Tutorial 2 Using Timecoded Input with TitleFactory

Introduction

Main Window

Input Settings Window

Timecoded Subtitle File Definitions

Project Settings

Style Definitions

Loading Test

Creating Images

Viewing Images

Verifying and Modifying Timecodes

Writing Timecodes

Other Sample Timecoded Text File Projects

Introduction

This tutorial provides a quick look at TitleFactory features.  This tutorial uses a timecoded subtitle text file as input.  The first tutorial (Tutorial 1) has a script file as input.  The first part of this tutorial uses TitleFactory to create images.  The second part of this tutorial exercises TitleFactory to modify timecodes. 

The first order of business is to Open TitleFactory.

Main Window

For this tutorial, use the 'open project' button and select tutorial_2 from the ...TitleFactory\Samples folder.

The window above will be displayed. 

If you have installed TitleFactory into the default folder on your C drive then the text file name should display as shown.  If you loaded it someplace else then you will have to click one of the Select Text buttons and find the text file called subscript_timing_ONE_LINE.txt in the Samples folder where TitleFactory was installed.

If you did install TitleFactory into the default folder on your C drive then you may get the following message when you open the tutorial.

This warning indicates that the project called Tutorial_2 recognizes that the 'Date Last Modified' for project's text file is different than the 'Date Last Modified' on the machine that created the project.  This points out a nice feature in TitleFactory.  You get this warning when any text or media file that has changed since the last time that you used it in TitleFactory.  If you do not want to see this message then simply click the 'Do not show this message again" box and Press 'OK'.

This tutorial's project file has been preloaded with both text (in the Subtitle Sub Window on the left side) as well as timecodes (in the Timecode Sub Window on the right side).  We will show you later how to load up the text from your text file and create or modify the timecodes later in the tutorial.

Now let's look at some basic functions on the Main Window.  Click on an Subtitle Sub Window entry and you will notice that the corresponding entry in the Timecode  sub window is highlighted.  You will also notice that the slider on the Timeline moves automatically and the Timeline Counter gets populated.

Now move the Timeline slider.  If you are careful you will see Subtitle Sub Window and Timeline sub window entries highlighted when the slider is at a point in-between the starting timecode and ending timecode for the entry.  Notice that the Timeline Counter also changes.

Now hover your mouse cursor over the Timeline scale. Notice the popup that displays the timeline position (in several different formats).

Try out the Audit button now.  You should see that there is a problem with the timecodes and TitleFactory has displayed the error timecodes with a background of  Red, such as the following shows.

Press the Clea Audit button to change to colors of the audit background to the original colors.

Under the timecodes and Subtitle Sub Windows you will find another set of button that operate on both timecodes and text.

These buttons allow you to deselect, delete all selected entries, shift, merge split text and timecode entries in unison.

For more information, please refer to the Main Window documentation.

Now lets look around TitleFactory.

Input Settings Window

Use either of the Select Text buttons or the recent file (down arrow button)  to change the location of the 'C:/Program Files/TitleFactory 3.0/Samples/subscript_timing_ONE_LINE.txt' file if this is not the correct location.

When you select a new text file, the Input Settings Window will be displayed automatically.  This is where the you tell TitleFactory what you input file looks like and what settings should be applied when reading the text file.

You can also use the Open Input Settings button to open the Input Settings Window.

The Input Settings Window describes the input text file.  It is also used to bypass text when the input text file is a script, transcript (or whatever).

Notice that the Textmode indicates that this is a timecoded text file using a format called 'single line'. More on that later.

When you select a new text file, the window on the right gets populated automatically.  You can also display the text file by clicking on the Open Text File button' .

By default the text is wrapped on the Text Window display area.  Click on the Wrap toggle button to change this.

Now click on the Test button .

Note that the starting timecode, ending timecode and text has been highlighted.  If the text is not highlighted then the Timecode format does not match the input text file.

Placing the cursor over a highlighted area describes the reason it was highlighted.  Cool heh!

Now lets go back to the main window by clicking on  'Ok' button.  You will be presented with the following:

Press the Yes button.

Now you will see:

Timecoded Subtitle File Definitions

Select Menu item Settings>Timecoded Subtitle File Definitions or press the Timecoded Subtitle File Definitions   button. The Timecoded Subtitle File Definitions define input timecode file formats  This is the same format that is specified on the Input Settings Window.

