitleFactory installation.  Uninstall TitleFactory and ImageMagick and reinstall.  Pay close attention to the ImageMagick part of the installation and check the ImageMagick checkbox if appropriate.

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Converting Timecodes

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Question

10.1.  My video is a PAL mpeg2. However, the frame counter to timecode my files has 30fps....how can I change that?

Answer

You may want to change the FPS on the process settings window.  I am not sure of your situation, but you can also convert timecodes to another FPS using the Convert (CV) function on the main window.

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Question

10.2.  I have run into the following situation trying to subtitle first DVD with your program:

The producer changed the length of the video (they added approximately 4 seconds of video to the introduction). Is there any chance to easily "shift" all subtitles for approximately  4 seconds? Because I have already timed the subtitles to the old version of the movie (and there are like 600 subtitles).

Answer

TitleFactory has an "Adjust Timecodes" function that can perform different types of arithmetic operations on timecodes.  It supports adding (or subtracting/multiplying) timecodes by fixed values.  Search the documentation for "Adjust timecodes" or go here http://www.titlefactory.com/TitleFactoryDocs/index.htm and find the "Adjust timecodes".  It is accessible from the Main Window.

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Question

10.3.  Can I use TitleFactory to convert one Timecode Text file format to another format?

Answer

Yes.  Simply load the timecoded text file and then write it out in the new format. 

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Question

10.4.  I have an unusual timecoded text file.  Can TitleFactory process it.  I noticed that TitleFactory only supports a fixed number of timecoded text files.

Answer

TitleFactory can read virtually any timecoded text file.  However, it only writes to the most popular formatted files. Use the Timecoded File Definition window to define your input file.  Then, load your file, change the format to Timecoded, and specify your definition.  Hit the test button and see if the timecodes were recognized.

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Other

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Question

11.1 Hello I was wondering if there was any way to improve the image quality of the exported image files.  The ones that I am exporting are not very sharp or clean.  They are pixelized and hard to read.  I am experimenting using different font sizes and even different style settings, but the exported file is very bad in quality over all.  I have included an example.  I am importing the image files and the *.sst files into Sonic ReelDVD.

Answer

This is not  a fair test.  The text that you are producing in Photoshop is antialiased,  and what you produced in TitleFactory is not antialiased.  TitleFactory focuses on supporting DVD production and DVD only supports 4 colors so antialiased text will not work with DVDs unless your extremely lucky and it just happens to produce no more than 4 colors.  I count at least 10 colors in your Photoshop text.  If you import this into a DVD authoring product, it will not work.

However, the Sonic products have a nice way to compensate for this.  You can use two different but similar outline (stroke) colors and you tell the Sonic product to reduce the contrast (transparency) on the outer one (and inner one if you want).  With this you will get the outer color blended into the background but the outline of the text will be very sharp.  You can do the same with the inner stroke but it may not look that good.  Check out the TitleFactory documentation on SST output. You may need to manually modify the header info.

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Question

11.2.  My department in wanting to purchase your software “TitleFactory”, our Accounts payable office needs to have a quote on the price for me to attach to my Purchase Requisition.  Is there anyway that I could get a quote from you indicating the price of the software and the shipping costs.  We are with a University so we are tax exempt.  Thank you for your attention to this matter. 

Answer

Why not just print the page that is displayed when you hit the buy button.  Then, do not complete the transaction until you get approval. You can also access it by pressing the" Buy" link. If this is not acceptable, then we will create a Purchase Requisition for you.  TitleFactory is not shipped.  There is only a download.  No tax is charged for SD, anyways.

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Question

11.3.  I desperately need to create a Sonic Scenarist subtitle file but I have no idea how to do it. I can not find any step by step directions. Can you help me?

Answer

TitleFactory performs different functions depending on what input you have and what you want to accomplish.  You have indicated the "output" format. What format is your input file?  Is it timecoded already or is it a script or ?

Minimally here is what you need to do:

1.  Indicate your input file at the bottom of the main window
2. go to the Input Settings window and define the input format (timecoded, timecoded format, wrapped, unwrapped, etc)
3. hit the 'test button' and see is text has been recognized given your input settings
4. go back to main window and hit "Load Text" button
5. if your text is timecoded"    then skip this step.  if your text is not timecoded: then you can create new timecodes by selecting a wav file of your "video", listen to the wav file, and use your mouse button when the text in the main window is reached in the wav file.
6. hit the "write" button on the main window and select the output format (Sonic Scenarist).

I would suggest that you look at the tutorials in the documentation.  They are step by step - somewhat

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Question

11.4  Can TitleFactory also be used for streaming video (not DVD) to match subtitles per language.  for example, if I stream a video, and a German person watches, I can match, during the streaming, a German subtitle, a Chinese watches, they get the Chinese subtitles, etc.?

Also, does it work for video streaming Windows Media Player, QuickTime and Flash?

Answer

See a part of the on-line docs on subtitle text files.
http://titlefactory.com/TitleFactoryDocs/timecoded_formats.htm
http://titlefactory.com/TitleFactoryDocs/sami_format.htm

TitleFactory can create SÁMI files which is the Windows Media Player Subtitle Format. It also creates the .ASX file that simply points to the SÁMI file.

This is the only streaming format supported.  While it has been tested, I do not believe that anyone is using this feature, so it may have bugs.

