Filter to smoothen subtitles and filters to specific frames

[Daiamondo]

Looking at those anime fansubbers' fonts, they seem to be so smooth, so anti-aliased... and when I try to make my own subtitles, the fonts are very jagged... what am I doing wrong? Is it all a matter of finding proper fonts, or there's some kind of filter that is being applied to the fonts only? If so, how can I apply a smoothening filter to the subs only?

And a second question... is it possible to apply a filter to a specific range of frames? For example: I want to apply deen from the range of the frame 22000 to the frame 25000 instead of the whole show, or applying a sharpening filter from frame 1 to frame 1000, etc...?

[stickboy]

Originally posted by Daiamondo
and when I try to make my own subtitles, the fonts are very jagged... what am I doing wrong?Exactly what are you doing to create the subtitles?
And a second question... is it possible to apply a filter to a specific range of frames?Yes. The internal ApplyRange function does exactly this.

[Prettz]

Originally posted by Daiamondo
And a second question... is it possible to apply a filter to a specific range of frames? For example: I want to apply deen from the range of the frame 22000 to the frame 25000 instead of the whole show, or applying a sharpening filter from frame 1 to frame 1000, etc...?
Here is an example of another more general purpose way to apply certain filters to certain sequences only (I just copied and pasted this from a script):

# ...

main = last
a = main.FluxSmooth(5,4)
b = main.FluxSmooth(2,2)
c = main.Undot().Dup(threshold=4.1,copy=true,blend=true)
d = main.MipSmooth(preset="MovieLQ")

a.Trim(0,12698) ++ c.Trim(12699,12996) ++ b.Trim(13004,13104) ++ \
a.Trim(13896,29295) ++ b.Trim(29296,30971) ++ a.Trim(30972,121815) ++ \
b.Trim(121816,122868) ++ a.Trim(122869,137052) ++ d.Trim(137053,0)

#all the other filters that are applied to every frame follow here...

[Mug Funky]

AFAIK, fansubbers use aftereffects to do their subs, so you get the drop shadows and whatnot.

i kinda wish they'd just make DVD subs so i could use vobsub. it'll make the video compress (a little) better.

if you're making subs with a DVD technique (i haven't tried this with SSA or vobsub), then you'll only have 3 colours to play with (the 4th is the transparent colour), so they'll be very coarse.

[mf]

Fansubbers use Advanced Sub Station Alpha (ASS) for most of the subtitles, and some groups also use After Effects for some typesetting (like the staff credits and complex sign effects).

[Daiamondo]

Originally posted by stickboy
[B]Exactly what are you doing to create the subtitles?
B]
I'm timing with Substation Alpha and customizing the script with Notepad to create Advanced SSA (.ass) files. Then, I apply the Virtual Dub textsub filter to insert it to the final video. I am using just ordinary True Type fonts (Monotype Corsiva, Tahoma, etc), but the result are jagged subtitles, unlike the smooth, anti-aliased fonts we see from fansubbed titles.

Are there any filters used for this purpose, or it`s just a matter of finding a good combination of fonts, or yet I really need to use a professional video editing software such as Adobe After Effects or Sonic Foundry Vegas Video to do so??

[mf]

Originally posted by Daiamondo
I'm timing with Substation Alpha and customizing the script with Notepad to create Advanced SSA (.ass) files. Then, I apply the Virtual Dub textsub filter to insert it to the final video. I am using just ordinary True Type fonts (Monotype Corsiva, Tahoma, etc), but the result are jagged subtitles, unlike the smooth, anti-aliased fonts we see from fansubbed titles.
Check "Advanced Rasterizer".

[Daiamondo]

Hum... I didn't find the advanced rasterizer on Text Sub, only on the Subtitler filter, but this one doesn't use the advanced SSA (ASS) features, it only opens .ssa (the conventional Substation Alpha). Is my Text Sub version too old? :confused:

[mf]

Originally posted by Daiamondo
Hum... I didn't find the advanced rasterizer on Text Sub, only on the Subtitler filter, but this one doesn't use the advanced SSA (ASS) features, it only opens .ssa (the conventional Substation Alpha). Is my Text Sub version too old? :confused:
Hm. That I wouldn't know. In any case, you're talking about a VDub filter here, while this is the AVISynth forum, and if you'd have tried the AVS TextSub you'd know it antialiases by default.

[Daiamondo]

I import the Text Sub vdub filter into the AVS script, I didn't know there was a textsub filter natively made for AviSynth.

[mf]

Originally posted by Daiamondo
I import the Text Sub vdub filter into the AVS script, I didn't know there was a textsub filter natively made for AviSynth.
Gabest's VSFilter.dll has a TextSub() function.

[Daiamondo]

Thank you, and sorry for my ignorance.;)