The Timecoded Subtitle File Definitions define the input file format for Timcoded Subtitle Text Files.

Select 'single_line' from the Timecoded File Format drop down list.

The definitions are described in all of the drop down list boxes.

An example of the format of the file is shown at the bottom of the window.  Note that it may not be exactly as shown.  It only has to be close enough to work.

You can change the settings here but if you do then go back to the input settings window, press the open file and test buttons.  If the text is not highlighted then then the timecode format on the Input Settings Window does not match the timecode subtitle file definition.

Now go back to the main window.

ProjectSettings

Then press the button and look at the 'Process Settings' window.

Not too exciting.  You can look at the processing settings documentation if you have questions.  However, these are the settings that control the processing within TitleFactory.

Style Definitions

Now let's go back to the main window, click on the button and let's look at the Style Definitions Window.

This window defines the image styles for the CREATE IMAGE process.  Scroll down to see all of the settings for the 'Factory' style and go to the  Style Definitions Window  if you have questions.

The SHOW button at the bottom of this window expands the window for prototyping purposes.  That is, you can see what the text will look like after making changes to the text parameters.  Pressing the PROTOTYPE button will also expand the window and show the prototyped text.

To change the default text, type in some new text into the text box.  Press the PROTOTYPE button to test the settings.

Now let's go back to the main window. 

Loading Text

At this point, you can 'LOAD TEXT' if you haven't done so previously. When you load a timecoded text file into TitleFactory, you will be presented with the following Dialog which displays several options.

Here you can chose to:

• overlay only the text (Overlay Text button),
• overlay only the timecodes (Overlay TC),
• overlay both text and timecodes (Overlay Both),
• or Cancel the load (Cancel)

 LOAD TEXT  will simply run the TitleFactory PARSER and load the text into the Subtitle Sub Window from the input file. 

Creating Images

To CREATE IMAGES, first press either of the Select Folder buttons to select an Output Image Folder.  This is the folder where TitleFactory will place its images.

Now you can press the 'Create Images'' menu item within the Process Menu.  Press "Select All" or choose a subset of the images that you want created.

Press the 'PAUSE' button before the process ends to pause the CREATE IMAGE process. 

Viewing Images

Use the button to view the images that have been created. (Here is a sample)

Use the tool buttons to zoom in or zoom out and the Hand Tool to scroll images when you zoom into them.  The Image Information section displays the image size, the position of the cursor and the color values of the image pixel under the cursor.  Use the PREV, NEXT, and JUMP TO buttons to display the next, previous, or any image, respectively.  Use the 'title safe' checkbox to turn the title safe rectangles on or off.

Now let's go back to the main window and press the 'CREATE IMAGES' button.

The input text will be parsed according to your specifications and will be written written to the 'Output Directory'.

Press the 'STOP' view button after the process ends process.  You can then resume processing by using the 'RE-CREATE' button.  You can also use the 'VIEW' button to view the images. (Here is a sample)

Press the 'REPORT' button to toggle the display of a processing report.  This shows you what text has been written to what file. (Here is a description of the report options). 

Verifying and Modifying Timecodes

Even though your input file already has timecodes associated with the text, you may still want to check them out and potentially even edit the timecodes.  To check out the timecodes, you will need to specify either a video or audio file (or both).  Use the button to select a video file and/or the  Audio File button to select an audio file.  Use the timeline pointer or the timeline counter to position the video and/or audio file.

Now press the "Play from Beginning' button . As you listen to the media file(s), the text and timecodes will be highlighted when the timecode is reached. It will un-highlight when its ending timecode is reached.

If you need to change the timecode, you can do so by using one of the record buttons ,, (see documentation for explanations) or you can manually update or adjust the timecodes.  As noted earlier, there are lots of functions that available for modifying, checking, and converting timecodes.

Writing Timecodes

Now that you have loaded timecodes, you can overwrite them, save them, write them to a timcoded text file, write the timecodes via the Write Timecodes entry in the Process Menu, edit them (double click on the timecode), adjust them (click on the AD button), delete them, append to them, and more.

Now lets try to write out a timecoded text file.  Simply select Write Timecodes entry in the Process Menu, select the Output Format of file that you want to write and press the OK buttton.

Select the file location and name and that is it.

The timecoded text file can now be imported into your DVD authoring package.

Other Sample Timecoded Text File Projects

Several sample projects and files are included in the Samples Folder.  A description of the Samples is contain on the Sample Projects page.