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Question

11.5.  Can the subtitles be kept as separate files, and added during the viewing process?  I can not store hundreds of videos times hundreds of languages, too much storage and management, so have to have just one video, with hundreds of subtitle text files, to be matched during the streaming.  If I do go into production with this, is your support fairly quick on any bug fixing?
 

Answer

I would really suggest trying out the software to make sure that there are no bugs.  We provided bug fixes really fast in the past but we have not sold enough of the product to warrant a lot of time fixing problems.  However, there have not been any bugs reported in quite some time.  The subtitle file is just a different format.  If it works for a few timecodes, it will work for all timecodes.

I believe that the ASX file points to the subtitle file as well as the video file.  So you would probably have 1 video file and many ASX and subtitle files.  You probably have to read more about this somewhere.  I doubt that this has changed since I last investigated it.

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Question

11.6.  I've activated my copy of TitleFactory (purchased and downloaded today) but I can still only save 5 tiffs

Answer

Check the 'Max Images' in the process settings window.

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Question

11.7.  When I press the create images button it only creates the first five of the subtitle images.  Am I doing something wrong?  I don't have the time inputs selected for the subtitles yet, could that be why?  I just haven't figured out how to do that yet.

Answer

Check the process settings window> Max Images setting.  Default is ... 5.

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Question

11.8.  Can use the base image file for prototype only or there is the possibility that I can use when I create the images from text? Because I have some videos with English subtitles and I want cover it with a white area and over this area write the new subtitles, can I make this things with TitleFactory? Now I have the demo version and I want to know this things before the buy because it is very important for my work.
thank you.

Answer

Base image file is only for the prototype function.  You may be able to cover the existing text by turning 'caption' on.  But it will be tricky to cover all of the text unless you embed spaces in the new text. You need to try it out and see what happens.

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Question

11.9.  Can you please tell me whether the bmps generated are in 8 bits or 4 bits. I have a problem that some of the subtitles flicker on screen which I think will be taken care by if the bmps are in 8 bits. can you please let me know?

Answer

The images are 8 bits per channel but your flickering could be caused by: -characters are too thin (increase font size or use bold fonts) -no stroke used (this outlines the characters) -used of index bmps for DVD authoring packages that do not support them (only Impression DVD Pro requires them)

Remember ,DVD only supports 4 colors.  4 colors could be supported in 2 bits if there was such a thing.  If you create a thin non-antialiased line on TV, it will flicker.  Antialiasing and/or shadowing which can be used with video eliminates flickering because there is a gradual transition (or smoothing) of the character colors.  But antialiasing and shadow are not supported in DVD because it creates tens of colors.

What DVD Authoring package are you using?  ReelDVD, and other Sonic products support two strokes and the ability to make them semi-transparent (reduce contrast) which gives a shadow effect.  Make one stroke black, and the other charcoal.  Then make the charcoal color semi-transparent. TitleFactory supports this but if you want them semi-transparent then you will have to modify the file. This is described in the documentation or here:

http://www.titlefactory.com/TitleFactoryDocs/preparing_sss_text.htm

But maybe you are not using ReelDVD because it uses tiff files (which of course, you can also create with TitleFactory).
 

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Question

11.10  I would like to know if Title Factory can produce sub-titled bmps in different colours? I want to be able to use TitleFactory with Adobe Encore 1.0 and have TitleFactory create my own BMPs with a different colour for each person speaking.  As it is, Encore will allow up to 3 colours (schemes) of my choosing - but I'm greedy!! and want to use more.

For example:

00:00:00:1 00:00:01:1 Hello, Joanne! (Green)
00:00:02:1 00:00:03:1 Get lost! Paul (Red)
00:00:04:1 00:00:05:1 Come on, you two! (Yellow)
00:00:05:1 00:00:06:1 Oh! They'll never get along, Angus!/Just leave them
alone (Blue)

etc, etc, etc

Also, is it possible to have different words on the same BMP subtitle image
coloured differently - i.e. when Paul and Joanna (above) are speaking.

00:00:07:1 00:00:09:1 Kate! Mind your own business! (Red)/You too! Paul
(Green)

Answer

TitleFactory can produce bmp and other formatted image files in any color.  Different image files can have different styles. Text color is one of the style's parameters.  Of course, only 4 colors can be used in any image for DVD production, and one of the colors is the background.

Different images can have different styles.  I do not know how Encore would treat images that have different colors.  I know that Impression DVD Pro interprets the fist pixel (upper-left) as being the transparent background and all other colors get displayed.  I do not know what Encore does in this regard.

TitleFactory cannot separate different words into different colors on the same image ... currently.  All of the text in one image must be the same color.

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Question

11.11.  TitleFactory seems to have a problem with .avi or /mv2 files which are over 2 GB.

Answer

That is probably correct.  Try converting the file to a .way file and using it to tap out timecodes.  The resulting .wav file should be much smaller.

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Question

11.12.  I have a text in UTF_8 format. I did all the timecodes and I wrote it for Adobe Encore Type_3. But the format of the text of timecode saved was converted in ANSI format so the characters like apostrophes, signs of quotations and the words with the accents were changed! Please help me because I must deliver a work in these days and I'll be very grateful if you will be so kind to answer me soon!  the version of my copy of Title Factory is 3.0 BLDF end about Adobe Encore is the 1.5

Answer

It was TitleFactory 3.0 BLDL that first allowed the UTF8 to be written out.  Try out the latest version of TitleFactory.

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