User Guide

Preparing Subtitle Assets 49
Preparing Subtitle Assets
A subtitle stream is a sequence of subpicture overlays that play over a background video or
still image. Subtitles can utilize several digital effects such as fade in, fade out, scroll, and
wipe.
There are two ways to handle subtitles in Scenarist, either by creating them with Scenarist’s
built-in Subtitle Editor, or by preparing them in an another application and then importing
them to a scenario. This section provides information on how to prepare subtitle assets
outside Scenarist. For detailed information on the subtitle import procedure and how to
create subtitles with the Subtitle Editor, refer to “Creating Subtitles in Scenarist” on
page 116.
Use the following guidelines when preparing subtitle assets:
• Create subtitle images in a graphics program such as Photoshop.
• Save subtitle images in BMP, GIF, JPEG, PCD (Photo CD), PICT, PSD (Photoshop), SGI,
TIFF, TGA (Targa), or YUV format.
• Use a maximum of four colors.
• Image size should not exceed 720 × 480 (NTSC) or 720 × 576 (PAL) pixels.
• Save the image files for a stream of subtitles in the same format and in the same
directory.
• Keep a record of subtitle names, stream numbers, and corresponding start and end time
codes.
Once you have settled on the parameters for your subtitle images, you must name the
images, then identify the colors used in them. Refer to “Subpicture Color Mapping” on
page 146 for a description of this procedure.